Interesting Links for 18-6-2011

[andrewducker]

• The future of computer graphics (from 1988 to 2011)
  (tags: future history animation graphics computer cgi technology)
• One of the reasons women earn less than men.
  (tags: gender pay money)
• How to choose the absolutely wrong person to write about girls and D&D
  (tags: feminism gaming women EpicFail)
• An overview of how the Scottish courts and the UK Supreme court interact
  (tags: uk scotland law)
• Refusal to unveil scuppers French refusal-to-unveil trial - Genius!
  (tags: islam religion clothing france epicwin law)
• MP says minimum wage a hindrance to disabled jobseekers (can you guess what party he's in?)
  (tags: conservatives uk politics pay)
• This is how I end up on the wrong side in internet arguments
  (tags: internet argument funny)

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

And then obviously so that able-bodied people can compete with those working below minimum wage, the able-bodied will be able to forego acceptance of minimum wage themselves, and really ultimately, the minimum wage will just be abolished, leading to profits for all (of the obscenely rich)!

Though in fairness he maybe had a point lurking in amongst it all somewhere, I do think the minimum wage is a real hindrance for a lot of small businesses. And if a business employs less than say, 6 people, or makes less than x amount of profit a year rather, then there should be a lower minimum wage.

Its really the minimum wage that killed off my mums business. She was crippled by the costs of wages, as the owner, she was taking home maybe £3 an hour on average, but she had to pay twice that to her employees. And in the end it just no longer made any sort of financial sense to continue.

[andrewducker]

So in order to make any money out of it herself she'd have to pay them £3 an hour, which is not nearly enough to live on?

It really doesn't sound like it made any sort of financial sense to continue.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Aye, the sums just didn't add up anymore. Hadn't for quite a few years. Such is the story of the Scottish tourist industry outside of the few 'hotspots'.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

The minimum wage is a hindrance to all jobseekers, not just the disabled, and one of the most economically illiterate pieces of legislation this century.

[andrewducker]

The LSE would disagree:
cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/CP217.pdf

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Yes, well...

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Pay negotiation: The one time I directly approached this subject (1996) went like this

ME:"You aren't paying me the market rate, I know you just took on 2 guys, so must be paying them at least close to market rate, how about doing the same for me"
THEM: "but we've just given you a pay rise"
ME: "yes, but that still isn't market rate, we both know it"
THEM: "We've just given you a pay rise"
ME: "Well, there are only 2 solutions to this issue, which is it going to be?"
THEM: "We've just given you a pay rise, that's it"
ME: "Ok then, you know what I am going to do, right? And you'll have to hire someone new - at market rate."
THEM:
ME: "OK then".

I immediately started looking for another job, got one at market rate (locally at that!) within a week (1.5 times what I was on IIRC). I never had any doubts or fears or anything. You have to walk the walk if you talk the talk.

I have successfully negotiated up on several contracts.

But I am generally considered aggressive (not even just for a woman, but for an IT bod) and have a practically perfect conversion rate of interview -> job offer.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

though this incident was my 2nd job, so I didn't know about my conversion rate prowess abck then - I just knew I was good. Easy to sell a product in which you believe, I suppose.