Same here. When Hurricane Frances shut down our office for a week in Sept. 2004, I still got my full paycheck.
Being salaried in Calgary is an invitation to a royal screwing. I will fight tooth and nail to not be put on salary at any job I get in the future. What some of you are saying about your time being more flexible doesn’t exist here (well, it might, but I don’t know anyone who’s actually experiencing it) - everyone is expected to work minimum 40 hours a week for the same benefits and flexibility, and if you’re salaried, that just means no OT for you when you have to work longer hours, which is exceedingly common. As I mentioned in a thread a little while ago, Calgary is very much an employee’s market, but we’re all still acting like it’s an employer’s market here and letting them take advantage of us any way they choose.
In the US, given the Labor Dept guidelines, you often don’t have a choice as to whether a given position is exempt or not. It’s based on a variety of criteria, like whether you have autonomy to make decisions, the creativity involved in your decision-making, etc. So the employer may be constrained to make a position exempt or non-exempt even if they don’t choose to.
In my last job I moved up from a part-time hourly employee to a full-time salaried one. In my case the raise I got in the bargain was considerable (about $8.5k) so what I lacked in ability to earn overtime was more than made up for in my salary.
Given the choice between the two I prefer salary. I may not be able to work overitme when the opportunity arises, but the benefits of salary I considered to be far greater:
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Pay stability. Makes budgeting very easy when I know how much I’m going to get on my next paycheque. And the next. And the one after that, too.
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Peace of mind. In line with 1, I don’t have to worry whether or not I’ll be able to afford to buy this or whether I won’t even make enough to cover all my bills.
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Flexibility. If I work a few extra hours, fine, it’s pretty much on my dime. If I have to take some time off – family emergency, doctor’s appointment, etc. – then it’s on theirs. It all pretty much works itself out in the end.
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No punch cards or time sheets! Nuff sed.
One other minor benefit I find is that I don’t really have to worry if I show up a few minutes late – especially because I’m usually 5-15 minutes early every day, so no one gets uptight if it doesn’t always work out that way. This is just my company though, I’m sure there are those who are sticklers for punctuality even if your regular routine involves being early.
I also find that work in a salaried environment typically means you’re trusted more and are left alone to do your job without someone hovering over your shoulder to make sure they’re getting their money’s worth out of you.
I’m pretty sure that only goes one way- the job has to meet certain requirements to be exempt, but there’s nothing to prevent an employer from treating a job that meets the criteria as non-exempt and paying overtime.