TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I, for one, have to report my time on each project I work on. I am salaried but my work is billable to customers, including the military. I have to account for every quarter hour. We have a program called Teamplayer. A couple of times as a contractor I have had to record my time twice, once for the contractor so that I could paid, and once for the company so they could bill my hours to the customer. I have always been salaried, but there was only place that I did not have record my time. I try to be very diligent at it and record it every night before I leave. There are days when I work on three or four projects, on those days I record my time a couple of times a day. Not that I am overly diligent...I am just overly forgetful!
Melissa
> Subject: RE: Tech Writer Lawsuit> Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 08:57:20 -0400> From: Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> To: techwr -at- genek -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> > On Behalf Of Gene Kim-Eng uttered:> > > > Lawyer's arguments notwithstanding, it seems to me (and> > I'm not a lawyer) that the key phrase in the computer software> > employee section is "who is paid on an hourly basis."> > > > >From Sun's response as reported in the article, they appear> > to be maintaining that Hoenemier was salaried (paid per pay> > period or year), and because she was not paid by the hour> > the entire section on hourly employees in the computer> > software field does not apply to her but that the professional> > exemption does because she was "primarily engaged in work> > requiring knowledge of an advance type" and was "intellectual> > and varied in character," and that she "customarily exercised> > discretion and independent judgment" in her work (actually,> > Sun appears to be saying that she was *supposed* to do> > that, but had to have extra supervision because she didn't> > do it well).> > > > Hoenemier will have to convince the judges that she was> > paid by the hour and not by pay period or annum, that her> > work was predominantly repetitious, was not intellectual> > and did not require advanced knowledge, or that she never> > exercised discretion and independent judgement in her> > work. Just what we would all like people to think technical> > writing is like, yes?> > This has all been interesting, if a little academic for me (I live and> work in Canada) but the question that keeps percolating in the back of> my mind is:> > If we asked everybody on this list whether or not they are _required_ to> account for their time, on an hourly or sub-hourly basis, which group> would likely predominate? I doubt that more than a fistful of writers> actually punch a clock, but I'd be surprised if most of us didn't have> to keep a log of some sort.> For our company, it's done in software called Journyx, which allows> reporting down to the quarter hour.> > Some of the software developers' weekly timesheets look like one massive> block assigned to a single project. Others' are more like mine that have> six or eight projects tracked, with time-blocks of anywhere from 30> minutes to 8 hours indicated. Since I tend to actually fill these out on> Friday afternoon (or even Monday morning if Friday was a rush-to-release> day), they are necessarily guesstimates, but that's a digression. The> point is that the time is tracked. Somebody takes it seriously. Somebody> compiles al those timesheets and runs various sorts of manipulations on> the numbers.> When we are running projects that qualify for a government> science-and-innovation rebate, it's obvious why that time-tracking is> needed. When we are running projects for specific big customers, it's> obvious why we need to track which-of / how-many-of our hours were> expended on that customer.> > When it's neither of those, it can only be for the benefit of the> company. > I'm sure other people have the same sort of arrangement. I'd be very> surprised if a company the size of Sun didn't have some kind of standard> effort-tracking mechanism, tied to hours (since that's about the only> parameter that can be tracked that way).> > How does that affect the discussion?> > Kevin> The information contained in this electronic mail transmission > may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected > from disclosure. If you have received this communication in > error, please notify us immediately by replying to this > message and deleting it from your computer without copying > or disclosing it.> > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> > Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or > printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 > Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.> http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList> > True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.> Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical> documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com> > ---> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com -dot- > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/melmis36%40hotmail.com> > > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> > Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
