Gift: New Job for 2009

It's official as of this morning..I will be switching to a brand new full-time job with a completely different employer starting in mid-January 2009. This new one is a public sector employer with a corporate culture that does try to did a little abit more for balance of work-personal life. My current job is a contract with private firm.

In January I also will celebrate a milestone birthday (50). So right now it feels like a triple gift: Christmas gift, New Year's "gift" and birthday gift.

Oh yea, remember my birthay falls on same day of a niece who will turn 1 yr. old. Just for this double birthday alone, January will never be a dull month again!

Orchid

Whoo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm jumping for joy at your amazing news. Way to take a stand for yourself and what is best for you.

And welcome (almost!) to the world of 50...I keep finding more and more freedom to be me, with less and less of the "I Should's" ruling my life. Now that, in my mind anyway, is a good thing!

Thanks for sharing your good news...and all your news actually.

Congratulations, Orchid. Great news! I'm really happy for you and celebrating the wealth of reasons to celebrate you!

You so deserve it, Orchid! Hooray for you! I'm glad you are getting what you are worth, or closer to it!

You are a wonderful woman with a great mind and it's always wonderful to see that rewarded!

Enjoy and please share your stories as things change!

Dancer

They have said it all Orchid so I'll simply add for you a resounding:

BRAVO!!

You go girl! Congratulations. What a great new way to start the new year.

thx for your good wishes. It's time for snow dancing for sure!

Wow, Orchid, CONGRATS on all of the above!

Hi Meredith.,..I think it's just us two birdies on the board right now. I read somewhere that you donated jewlery to poor young girls. What a beautiful generous thing to do.

Orchid, congratulations! Wow, that was a surprise. You snuck that one up on us. Did you enter your birthday date in the calendar? Don't forget to do so!

Edelweiss, isn't it some weird hour before dawn in Germany right now? Yes, I donated to the same organization I did last year. I was thinking of giving maybe even more, but I ran out of time and steam. But 75 pieces was good! Maybe next year I'll aim for 100.

Yes, Meredith. Sometimes I'm an early bird. We have had an exhausting two days, so Hubby and I went to bed early last night. Sometimes I don't need more than 5 hours of sleep...I love it when I can sleep 7 hours.

Meredith I am sure those girls are happy to get your jewelry pieces.
Congrats Orchid on your new job.
And 50 is nifty!

orchid, how's it feel to be winding down on the old job?

Congrats on the new one.

What are you doing for the 50th? I just turned 50 in '08. Welcome to the club!

It is very strange for me, to begin a new job...when the work commute time and distance has been reduced by 50%. Now my evenings outside of work ..are longer! And hence I no longer have to leave home so early. Plus my daily work hrs. are in total shorter than previous job.

This means I recover/regain 4.5 additional hrs. of personal time EACH WORK DAY, that I lost in former job!!!!!!!

Looking back, methinks I was in denial on how much personal time was sucked up by working at a former job that located so far out. If I wasn't in denial, I would have been a mental basket case if I thought too much about the insanity of previous job.

This job also provides an option to be on compressed work week, which means working longer hrs. daily but getting every Friday (or Monday) off every 3 wks. Now that I like..

It is a job in the non-profit sector and for employee retention, the employer tries to offer non-salary benefits also.

Orchid -- I certainly hope you are planning to spend at least part of the 4.5 hours you have gained riding your bike. Sounds like you are in a much better situation now. Congratulations.

Yes, cyclinggal I have every intention of returning to round trips of cycling between home and work..when the weather becomes warmer again. Right now it's black ice time in the mornings and evenings. Too risky, I've fallen on 2 different occasions from bike on black ice in the past 4 years. Fortunately I was cycling slowly with no traffic around me at that fallin' moment.

Interestingly, this new employer has all sorts of health and fitness incentives. They have rewards points system where if you rack up enough points from regular forms of exercise one gets gift certificate ..to ie. GAP,etc.

I was shown a gymn with weight machines and elliptical running machines for free use by employees. I must admit this is abit lost on me since I don't even use the stuff in my home building.
But a secured bike storage area, showers, lockers to store bike gear, etc.

Haven't had time to fully explore these wonderful benefits, since am still ramping up with rapid learning of certain things in new job right now.

Dotsie, I haven't a clue how to celebrate the big 50. I'm probably celebrating right now in terms of the latest change and Maui vacation (which the latter I initiated the vacation location switch from Jasper, Alberta.)

Orchid, although a bit late, Congratulations! Sounds like your new position offers many intrinsic values and opportunities for you!

Sounds like a great way to celebrate to me. You're going through a little reinvention which sounds fun.

Do most Canadian employers offer all the healthy living incentives?

Not necessarily, Dotsie. It depends on the organization. Since this organization is non-profit and do need people with certain skill sets to deal with difficult clients, they need to offer certain benefits to retain good employees when the salaries simply are abit lower against some private sector employers.