“Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the "right stuff" to turn our dreams into reality.”
Sorenson pays their lowest tier of employees a reasonable $10-$11/hour, which, to some, seems pretty good, especially compared to the $7.25/hour minimum wage. The pay attracts many people to their doors, but the work environment turns people away. The big question is, "Why Do I Stay At SIPRelay?"
Sorenson pays their lowest tier of employees a reasonable $10-$11/hour, which, to some, seems pretty good, especially compared to the $7.25/hour minimum wage. The pay attracts many people to their doors, but the work environment turns people away. The big question is, "Why Do I Stay At SIPRelay?"
With the government/economy in such a mess and getting worse, Sorenson is one of the few places that continues to grow amidst all the conflict. Several times in the nearly five years that I have been there, they have had hiring surges. As a part-time employee, I was always able to increase my hours by picking up shifts for people who wanted the time off. As a full-time employee, the hours are steady.
I looked into Sorenson back in September of 2008 because I needed $500 more to pay my bills. A former piano student who happened to enroll for my music theory class at SLCC mentioned he was working at Sorenson and that my son should apply. Wasn't he surprised when I did instead. When I began at Sorenson, I worked a regular 14 hours/week. I also worked at SLCC teaching three classes, and I had a whopping 26 private piano students. Then, in 2009 with the bailouts, the economy started to teeter, people lost their jobs, and I lost piano students. It didn't happen all at once, but gradually families found they couldn't afford piano lessons anymore. Fortunately, I had Sorenson to take up the slack. I picked up 14-15 more hours per week. Then, when Obamacare was passed in March 2010, and companies had to adjust health insurance and other benefits, the private health insurance I had informed me that the premium would be skyrocketing. That same month I was approved for full-time 32 hour employment with benefits, including health insurance coverage (which is a subject for Tithing Tales.) Sorenson has provided a stability for me that my private piano studio and SLCC, by nature, have not been able to promise.
I looked into Sorenson back in September of 2008 because I needed $500 more to pay my bills. A former piano student who happened to enroll for my music theory class at SLCC mentioned he was working at Sorenson and that my son should apply. Wasn't he surprised when I did instead. When I began at Sorenson, I worked a regular 14 hours/week. I also worked at SLCC teaching three classes, and I had a whopping 26 private piano students. Then, in 2009 with the bailouts, the economy started to teeter, people lost their jobs, and I lost piano students. It didn't happen all at once, but gradually families found they couldn't afford piano lessons anymore. Fortunately, I had Sorenson to take up the slack. I picked up 14-15 more hours per week. Then, when Obamacare was passed in March 2010, and companies had to adjust health insurance and other benefits, the private health insurance I had informed me that the premium would be skyrocketing. That same month I was approved for full-time 32 hour employment with benefits, including health insurance coverage (which is a subject for Tithing Tales.) Sorenson has provided a stability for me that my private piano studio and SLCC, by nature, have not been able to promise.
Yes, the stability is wonderful and necessary for my mental health, but couldn't I have found that in most places?
My two sons have worked at Sorenson. They didn't last longer than several months. Brad worked from September 2012 to April 2013. Jay worked from June 2012 to May 2013, nearly a year. They quit to pursue or find other work. They left on good terms, fortunately, gave their two weeks' notice, which deems them as rehireable. In the few months at Sorenson, they experienced what I had put up with - mindless routine, the caging of an animal to a tether (the computer, the phone). Jay has said that if he returned, he would kill himself. On occasion I actually found myself wishing I could do the janitorial work around there because that job allows them to move. To give SIP its due, every now and then there is something different going on that peaks my interest, and of course, each person's conversation adds a little bit of variety, but it is the same procedure and routine day in and day out and a pile of rules to walk around. And if I have slept poorly the night before and am especially tired, I can't help but sleep between sentences of the conversations. What keeps my interest more than anything else is what I do at Sorenson besides the required work.
Since I work at Sorenson, SLCC, and have my private piano studio of 10-15 students, my workload is heavy. I work 32 + 20 + 8 hours per week. That is approximately 60 hours per week. That doesn't account for the time I spend preparing lessons and grading papers as well as keeping track of each of the student records, which might add up to 10 more hours a week, depending on which time of year it is. Fortunately, Sorenson does not add to my workload after hours. Rather, I am able to complete a lot of the after hours work while I take calls. There are not many jobs that would allow me to do that, and if I found a different job that would allow me to do that, it would probably be something similar.
So, while I sit there, I grade papers (I have figured out a system for grading the concert reports very quickly), plan and review lessons as well as organize what announcements and pre-lesson information I need to present, send out emails to students, research new ideas, prepare my Sunday School Gospel Doctrine lesson, write my family history, add to my blog and my journal, read a book and look up any number of things on the internet, stretch my neck daily, exercise my eyes daily, sometimes walk in place, breathe, and other routine exercises. I try to do as much as I can so that when I return home, I can attend to my children and my house and yard as well as some of my own interests.
Besides the fact that they pay me money, the least amount of the three jobs at this point in time, and give me health insurance, a tenuous subject right now, I have sick leave and vacation pay for the first time in years. Even while managing my own business (piano studio), I never had the privilege of getting sick without having to make up those lessons somehow. I am also able to pay all of my bills, without which I would be crazy stressed. Everyday I would rather stay home, and why not, I am a died in the wool "stay-at-home mom." There are so many things to do at home, but with this job, I can do some of those things while I'm there.
There is a mindset out in the world that I see more and more that there is not a need to do steady, regular work or stay at a job or... I can't even put it into words because I don't understand it. Is it a deficiency in math skills that people can't add up whether the income equals or exceeds the expenses? Or is it the thought or hope that someone else will pick up the slack? Is it that in looking around they see people who have reached a lifestyle of leisure through their choices and hard work that appeals, and they think they should be a part of that? Is it that they are trying to find something that works for them, something they enjoy, something that produces success? Regardless of all of this, life has to be paid for. I've told my son, Brad, who is quite musical, composes and performs, that if he really wants to do music, he needs to get an education and job in something that can make him some substantial income. By maximizing his daytime income, he would then be free to do what he wants in his off work time.
I know there are people out there who wouldn't do this job for anything, but in doing it I have found a silver lining of all that the job provides to me. The main goal is to provide for my family, and even though it's less than interesting work, I am getting the job done.
Besides the fact that they pay me money, the least amount of the three jobs at this point in time, and give me health insurance, a tenuous subject right now, I have sick leave and vacation pay for the first time in years. Even while managing my own business (piano studio), I never had the privilege of getting sick without having to make up those lessons somehow. I am also able to pay all of my bills, without which I would be crazy stressed. Everyday I would rather stay home, and why not, I am a died in the wool "stay-at-home mom." There are so many things to do at home, but with this job, I can do some of those things while I'm there.
There is a mindset out in the world that I see more and more that there is not a need to do steady, regular work or stay at a job or... I can't even put it into words because I don't understand it. Is it a deficiency in math skills that people can't add up whether the income equals or exceeds the expenses? Or is it the thought or hope that someone else will pick up the slack? Is it that in looking around they see people who have reached a lifestyle of leisure through their choices and hard work that appeals, and they think they should be a part of that? Is it that they are trying to find something that works for them, something they enjoy, something that produces success? Regardless of all of this, life has to be paid for. I've told my son, Brad, who is quite musical, composes and performs, that if he really wants to do music, he needs to get an education and job in something that can make him some substantial income. By maximizing his daytime income, he would then be free to do what he wants in his off work time.
I know there are people out there who wouldn't do this job for anything, but in doing it I have found a silver lining of all that the job provides to me. The main goal is to provide for my family, and even though it's less than interesting work, I am getting the job done.
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