Some Choices Are Better Left Unmade

The Guild recently published an On Time about the “Total Rewards Survey.” A Time Inc. official said on July 19 that it is purely coincidental that Time Warner distributed the survey to employees when Guild negotiations are just around the corner. (Our three-year contract with management expires Feb. 1, 2007.)

You’re all probably acquainted with the Total Rewards Survey. In it, among many other items, the company poses a series of choices asking employees to choose among incomprehensible and distasteful packages of wages and benefits. It’s sort of like asking if you’d prefer Chinese water torture to spending a couple of hours on the rack.

When Guild officials noted that the survey smacked of management dealing directly with union-represented employees when contract negotiations are on the horizon, the company said there was no connection. “There’s no correlation with the Guild contract coming due,” a Time Inc. spokesperson claimed.

Management merely wants to see how it stacks up against its competitors, the spokesperson said. Of course, the survey says nothing about other companies’ wages and benefits, so her statement doesn’t make any sense. “The survey is crafted so that, if there are two undesirable packages, which one would you want more?” the spokesperson explained.

In any event, there’s no need to be concerned, the spokesperson emphasized. There’s no requirement for employees to participate in the survey. If employees are concerned about taking the survey, the spokesperson noted, they just shouldn’t take it.

The Guild thinks that probably is good advice. The way in which the survey is constructed doesn’t give you the opportunity to answer, “I don’t want the water torture and I don’t want the rack.”

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07/24/06