Q & A Table of Contents
They Want Me To Arrange The Company Picnic, But It’s No Picnic For Me
From: Judy, Comerstown, Ohio
Question: My company was paying for me to organize and run the company picnic. This year they are not going to pay me. They insist they will put this on my 10% goals instead. I feel this is unfair. The 10% really comes out to 7%.
I really don't want to do the picnic. Its a lot of work. Yet I feel if I say NO I am not doing it this year, I will look like the bad person.
I asked my boss to put me on the 25% bonus plan then and he said no. ‘You are a clerk, clerks don't get paid the 25%’. My title is Administrative Assistant and I go above and beyond the call of duty numerous times. My evaluation even reflects this. How do I negotiate this issue?
Response: This is a clear case in which you must assess your BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). What choices do you have? Can you change jobs locally? Can you change jobs within the company? Are you likely to find allies among your colleagues, in the HR department, within your family, among your friends? Is there a union at the company to which you can turn?
Having a sense of what alternatives you have available to you will give you a better sense of how to strategize your negotiation about this demand. If your biggest concern about the consequences of saying ‘NO’ is looking like a bad person, you must ask yourself whether this risk carries a real cost. Will it have a negative impact on your pay, the possibility of future promotions, your relationship with colleagues?
This situation may be an opportunity for you to be creative. You could go back through the records to figure out how much the company has spent on picnics since you started being responsible for them. Try to figure out how much it costs per employee (and family member). Then perhaps you could become a subcontractor to the company — offering to run the picnic for a fixed fee per attendee — with an administrative fee built in to your overall budget so that you walk away with some money in your pocket.
It also sounds as if your ego has been bruised by your boss’s statement that you are just a clerk. Ego bruises are not to be taken lightly; someone should pay for that. If there is incentive pay based on your work output, perhaps the wisest move is to limit your work to what will bring you the maximum incentive — and to turn down anything that goes beyond that limit. If your boss puts you down, give him a sense of what he has lost by kicking you in the ego.
List all of the things you would like to achieve (even such negative things as ‘no more picnic’) and all of the consequences you hope won’t happen. Do similar lists for your boss and other stakeholders in the process. Then look for ways those possibilities might connect — or be in conflict. Figure out what is most rewarding to you as an overall outcome. If you have a sense of ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ it gives you inner strength to deal with the negotiation process. Asking trusted colleagues for advice may help you develop a clearer sense of your choices.
Letting your boss know that you are miffed is perfectly appropriate. You don’t need to go out-of-control emotional — but it can be very valuable to manipulate the expression of your emotions to underscore the points your boss needs to understand. Even if you end up accepting the changed circumstances, you have to make that acceptance contingent on trades of bargaining chips from your boss. He should understand that he can’t get something for nothing — and because he has crossed two lines (financial and ego) in his approach, he owes you a fair resolution on both those issues.
Good luck,
Steve
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