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"SUPER EMPLOYEES'S DEMANDS FOR $$/DUTIES REASONABLE?"

Dear Kathryn:

My previously sane assistant of the past five years has gone off the deep end.

I just finished giving her a good review, awarding her a 4% increase. Her response: outrage. She lashed back at me demanding a 10% increase above her current salary, squealing she's worth a lot more than what she's been getting paid. I've read various salary reports and I'm seeing 4.5-6% as being the max increases being awarded.

In addition to the massive boost in pay she wants, she's droning on about "searching for a new meaning in her work" and wants additional and more "spiritually fulfilling" duties.

Is this person who's suddenly gotten religion worth giving a hefty increase to as well as additional duties? If I give her what she wants, will I be giving birth to a never-ending demanding monster? I've really liked her work so I'm betwixt and between, hoping you will make the decision for me as to what I should do.

ROGER T., Hartford, CT

Dear Roger:

In order for me to determine whether her demands are reasonable, I need some additional facts.

First, the salary you've been paying her vs. the duties she's been handling.

Second, whether or not you have confidence in her ability to contribute more.

If the salary she started at four years ago was measly with her increases just as measly, her demand for a 10% increase is probably justified. You yourself state you've valued her work.

As to your assistant's "getting religion"; to me it sounds as though she's become a fan of cosmic psychology and taken up on what's known as "Bobo-ism." A terrific book, Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks explores this new cultural breed. It describes a Bobo as someone who melds some of the bohemian and bourgeois outlooks on life. The book delves into detail as to why it's common for today's employee to focus on "self-cultivation", and when the company they work for begins to bore or stifle them, they wave adios.

The book explains how today's employee is in search of the job with new meaning and should they spot tedium in their daily work duties, it's a new job they'll be after. It's an interesting explanation of employee's actions that today's employers-- myself and possibly you --are experiencing!

Have a sit-down with your assistant, determine whether you can really provide that emotionally enriching, self-esteem boosting, perpetually challenging dream she's yearning for. You may just have to conclude what's going to make her heart sing doesn't fit into your budget or picture of what your assistant handles.

Dear Kathryn:

Not only is my company deserting my staff and me by going under in thirty days, I'm also worried about our being able to continue our medical insurance.

Only fifteen of us are employed and I'm nervous we won't be offered COBRA. Is there a law that would guarantee us COBRA even though they're going bankrupt? Hopefully your answer will be positive, I can't deal with one more bad thing these days.

DAN B., Guilford, CT

DearDan:

Unless your firm averaged more than twenty people during the course of the last year, your employer will not have to offer COBRA.

Your letter doesn't indicate whether your company suffered layoffs this last year that, just now, have resulted in fifteen employees. If fifteen's been the average number employed this last year COBRA is not an option.

While good interim major medical insurance is available, I suggest focusing on making the next thirty days count, getting real aggressive in your job search.

As what you can do for your staff: offer to provide reference letters and off-hours training that could benefit them in their new job search. Any new skill or equipment knowledge will only help make them more marketable.

Dear Kathryn:

Some employer's I'm interviewing with are promoting their Medical Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA's). I come from a small company so really don't know if that perk is a real valuable benefit or not. What's the scoop with this?

HOLLY R., Orange, CT

Dear Holly:

FSA's are indeed one of the best benefits provided by employers! Medical FSA's provide plan participants the equivalent of a tax deduction for medical expenses that wouldn't be deductible, by letting participants pay for them with pretax dollars.

At the beginning of the year, you decide what portion of your earnings to deposit into your FSA. The money is used to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses. Using an FSA to pay medical expenses is better than deducting them as the funds deposited in an FSA escapes income tax and Social Security tax. Word of caution: any money you deposit and then don't use before year-end is lost.