Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Becoming a Professional

I am about to officially find out that I passed the Registered Occupational Hygienist exam, which is the most difficult professional designation for a specialized subset of occupational health and safety called occupational hygiene, which is what I do. It's recognized by the international governing body as the equivalent of Certified Industrial Hygienist accreditation in the US.

That's great, right?

Except at my employer, it means I "lose" overtime. That doesn't make sense, so let me explain.

Right now, if I work more than the "standard hours" (42.0 hours, I think), I get to "bank" the extra time to use as paid time off. If I don't take the time off, I'm paid for the extra time (straight time, not at over-time pay) at the end of the year.

All "professionals" (those with professional designations) at my employer do not get overtime. Professionals often still work more than the "standard hours", but they get no recognition of it. I realize many people don't get paid for working more hours than they're paid for, but it's just disappointing to have the extra paid time, then lose it.

And I don't even get a raise!

Why'd I stress myself out over writing this test again?

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