CFA Image Rights/Ungrateful employers

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gino

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Hi,

I am opening this topic, although it may seem weird for someone. I work for a small money management/financial planning firm (AUM $125 MM) for HNW clients. I have an MBA, Finance and expect the CFA Charter sometime in the Spring of 2007 (passed 3 of 3). My boss always brags about my accomplishments in front of clients, and even put them in a marketing piece that just went out. At the same time, he has no contributions to any of these, and the only thing that I received for passing Level III was a one line e-mail how he is proud that I am working for him?!No kidding. In addition, my salary is just $48,000 (40-42 hours/avg/wk) with the prospect of a bonus. However, he was supposed to prepare a comprehesible bonus/profit sharing plan for me months ago, and he has not done so yet. Before me going on a two week vacation abroad (I am a foreigner under H1-B status), he started pulling stars from the sky how I am a very important person, and blah, blah, he has big plans for me. Obviously, he was afraid that I will meet and negotiate something in my country, as I have several times showed him that I am ultra freeminded and can change countries just like that.
So to sum it up, I feel at this point deeply lied to and misled. If things go on that way for the next month or two, I am thinking hinting about these things:

1) Since he has no contributions to my accomplishments (MBA, potential CFA), I would hint to him that I would prefer them not to be used in any firm marketing pieces/client materials. Of course, that will be like a revolution, but I am not paid for that. These signs are personal property and should cost money, after all.
2) I have created some financial models that he has distributed for use to some other small practices. They are not super sophisticated but are better than what these people are used to use. Now, they call me as if I am a Help Desk. So he is gaining traction on my behalf. Well, what about any fees,royalties? Again, it is IP after all.
3) I told him 3 weeks ago to submit the employer sponsorship form, he has not done it yet, although I am reminding him every week, including today when he had all the free time in the world to do it. So, I am thinking he may be unwilling to do that or somehow delay it so get some leverage in the possible compensation negotiation that I have been expecting for some months. Well, I can always waive that requirement if needed, but I suppose our "relationship" then will be permanently impaired.

Obviously, I would look for greener pastures once I get the Charter but if anything does not happen until then, what do you think about these approaches?BTW, has anyone had any problems with employer sponsorship (cause they may be afraid that you will leave once you get the CFA Charter)?
 
Kiss his arse if you need the sponsership. Otherwise stop feeling sorry and get another job. Everyone has cheap boss stories. The truth is that most employees feel that they are more important to the the firm than the boss thinks they really are. It is his job to keep you motivated until you walk out the front door. If you are being undervalued, esp if you are on an HB1, they probably have another HB1 waiting in line to take your seat.
We can start a new thread on cheap bosses who under value employees but u get the point.

@ my last place of employment, I created models, marketing and website literature etc etc used company wide, trained others-all of which was not in my job descrip-yet my boss would not pay for a petty $600 for an industry seminar. Forget the raise & bonus. No sense in creating tension. If you do, they will just get rid of you with grace; its that easy. If this is the attitude now, it will not get any better no matter how many more models you invent or clients you support. Work your connections and jump ship. Thats my 10 cents....
 
Get sponsorship.

Start looking for a job very discreetly once you have charter.

Quit.
 
look for another job, now - dont wait for the charter, just start aggressively searching for another job. set a goal that say, 4 months from now you wont be working for him. i wouldnt bother trying to work out a higher salary or bonus, because everything about him says that there is always going to be something wrong with working for him. if it's not one thing, it's going to be another. this is just a lousy guy to work for, period.

with your experience and credentials, i dont think finding a better job with significantly better pay would be too difficult...but dont expect to be working 40 hrs/week. get your resume together, contact some recruiters, work contacts you have, and call up other firms in town...and start on monday. good luck, keep us posted on how it goes
 
gino,

i am glad someone brought this up. I am a foreigner on an H1-B like u. my firm is doing my GC as well. I was paid much less than u but recently they did increase it quite a bit although it is nowhere near to industry standards. My firm is bigger than yours and they have not had much problems in sponsoring my charter etc. What I essentially think is all those on work visas are exploited at these smaller firms to some extent and the only way out is to jump ship to a larger shop once you get significant experience in this country. The other problem is not many big companies are willing to transfer your H1-B and file the GC for you. Its a sad situation and in my opinion if you are getting to learn here make to most of it or get out when you have a chance. good luck to u.
 
My co-worker is on H1-b and has worked for my boss for 5 years day and night like a donkey. However, boss is still not sponsoring his green card despite several promises. Last year, my co-worker got another job offer in another department within our company (by the way, our firm is a large company with more than $500 Billion in assets) and they were willing to sponsor his green card right away, so my co-worker wanted to leave, but my boss promised that he will sponsor the green card and begged him to stay. But one year has passsed since then and he still does not have green card (the boss is not signing the documents), and his H1-b is approaching expiration, so he is pretty much screwed now after 5 years of dedicated service building several models and databases without which my boss (and the department actually) would be in a lot of trouble!! My boss is otherwise a very nice person and I personally have no complains against him (I am lucky I do not need H1-b sponsorship).

The gist of all these is simple ---- Get out of there as soon as you can. Your boss is certainly taking advantage of you and milking you like a naive cow !!!!

Good luck and best wishes from the deepest of my heart!!

-Ron-

P.S. - By the way, my co-worker also makes around $48K where everyone else with his qualification makes at least $75K.
 
ronyusa Wrote:
My boss is otherwise a
> very nice person and I personally have no
> complains against him (I am lucky I do not need
> H1-b sponsorship).
>

It is hard to think of your boss as a nice person after reading about his treatment of this poor worker on H1-B. He is simply a slimeball.
 
gino Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Obviously, I would look for greener pastures once
> I get the Charter but if anything does not happen
> until then, what do you think about these
> approaches?BTW, has anyone had any problems with
> employer sponsorship (cause they may be afraid
> that you will leave once you get the CFA Charter)?

If you want more money for your work, then become an independent consultant. A company is not under any obligation to pay you more than it needs to. Get over that.

Go someplace where you would be sponsored right away for your GC or within 3-6 months of your start date. Infact, you can have a clause in your employment letter stating exactly that.

The biggest @#$%& that employers pull is that they would evaluate your performance for a year before initiating the sponsorship paperwork, when they are under no obligation to keep you employed even after starting your papework & it doesn't cost them anything; you can volunteer to pay the legal fees yourself.
 
abacus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ronyusa Wrote:
> My boss is otherwise a
> > very nice person and I personally have no
> > complains against him (I am lucky I do not need
> > H1-b sponsorship).
> >
>
> It is hard to think of your boss as a nice person
> after reading about his treatment of this poor
> worker on H1-B. He is simply a slimeball.


Hah hah you do have a point. What I meant was that other than this H1-b thing, he seems to be a very accomodating person to his employees, including the co-worker that's on H1-b. What surprises me is that he does not even have to pay for the H1-b!!The company frequently sponsors H1-b's in many other departments. I guess he IS scared of losing the low-cost service once the employee gets the green card!!
 
Listen, and listen carefully (read actually).

Just because a boss or co-worker buys doughnuts/coffee, has a giggle and a laugh with you doesn't mean that they won't slit your nuts for a dollar when you're not looking!

People are sh!t. People at work are no different. Money even makes it worse.

Mediocre bosses tend to be particularly bad because they often will try to hide their ineptitude or lack of initiative behind the work of their subordinates. These are similar to bosses who go on and on about how they are doing you favours, support and other platitudes and nonsense.
 
"People are sh!t. People at work are no different. Money even makes it worse. "

Were you sobbing as you wrote this Imp?
 
Gino,

I'm very familiar with your situation, especially the small firm/planning office and models being sold for fees part. I got fed up, left the job, and haven't returned to the financial services industry since. You should leave the job, but obviuosly not until you can secure a job in the industry. It sounds like you have more expertise than your boss, which I understand isn't uncommon. In a small firm it just seems to be particullarly difficult to deal with.
 
People on H1B visa should make getting a Green Card their first priority even if you have to take a pay cut, move or leave a adoring boss. Sometimes, but not always, even family comes second. And not taking a job that promises immediate filing of GC - that is pretty stupid. I don't want to sound judgemental, but I hope the guy cited above who did this had a million good reasons.
 
CFAAtlanta Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> People on H1B visa should make getting a Green
> Card their first priority even if you have to take
> a pay cut, move or leave a adoring boss.
> Sometimes, but not always, even family comes
> second. And not taking a job that promises
> immediate filing of GC - that is pretty stupid. I
> don't want to sound judgemental, but I hope the
> guy cited above who did this had a million good
> reasons.

Agreed with CFAAtlanta. Once you have your GC, people will have less incentive/power to exploit you. So, look for a job where they are more than willing to start your GC process.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 08:08AM by abacus.
 
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