Re: What am I worth? (longish)

[David Orr <dorr -at- ORRNET -dot- COM>]

I like to put my bias right up front on this issue: My company hires
technical writers, so it is in our narrow self-interest to keep writer
rates low and client billing rates high. However, there are other
factors that play into our broader self-interest and attitudes about
what writers are worth:

1.  How reliable is the writer in getting the job done on time and on
budget?
2.  Is the writer a high-maintenance or low-maintenance?
3.  Does the writer work and play well with others?
4.  How creative is the writer when faced with non-standard
circumstances?
5.  Can the writer follow group standards?
6.  Does the writer already know the word processing tools and industry
related to the project?
7.  How flexible is the writer about assignments?
8.  How flexible is the writer about where the work is done?
9.  How well does the writer present himself/herself?
10.How positively assertive is the writer with clients about project
issues?
11. What is the supply and what is the demand?

An individual who meets many of these criteria is worth more than one
who doesn't. Standard rates that are determined by fiat rather than by
markets ignore these individual factors.

I believe that in most professional services, consultant interests are
well served by the market. Usually there are not oversupplies of
professionals. Oversupply of any trade invites buyer abuse and
unionization. Unionization can be seen as a way to restrict the supply
of labor and thus maintain labor prices. Certification, which often
accompanies unionization, serves the same end--to restrict the numbers
of labor in a given profession.

I believe that unionization and certification can work in professions so
long as the emphasis is on raising the quality of work along with the
wages. In this way, management's broader self-interest in having quality
workers can be appealed to. When unions, like management, only look at
narrow self interest, everybody suffers.

In a free market newcomers can enter without restriction so long as a
client is willing to pay. Unionized workers have access to the market
restricted by the union, so getting in is harder for newcomers. Other
trade-offs include higher wages vs. more jobs at lower wages, liberty
(freedom to feast or starve) vs. order (safety and rules), rewards for
high performers vs. fair wages for everybody, and others. Workers who
want unions and managers who don't need to understand that there is no
free lunch either way.

David Orr
Orr & Associates Corporation
http://www.orrnet.com


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