Don: Of course "saving money" as the sole criterion for all decisions is in vogue now. I hope this is a trend that will eventually go out of style. The school could obviously save money by not hiring an assistant and could save even more by getting rid of you. They could save money by getting rid of the entire custodial staff too. It's a matter of how dirty the building can get and still function and attract students. It really becomes matter of deciding how bad the pianos can get and still maintain their reputation as a first-rate music school. Certain maintenance needs to be done to stay open. I just wish I could hear someone request a report on how good our pianos could get if we did the right things! Schools (and companies) hire custodial workers because if they didn't hire them $100.00 per hour people would have to spend some of their valuable time doing things that $10.00 per hour people could do. If an assistant could do work that would otherwise be done by more expensive outside contractors then that would save money. You might have to go over the records of how much has been spent on outside work in the past to make this case. dave David M. Porritt dporritt at smu.edu ________________________________ From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Donald McKechnie Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 4:46 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: [CAUT] assistant position All, I have been charged with the task of showing how adding an assistant piano tech position here at IC would save the college money. Over the last 6 years I have presented all sorts of information to show how this addition to staff is necessary. While the information is taken in as all well and good, the bottom line for this administration is saving money. (Yes, it is a big political game too but I am the minor player. I have to rely on the deans to play the big game as I cannot get my foot in any further. They simply won't let me in.) All this means is that I must give the deans the best argument possible. In essence, the information I have given in the past (Guidelines, etc.) is considered qualitative. This administration wants to see a quantitative argument. In other words, "Show Me the Money Savings!" At this point I have come up with zip in the way of a good argument. Has anyone out there used a dollars and cents approach that helped or actually worked in your favor? I have managed to come up with words that dance around the basic argument requested. Getting to the actual dollars saved still eludes me. The only approach so far has been to look at the inventory in terms of years of service. The longevity of the piano in the inventory is increased if the piano is maintained regularly. (Meaning reconditioning of some sort and regular repairs.) This is easy enough for the administration to understand but unless I can get my head to wrap around how dollars fit into this tact, I'm afraid it just as useless as my other arguments. Of course a regular replacement program is still needed and that is something a have a better handle on. Any help with the savings? Thanks, Don Don McKechnie Piano Technician Ithaca College dmckech at ithaca.edu 607-274-3908 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20061129/5ca4c3a4/attachment.html
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