My condition makes me very naive, and I also have relatively little "life experience" for someone my age due to my social difficulties.
A friend of mine has expressed concern that I am being taken advantage of by my employer. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that, though I recognize it could be a possibility.
I attend school but am employed in a coop arrangement, where I work part-time during school and full-time during breaks. The job is squarely within my field, everything I wanted to do and I thoroughly enjoy it. The company I work for would be considered small if taken from a pool of all potential employers, but perhaps medium-size for the field and area. I get along well with my coworkers and bosses, who are very happy with my performance and they are not afraid to tell me, and they have expressed heavy interest in keeping me on the payroll after school as a full-time permanent employee.
My friend's argument is mostly about pay. He thinks I should be paid more than I am right now because I am more productive than coop students usually are and I also have more responsibilities that are not usually given to coop students in my field. When I was hired, I did not negotiate my pay at all. Prior to applying, I had a meeting with Career Services at school and asked what the average pay for a coop student was in my field and area, as prospective pay is very rarely disclosed in job ads so I couldn't glean the information by myself. She answered $15/hr, which is what I asked for, trusting in her knowledge of the job market, and I received that without fuss. I have since received a raise to $18/hr. He brought up that new employees at a pretty big regional clothing store are paid only $2/hr less than I am, while I have a considerably more skilled and much more demanding job, where mistakes can be very costly.
I am the only coop student in my place of employment, so I can't compare. Even if I weren't, it is impolite to discuss pay in my culture, except maybe between close friends, as finances are thought of as very private. We are currently facing a general labour shortage in my region (unemployment is under 3%) and my field is in especially high demand. Employers are forced to recruit straight off the school bench as graduates are all employed, which means I would have some leverage. I will conduct more research to determine if bringing up pay with my employer would be a good idea, but to be honest, I would still be reticent to do so.
I have trouble imagining that my employer could not have my best interests at heart. I feel great loyalty to my company as they were the ones to give me a shot when I have had a lot of trouble securing and keeping employment in the past, and I would like to believe that this sense of loyalty is reciprocal, in that they have an interest in keeping a productive employee that they are interested in keeping for the long haul happy. My friend says my viewpoint is outdated and very naive, and from reading this sub, perhaps he's right.
He also thinks my hours are unreasonable (I work 30 hours a week during school, and anywhere from 45 to 60 on breaks) and that my employer is running me ragged but I completely disagree with him there as I have been the one pushing for more work and more hours and expressing interest for more responsibilities. Finally, he has also mentioned that I seem to be mostly left to fend for myself, which is not ideal for someone who's still a student, which is true, as I am given tasks to accomplish and quite a bit of latitude, but I believe that is the nature of the job to a point. Part of the role is the ability to learn on the fly and adapt quickly to new equipment, and no one at work has ever been cross with me for asking a question.
Even if he is completely wrong on the specifics, I appreciate his looking out for me (he knows about my diagnosis) and I realize that there is a possibility my naivety and eagerness might get me exploited without my realizing it. I would appreciate guidance on the pay issue (though I know I have been stingy with details, due to my not wanting to be identified, so that might be hard to do besides banalities - I might be open to disclosing some info, depending on what is being asked) but especially tips on protecting myself in the workplace in general. I don't have a good grasp of office politics or employer-employee relationships and this is a potential minefield for me.
Any input is appreciated. Thank you, and sorry for the long post.
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