What should I be making?
I feel weird asking this, and hopefully this is acceptable to ask, but I feel like I'm being undercompensated for what I'm doing.
The business I work for is going for SQF Level 2 Certification. Up until this decision, there really wasn't any sort of QC in the business. It is family run, so everything has always been: "Yep, looks good, send it out".
I was promoted to be the "SQF Practitioner". Obviously I was very excited, as this is a career path and I saw a light at the end of the tunnel for my debt (student loans, car loan, etc). I am working on getting us up to code and SQF Certified within the next year. Those of you who have done it, know it's a ton of work.
The paperwork is now starting to come down from management and it has me concerned. The official job title is "Quality Assurance Technician". There is a huge difference in pay between "SQF Practitioner" and "Quality Assurance Tech".
Since I am implementing an SQF/HACCP plan and getting us certified, is "QA Tech" the correct job title? I'm also wondering what the average compensation (hourly or salary) is for someone implementing a system like this.
Any help or input would be appreciated :) thanks!
Oh, so many variables!
What part of the country are you in?
What's your level of education besides SQF Practitioner?
What's the prevailing wage in your area?
How long have you been in this position?
And here is the real stick in the mud. Or in your eye, as the case may be:
The size of your compensation package depends completely on what your employer thinks your job is worth to the company.
Marshall
You are clearly not earning enough...what figure did you have in mind? If you can play the long game, grab the experience with both hands, try to get some formal training paid for by your company and then when you feel strong enough get the hell out of there.
Experienced quality managers with the right knowledge, experience, mindset and motivation get jobs where they are duly compensated.
Regards,
Simon
To answer a few of your questions at once:
I'm in Wisconsin
College Grad (Bachelor Degree) with SQF Training and passed the exam
I just started this position a few months ago
In my opinion, implementing an entire SQF/HACCP system doesn't fall under a QA Tech's job. It sounds more like something a QA Director would do.
They're giving me a pay range of $14-$17/hour, which feels somewhat insulting, given what I'm going to accomplish for this company.
Pardon the double post. I meant QA Manager, not Director
I think that is very low for what they are asking you to do and your schooling/knowledge.
I agree with Simon, take what you can now, get some formal company paid training and move on.
What I meant by where are you is are you in a rural area or is it more of a metropolitan area? You will be paid more in a metro area...usually
However, I agree: Stay for now, learn what you can, get them to pay for as much training as you can get, move on.
BUT---are you being paid hourly at this rate, meaning will you get overtime, or will you be salaried? That does make a difference. I would shudder to think what I made hourly, given the hours I put in.
I'm in a rural area, currently hourly ($14/hr) with no allowed overtime.
I have been researching job descriptions and what I'm doing here does not fall into a QA Technician position. However, if I look at QA Manager job descriptions, they fit exactly what I'm doing.
I think I'll print everything out and bring it to management's attention. Honestly, I don't think they even know the job that well, so they picked the most basic title they could find.
I feel weird asking this, and hopefully this is acceptable to ask, but I feel like I'm being undercompensated for what I'm doing.
The business I work for is going for SQF Level 2 Certification. Up until this decision, there really wasn't any sort of QC in the business. It is family run, so everything has always been: "Yep, looks good, send it out".
I was promoted to be the "SQF Practitioner". Obviously I was very excited, as this is a career path and I saw a light at the end of the tunnel for my debt (student loans, car loan, etc). I am working on getting us up to code and SQF Certified within the next year. Those of you who have done it, know it's a ton of work.
The paperwork is now starting to come down from management and it has me concerned. The official job title is "Quality Assurance Technician". There is a huge difference in pay between "SQF Practitioner" and "Quality Assurance Tech".
Since I am implementing an SQF/HACCP plan and getting us certified, is "QA Tech" the correct job title? I'm also wondering what the average compensation (hourly or salary) is for someone implementing a system like this.
Any help or input would be appreciated :) thanks!
I am the SQF Pract here at my company (also family run, also going for level 2 certification - Facility Audit is on 6/30) my actual title is Quality Process Coordinator, we did this on purpose incase the SQF didn't turn out to be what we wanted that way I would still have a job here doing other things if we didn't get SQF certified, aka no need for a title of SQF Pract if we aren't certified. That was my bosses thinking anyways. I make 19 Hr w/ ovetime when approved. But I came from an ISO background and thought had I known more about SQF I couldn't of gotten more an hour.
Check out salary.com. You can get the median salary for your job and then also get the average for your area. I live in rural Wisconsin and found our area average is about $20k less than the nationwide average. I did however use both figures to get a very nice 6% raise.
I talked to them and they said since I'm still learning, I'm at the appropriate pay level. My raise will come once I get us certified.
I guess it's time to look for a 2nd job
I'm in the distribution side of produce. My title is Food Safety Coordinator / SQF Practitioner. It took about 2 yeas after being laterally promoted from Receiving Supervisor (more responsibility with no raise) to get us SQF certified. I have been through 3+ years with this company, like what I do but feel I am severely underpaid at high $40's. I also oversee Organics certification, OSHA, Training. etc. We recently hired an individual whom had applied at other companies for a job such as mine and after 4 days one of them offered him $70K. Needless to say he left without notice. Neither of us have a degree but do have the experience to accomplish Food Safety goals. And yes I am looking for better pay.
We provided consulting on SQF Level 2 system development to a company in Wisconsin (bakery). The QA Manager was promoted from within the company and took the role as the SQF Practitioner. We worked on-site for a month with that person and two others to put together their SQF system and begin the implementation process. Management of company asked us what we thought would be a good salery for a QA Manager at their type of company and for what was involved in the SQF implementation and on-going maintenance, etc. Most companies do not pay more for someone with SQF Practitioner experience, many may however pay a bonus for this. All in all the new QA Manager now has a salary at a 100 employee bakery of $75,000 + a benefits package that adds around $25,000 per year to that in tangibles. The funny thing is that management also wanted to know what kind of bonus they should pay the person if they got an excellent on their first SQF audit, they checked out our track record and found that most of our development clients get an excellent on the first audit, but they still left it in place at $10,000 for this year and they will increase it every year going forward.
"try to get some formal training paid for by your company and then when you feel strong enough get the hell out of there."
Your words hit me Mr. Simon. I do all the documentation at work. My friends/sponsor paid all my online training. The factory is family-owned. I guess that i should follow your advice Mr Simon - "get the hell out of there."
Indeed, "Experienced quality managers with the right knowledge, experience, mindset and motivation get jobs where they are duly compensated."
I feel you darrom29.
In spite of this, do not forget to smile :-)
Cheers,
Ray