Pogajanja: se znamo z delodajalcem pogajati za našo plačo?

Ste kdaj razmišljali, kako se pogajate z delodajalci? Kako se pripravite na pogovor, ki je večini precej neprijeten in stresen? Moja zadnja pogajalska izkušnja je bila precej dobra - dober izid pa je predvsem posledica obsežne in dobre priprave. Kako sem se torej pripravila na pogovor, kakšen je bil izid in kateri dejavniki so vplivali na izid pogovora?

Ko sem se pripravljala na podaljšanje pogodbe pri prejšnjem delodajalcu, sem se začela zavedati, kako pomemben bo ta pogovor - ne nazadnje se naš življenjski stil lahko precej razlikuje, če imamo nekaj sto eur večjo ali manjšo plačo, kajne?

Skok v svet pogajanj

S pripravami sem začela približno dva tedna pred sestankom. Podcasti o pogajanjih, video posnetki na Youtubu, blogi, članki ipd. Nekaj prijateljev, ki vodijo podjetja, sem vprašala, kaj oni pričakujejo od zaposlenih in kako izgledajo dobre in slabe prakse pogajanj. Pozanimala sem se o višini plač svojih sodelavcev in ljudi, ki delajo na tem področju (Glassdoor) in se spoznala s statistiko povprečnih plač v Sloveniji - za občutek.

Pogled z druge strani

Nato sem stopila v čevlje svojih šefov. Kaj oni razmišljajo? Kaj želijo slišati in kaj jih ne zanima? Kaj bi jaz hotela slišati, če bi imela podjetje in zaposlene?

Prilagoditev posamezniku

Strategijo moraš seveda prilagoditi posamezniku - vedela sem, da je ključno, da pri svojih šefih jaz prevzamem vajeti pogovora. Če jaz vodim pogovor, jih lahko pripeljem do točke, kjer jim skoraj ne preostane drugega kot to, da se z mano strinjajo. Če ne bom prevzela vajeti pogovora, pa me bodo oni peljali v svojo smer in meni ne bo preostalo drugega, kot da se strinjam z njimi - to je bila moja predpostavka glede na predhodnje interakcije.

Zapis celotnega pogovora

Da sem lahko vodila pogovor, sem morala imeti seveda precej za povedati, saj tak pogovor običajno poteka vsaj pol ure, pri meni je trajal več kot eno uro. Doma sem si zamislila strukturo pogovora, nato pa za vsako točko napisala vsebino.

Kakšno vrednost prinašam podjetju?

Potem pa na neki točki prideš do plače in imaš v glavi neko številko. Od kolega sem dobila dober nasvet - razmisli, kaj je za to številko, kakšno vrednost prinašaš podjetju. In če te podjetje preseneti z njihovim predlogom, jim postavi ogledalo: kako so oni prišli do te številke?

Je res pomembna samo plača?

Ne, nikakor. Vsebina dela, strast, sodelavci, delovno okolje, priložnost za rast, izobraževanja, vse to je najbolj pomembno. Ko ti je okolje približno ok in se odločiš, da boš ostal, pa je pomemben tudi dogovor o plači.

Kako sem se torej spogajala za 30 % višjo plačo?

Eden od dejavnikov uspeha in del dobre priprave na pogajanja je zagotovo to, da vemo, kaj hočemo in imamo v glavi konkretne številke, ki jih znamo argumentirati.

Pri pogajanjih za višino plače je zelo uporabno, če si zamislimo tri ključe številke:

• Idealna plača (plača, s katero bi bili zelo zadovoljni in ob misli na to dobimo nasmešek na obraz, hkrati pa vemo, da je potencialno dosegljiva in z željami ne pretiravamo)
• Sprejemljiva plača (plača, s katero smo zadovoljni, nismo pa zelo zadovoljni, ampak nam je dogovor ok)
• Najnižja sprejemljiva plača (kaj je minimalni znesek, za katerega smo pripravljeni ostati v podjetju/ začeti z delom v podjetju? Pod kaj zares ne gremo?)

Če se sprašujete ...

Kakšna točno je bila vsebina mojega pogovora?

Katere številke so predstavljale mojo idelano, sprejemljivo in najnižjo sprejemljivo plačo?

Kakšen je bil moj mindset na pogovoru?

Kako sem na pogovor prišla samozavestna in sproščena?

Kaj vse sem se o pogajanjih z delodajalcem naučila s pomočjo podcastov, videov, člankov?

 ... ste vabljeni na delavnico Dober deal ob podpisu/podaljšanju pogodbe za delo, na kateri bomo odgovorili na vsa ta vprašanja, naredili kar nekaj vaj za izboljšanje naših pogajalskih sposobnosti in se odlično pripravili na pogajanja v življenju. Se vidimo v sredo, 15. marca med 17. in 21. uro? Mesta na delavnici se hitro polnijo, prijavite se tukaj.

Izid pogajanj in pogovora

Ob pogajanjih seveda skomuniciramo idealno plačo, ali pa še nekoliko višjo številko - podjetju je večinoma v interesu, da prihrani čim več denarja in od šefov lahko pričakujemo, da nam bodo predlagano plačo poskusili znižati.

Moj izid? Nekje med idealno in sprejemljivo plačo. Bila sem zadovoljna, predvsem s svojo odločitvijo, da v pripravo na pogovor vložim veliko časa - hkrati pa nisem mogla verjeti, kako zelo nepripravljena sem prišla na vse pretekle pogovore glede plače.

Lifestyle changes after burnout: on my way from busy to balanced

Be productive! Be effective! Work hard! Do 1001 things in a day! Create a startup, build a house, have children, volounteer, create an ngo, take care of your family, nurture relationships with your friends, be social, be fun, be loving, be patient, be responsible, be adventorous, be everything.

We live in a fucked up world. We've come to a place where we schedule coffees two weeks in advance and where we can't have a beer with our friends before 7 pm, since it became normal that we work late every day. Party on Friday in unimaginable - we're all way to tired for it. Do you know what I'm talking about? And the worse of all - in the end we don't have the time or energy to have sex. Who has the time to have sex, right? Say whaaat?!?

I'm glad to see that the trend is changing, since I recently noticed some articles that already expose the sick culture of being busy. We're finally getting that being busy isn't a cool thing.
"Tell me you remember you are still a human being, not just a human doing. " is a quote I like from this article. Another one nails it with the title already: Busy is the new stupid.

Since I had a major burnout in November, I've made some serious changes in my lifestyle. Worse things I experienced with burnout:

• I could not stand up to go on a toilet on my own,  I was lying on the couch and Jošt had to pick me up,
• I walked slowlier than a 90-year old person would: I needed 90 minutes to reach a destination I'd usually reach in 20 minutes,
• I had major chest pain everytime I experienced stress - even the smallest stressful situation made my chest felt like it's burning,
• Once my chest pain was so strong that I felt like I'm having a heart attack (later I learned it was a panic attack).

I never imagined that my body can loose all it's phisical strenght due to very high amouts of stress, long work hours etc. I'm sharing my experience so that you can maybe use this strategies to prevent burnout, before it even happens. And note: the fact that you have trouble sleeping is one of the first signs that sth is not okay.

Two important questions I got that inspired me to change:

1. Describe me your lifestyle, asked me ajurvedic doctor on my antistress therapy in Sri lanka in December. I was like: what kind of question is that? But then I kind of said the only word that came to my mind at the moment: busy.

2. Do you take rest? asked me another doctor, that is leading a group therapy for people that have experienced mobbing. I was looking at her and I said: what do you mean by taking rest? I do sleep, right? She smiled and said: do you take rest during the day? We both knew what my answer was.

So, I decided that I want to come to the point, where I answer the question about my lifestyle with the word balanced. And for that, I obviously need to rest more. For some of you that are already taking it easy some of the things I will write may sound completely crazy. For all busy bees - I'm sure you'll be able to relate.

My small steps towards balanced lifestyle:

1. I have empty spaces in my calendar. For the past few years, I didn't have empty spaces in my calendar, at least not during the week. Every afternoon and evening, I did something: hobbies, sports, educational events, meetings, work groups, hanging out with my friends. Although those things are very enjoyable, they require some energy. And even if I as an complete extrovert gain energy from people, it was exhausting. 

2. I am my priority and I listen to my body. Not my work, my friends, my ngos - it's all about me and my energy. When I'm tired, I rest. When I feel like going out on a walk, I go out and take a walk. When I feel sleepy, I sleep. We often do things even if we're tired. I remember going to a late meeting, even though I felt dizzy from the day I had. I never said no to a beer - I mean, that's fun, right? I had to attend all the events I was interested in - othervise I would miss out, you know ... and of course, I had to finish all my work and I stayed longer, if it was needed - it was my responsibility, right?

3. I'm late with some deadlines. For the past few years, I tried to be as professonal as possible with everything I did. I was (almost) always very efficient, organized, productive, proactive. I followed deadlines and often I did more than I was asked. Now, being professional isn't the most important priority anymore. Since I am the priority, I prefer to miss a deadline, if I feel tired. I still feel very guilty, if I take time for myself instead of finishing some work, but I know it's for the best. And you know what I realized? That in most situations, other people are late with deadlines too and the only person worried and feeling very bad about it is me.

4. I do a lot of sports. I grew up in an extremly sporty family, where sport is basically no. 1 value. As a high school student I wanted to show my parents that I'm not following their path and I didn't do that much sports anymore, also during my studies every meeting, educational event, work I had, coffee with a friend, everything was more important than sports. I still mostly did some sports 2 times a week but I find that a bare minimum, since for my family doing sport every day was sth normal. Now, I do a lot of sports and I'm becoming addicted to get sweaty once a day, so I'm at 5-6 times a week at the moment. And it feels great and so natural - I mean, we have 24 hours a day, how could I not take 1 hour to do some sports? Even a walk to the city centre can work and everyone can move for 30 minutes a day - if we want to and if we make it our priority. 

5. I work for myself. I think it's very hard to have a usual 9-5 job (ok, let's be honest, it's mostly 8-6) and give yourself that much care and love. That's why I hope I can maintain what I have at the moment, since it's working out really great. I work less - on one hand, because I simply can't work for 8 hours yet (my doctor said it will take next 6 months to get back to "normal" again) and on the other hand - I don't want to. Who decided that we have to work 8 hours a day? It's a total nonsense. I think I work 4-6 hours a day. I take breaks, I do walks, sports inbetween. And don't get me wrong - I love working and I only do the things I love doing. Still, I don't find it healthy to sit behind the computer for 10 hours a day. So much sitting! So much typing! I need the sun, the air, the trees ...

6. I expect less from myself. I think that with a combination of a society pressure and our own beliefs, we create a deadly high expectations from ourselves: the list of all the things I should do in 2017. WTF? I believe in setting goals, but now I also believe in downsizing them, at least in terms of our achievements. I don't mean that you have to become a person with no ambitions. I will always stay ambitious - maybe I can just imagine and that I will not start an ngo, startup company, finish my master thesis, create an online movement, read 469 books, attend 16 educational programms - all in one year.

Life isn't going anywhere and it's very hard to be a part of it, when you get sick. So, if I want to take care of others, our society, I first need to take care of myself. It sounds extremely stupid now that I'm writing it and it's so simple - but I guess to had to experience sth really bad to really get it.

There is still a lot of work to be done and I'm working on changing my attitude towards work, managing time etc. But so far, I'm satisfied with the recent changes I've made. And I really hope they are not only temporary - I still need to get over the feeling of guilt for being less productive, feeling of losing time since I haven't launched xy project yet even though it's a great idea etc. But at the moment, I wouldn't describe my lifestyle as busy anymore. I wouldn't describe it as balanced either, but I'm going there or at least I'm going somewhere away from busy.

Bizarosvet uporništva: kako se kaznuje kritično in kreativno mišljenje v osnovnih in srednjih šolah

V osnovni šoli sem bila bolj ali manj piflarka. Pač, odlična, čeprav vseeno malo problematična v smislu vedenja. Nisem imela vsega 5, največ problemov pa sem imela zaradi predmetov, ocenjevanih z MU, U, ZU. V srednji šoli sem bila za gimnazijo Vič čudovito povprečna prav dobra, z nekaj "vedenjskimi težavami".

Ko gledam za nazaj, sem ponosna na svoja dejanja, zaradi katerih so starši nekajkrat prišli v šolo. Takrat tega nisem razumela, razumela pa me ni niti okolica - starši so hodili v šolo, učiteljem sem se morala večkrat opravičiti. Z vsem, kar sem počela, sem zagovarjala svoje vrednote, izražala mnenje, se borila za svoj prav.

Ne bom se poročila 

V četrtem razredu OŠ smo imeli kolesarski tabor v Cerknici. En večer so si učitelji športne vzgoje zamislili poroke, izbirali so sošolci. Izbral me je sošolec, ki mi res ni bil všeč. Imeli smo dve izbiri: ali se poljubiš ali pa spiješ zvarek. Takoj, ko sva bila na vrsti za poroko, sem spila zvarek (mislim da olje, kis, sol ipd.). Nato pa je on vseeno rekel, da se hoče poljubiti. Kakšen nateg, sem si mislila. Pa res ni mi bil všeč. In potem sem pobegnila iz tistega lesenega jurčka nekam v gozd, nekaj sošolcev pa za mano. Cel žur.

Vislice pri tehniki

Pouk tehnike v osnovni šoli. Kot oseba, ki ji natačnost, preciznost in rutina ne leži, mi je šlo kotiranje seveda na bruhanje, prav tako pa nisem videla nobenega smisla v tem. V 7. razredu smo dobili priložnost, da nekaj izdelamo iz lesa. Večina sošolcev je naredila stojala za CD-je. Jaz sem izrezala dve človeški figurici in vislice. Prva oseba je bil takrat aktualni George Bush, druga pa učiteljica zgodovine. Odziv: panika. Urša je nasilna in se čudno izraža. Mami, oči, hitro v šolo. Ker sem pri tehniki dobila MU in nisem hotela "popraviti" svojega groznega izdelka, sem se mogla učitelju opravičiti. Namreč, če si imel nekaj zaključeno MU, nisi mogel biti odličen. Mislim, da mi je s težkim srcem dal U, za kazen pa sem mogla dodatno kotirati.

Ženska s kosmatimi nogami

Pouk likovne je bil na OŠ Valentina Vodnika res nekaj posebnega. Učenci so risali v stilu, ki je ustrezal učiteljici, med poslušanjem ene in iste skladbe (Vivaldi, 4 letni časi), ZU so dobivale samo učenke, ki so kasneje pristale na ALUO. Enkrat proti koncu OŠ smo delali kipe iz gline. Naredila sem žensko, ki leži na brisači. Da bi stvar dobila pomen oziroma družbeno sporočilo, sem dodala debele kocine, ki sem jih nalepila na noge. Odziv: groza, norčevanje iz umetnosti, nespoštovanje učiteljice, sedi, MU.

Saj bo imela itak 5

Pri pouku zgodovine sta bila v 6. razredu vprašana dva sošolca, ki sta bila po šolskem uspehu pri najmanj in najbolj uspešnem v razredu. Njuno znanje se na presenečenje profesorice ni preveč razlikovalo, oba sta znala nekje za 3. Profesorica je nato dodelila ocene: "problematični" sošolec je bil 3, "piflarka" sošolka je dobila 5. Debelo sem pogledala in se začela pregovarjati s profesorico. Ne spomnim se točno, kaj mi je rekla, večina razreda je že odšla ven. Spomnim pa se, da mi je rekla: "Itak bo imela "piflarka" na koncu oceno 5". V šoku sem rekla, da se mi to ne zdi fer in še jaz zapustila učilnico.


Ojoj, neurejen zvezek

V srednji šoli smo imeli res neverjetno slab pouk angleščine in profesorico, nad katero se je pritožilo več generacij učencev, vendar je ob prihodu komisije profesorica izvedla dobro uro pouka in vse je bilo enako še naprej. Enkrat je začela težiti glede mojega zvezka, ki je bil precej porisan (od dolgčasa), platnice so razpadale ipd. Skratka, nepomembno, še posebej za znanje angleščine. Skregali sva se, moj oči je prišel v šolo, bila sva pri ravnateljici, ki je rekla, da sicer ve, da je profesorica problematična, ampak, da zahteva opravičilo, sicer lahko dobim ukor. Mislim, da sem se opravičila.

To je le nekaj zgodb, ki vse nosijo isto sporočilo: če ne boš priden in poslušen, boš dobil po prstih. Spoštuj avtoriteto, sicer se ti bo slabo godilo. Tudi moj oči je bil izjemno problematičen mulc in njegove zgodbe so me kot otroka vedno zabavale. Enkrat se je odločil, da bo imel vse predmete v OŠ zaključene z zadostno, dve, iz fore. Težavo je imel pri gospodinjstvu, kjer se je učiteljica odločala med 3 in 4. Ko je rekel, da bi imel rad zaključeno 2, je seveda čisto znorela. Na faksu se je zresnil in imel predvsem 10ke.

Dragim profesorjem, učiteljem, izobraževalcem

Na srečo sem v otroštvu prebrala celo knjižnico, med mojimi najljubšimi knjigami pa so bile Mala pošast Mici, Ronja, razbojniška hči, Harry Potter. Vsem je skupno to, da so junaki malce nagajivi, ampak s tem nikoli ne mislijo slabega, zadaj se skriva dobro srce. Dobre knjige sem brala, knjige so kalile mojo domišljijo, predvsem pa so oblikovale tudi moje vrednote: kdo je zate junak? Kaj je uspeh? Kaj je prav, kaj je narobe?


Dragi šolski sistem, verjamem, da se je v teh letih marsikaj spremenilo, 20 let je minilo, odkar sem prvič prestopila vrata OŠ, pred 10 leti sem zaključila gimnacijo. Mislim, da lahko, če malo posplošim, povem to: osebe, ki so se v šoli za kaj borile, ki so izražale mnenja, ki so se postavile zase - tem ljudem gre tudi v odraslem življenju precej dobro. In če kdo naredi politika na vislicah ali žensko s kosmatimi nogami, ga morda lahko karierno usmerite v debatne krožke, družboslovje, politologijo, sociologijo, filozofijo. Ocena MU nosi sama napačna sporočila.

Perks of travelling the world

(Almost) everyone loves travelling, at least people I know. Exploring new places, eating new food, meeting new people, discovering new cultures, trying out new things. Exciting. Most of us really enjoy the escapism of travelling, go somewhere, forget about our current problems, relax, deal with stress, recharge, sleep, reflect, set some goals, get some ideas, deepen your connections with other people around you.

I often went somewhere, because I saw a preety picture and I said: OMG!! I'm so going there. But then it wasn't about the picture. Now I remember the experiences, people, nature and most of all, I remember the feeling that one place gave me.

I experienced quite some crazy things so far, mostly with Jošt. We were crawling in mines in Bolivia at 4300 m, hardly breating. We road the bike on the most dangerous road on the world, from snovy mountains at 4000 m to th jungle at 700 m. We spent countless hours on shitty indonesian busses, changing tyres, pushing the bus, sitting with chickens etc. We saw orangutans on Sumatra and slept in the jungle on the floor. We discovered a paradise near Sumatra at Tailana island and I cried when we left. We dropped on a wedding on Lombok, Indonesia. We swam with 10 meter long whale shark on Philippines. We were riding a motorbike in Philippines (3 people on one bike), driving 100 kph without helmets. We were scared of dying on the boat ride from Flores to Lombok - the ocean was super rough at night. In Indonesia, we saw mantas while snorkeling and in Malaysia, we saw small sharks and turtles. In Sri lanka, we saw a python crossing a road just in front of our eyes. We tried chewing coca in Peru. I also lived with vietnamese family in Hanoi, saw icebergs in Iceland, talked about sex with girls in Azerbaijan etc. And of course, we met a bunch of really interesting people on the way, ate the best food in our life, connected on a whole other level, talked for 20 hours in a raw and I could go on. It's been 11 years since I first went outside Europe (Cuba, 2006) and my travel list is still very long.

But ... travelling was not about all those experiences.

I see travelling as a school of life. It made me more aware of our planet, nature, beauty and power of earth. We're so small, when we see ourselves and the ocean, mountains, amazon forest. Travelling makes me feel alive and at the same time ashame, since I come from a place where I have everything.

Travelling makes me feel. Travelling makes me feel like a global resident. Travelling makes me appreciate things I already have in my life, since I have so much more than most of the people.
Travelling makes me rethink capitalism. People in southeast Asia are mostly much happier than people in Slovenia or Europe. They work much less and spend more time with their friends, family. Some of them don't know the word stress. I'd say that is preety healthy attitude towards life.

So, the last time I was flying home from Asia, I was wondering: how can I create life, that brings out the best from both western and eastern culture? Can I even live in western world and apply eastern principles? Can I live in eastern world and apply western principles?

In the light of recent events (Trump, Brexit, fear of muslim etc), most importantly, travelling makes me understand other cultures. I have muslim friends. Some of the most friendly people I've met in my life were muslim. They seem way more openminded than most christians I know. Maybe it's not easy to have this kind of attitude, if you haven't met them. So go, if you can. Go, travel. Don't go to Europe, don't go to US or Australia. Go to countries with a truly different culture, different religion. And observe, how much will you change your world views, your empathy, your love towards all people that live on earth.

I'm sure some of you might be thinking - right, Urša, I don't know where you got the money, but it's not so cheap to go to Asia. My answer would be: it's all about priorities. My priority is travelling. I spend everything I have for it (ok, and education). I have a smartphone for 70 eur and it works. My laptop is not Apple and it's great. I don't buy clothes that often. If you own iphone6 and an Apple computer, that probably cost you 2000 eur. The cheapest trip we ever had cost us 1000 eur all together for one month - Sumatra and Bali, Indonesia, including plane ticket. You can travel cheap if you want to.

I can't wait to go on a bus, train, plane again. Currently I really need to escape and travelling can give me exactly what I need - change of environment, recharge, stressless lifestlye, books, conversations, sports, time to think, sleep a lot, eat good food and have fun. So, where are you going next?

Time for a good deed: Ranga's story from our Sri lanka journey

In the end of October I discovered a small piece of Sri lanka with Jost. It's has been on our travel list for a while and it exceeded all our expectations. I expected that it will be quite turisty and that locals will be very money oriented. It was nothing like that. We were often the only visitors, since we arrived in the highlight of the low season. We had only 1 day of rainy weather, we met some incredibly friendly locals and we had the best food, yoga class, massage and surf ever. We also finally had the time to really talk to each other, reflect on life, set some goals and make some decisions for the future.

 Sri lanka, we're coming back ...

Our first stop was Unawatuna, a small village near Galle in the south of Sri lanka. In Unawatuna, we really had fun. We met all these amazing international people, that were mostly the same age. So we talked about life, made fun of stuff, shared travel stories, organized shared picnics, drank beer and dreamt about plans for the future. Everyone was very openminded and likeminded, so I felt like home, like I could stay there forever and become a part of this community.

Happy international mix: USA, Chile, GB, Netherlands & us

In Unawatuna hostel, they also had very friendly staff. One of the staff members was Ranga. He is a rikshaw driver and a tourist guide. He took us to a jungle beach the first day and picked up us again in few hours. He also took us to Galle and we went shopping and he helped us with money chaning etc. We really liked him, he was fun, friendly and organized.

Jošt, Ranga & Urša & yummy coconut

 Insight in Ranga's lifestyle

Ranga is a simple person, wanting to make the most out of his life to be able to create a better life for his children. He used to work in a clothing factory, where he became a manager. Even with that position he still earned 200 eur a month, which was disappointing for him. That is more above average salary in Sri lanka, but as you can imagine, it's still nothing. He can live an okay life with this money in Sri lanka – he can educate his kids, buy sth nice for his wife, take care of his family. He can't travel outside of Sri lanka since it's too expensive for him. I felt that for him it's enough that he likes his job and that his kids are healthy. The next day we hired Ranga for a whole day trip. We liked him since he was super friendly and talkative and he really knew the good places. He took us to turtle farm, herbal farm, Kogalla lake, fruit market, tea plantation and it was a really nice and comfortable trip – much more comfortable than renting a motorbike due to possible rain sour newhowers and numerous road accidents and crazy bus drivers. On the way back to Unawatuna we stopped at his family house at a very random place in a village in the middle of the rice fields with only few houses there, chickens, dogs and palm trees. It was the best part of the day, since we actually got to see the house of his family and meet them.

 warm welcome to their family

They were the simpliest, happiest and most generous people ever. You could see that they don't have much – furniture in the house was simple and a big rice field next to the house showed that they are farmers.

 Guests, welcome @ Thiththagalla, Ahangama 

We met five people – two older men, that were super skinny. I asked why is that and Ranga said that it's normal if you work on the field your whole life. True, they are very skinny but also very muscular, they seemed strong. Then there was an older women, that was hiding behind everyone most of the time, she seemed quite shy, she is Ranga's wife mother. Then there was a younger women, Ranga's wife sister, that was pregnant and her 8-year old child. He was very shy but also super excited that we were there. They treated us like a king and a queen – they cut some fresh coconuts and brought us some bananas straight from the tree. We were talking only with Ranga and he was translating – nobody else spoke any english. 

 They treated us like friends

When we were leaving, Ranga told us that his wife's mother is very sick, that she has cancer and that it's very stresfull for him and his family. When we arrived back to Unawatuna, we paid everything and gave him some small money for his family and his wife's mother.

Our comfortable life continued and we headed further down south – Ranga took us to Weligama, cute fishing and surfing village. On the way we also stopped to take some pictures, see the sunset and we got some food in the bakery. 

 Ranga's rikshaw

In Weligama, we decided to stay in a nicer place right next to the beach. We decided that we deserve it and anyway it was still very cheap for western standards – 40 eur a night for 2 people with breakfast. It just seems expensive, since we spent a night before in a place for 10 eur a night and it was just fine.
Then I was thinking – why the hell did we give only 20 eur to Ranga to help his family but we don't have a problem to spend more on our accomodation, have a nice dinner, buy nice souvenirs ... ? Of course we are egoistic people and it's our money. We worked hard for it. But Ranga also works hard, often 12 hours a day. He doesn't have much – he has a house and his kids go to school. He drinks a beer with his friends. Just like we do. But he doesn't travel the world or have any of the western luxuries.

 School in Sri lanka (not quite the European classroom, right?)

Two weeks ago, Ranga contacted me on Facebook. He told me that situation with his wife's mother got worse and that she needs a big operation soon. I immediatly felt like – seriously, you are asking me for money now? Why, Ranga, why? But then I was thinking. I would do the same. I mean he saw that I bought a dress for 50 eur. That is ¼ of his monthly salary. I saw the look on his face when I bought the dress. I felt a bit ashamed and I explained to him that 50 eur is normal price for a nice dress in Europe or even a cheap price for a designer dress I got for for special occasions.

 My srilankan dress that cost 1/4 of an average srilankan salary

Operation needed: cancer on uterus

So I decided to get more information about his wife's mother operation. She has a cancer on her uterus, so they will probably have to take out her whole uterus. For slovenians, it's called: endometrijski rak telesa maternice.  Ranga said that the operation will cost $1700 and that it has to happen quickly.

How much money is $1700 for someone from Sri lanka?

If we imagine that an average salary in Sri lanka is $150 that makes around 10 salaries for the operation. It's like is Slovenia with an average salary of 1000 eur you'd have to pay 10.000 eur for the operation. For the higher class, it wouldn't be the problem at all. For the middle class, it would depend, but most of the people would gather money on their own or with the help of friends and family. Our lower class would have a problem paying 10.000 eur and they would probably need help. In reality, they wouldn't need help, since our health care system takes care of someone with cancer. In Sri lanka unfortunately they are not there yet. And we can't blame them – we conquered them for centires, Portugese, Dutch, Britains took their amazing natural resources, while locals stayed on farms.

It's time to do sth nice: let's help Ranga's wife's mother, D. Malani

 

So, you see where I'm going. We are helping Ranga's wife's mother. Why? Just because we can. Ranga can gather $500 from his savings, family and friends. Imagine it as a lower class slovenian family gathering 3000 eur. He is still missing $1200. Me and Jošt will pitch in with 100 eur each. So we still need only 1000 eur.

 

Ranga's wife mother, D. Malani

Is 1000 eur a lot to save a life? Maybe. I don't think so.

Is giving 10, 20, 50, 100 eur a lot?

Depends on your income. 10 eur is few coffees or one evening in Ljubljana center, drinking hot wine. 20 eur is a lunch for 2 people. 50 eur is a nice Christmas gift for your family – 4 tickets for the theatre show. 100 eur is a new winter coat.

Can you give up any of this?

I believe we all can, if we want to. I know that it's different for you and that you're not as motivated as I am to help Ranga; you don't know Ranga, you probalby didn't visit Sri lanka and maybe you've never been to a »third world« country.

If you've been anywhere in Asia you are aware of the luxury life we live in Europe. We have everything – in materialistic sense – houses, cars, we travel, we experience 1000 different things, we eat out, we attend mediation courses, eat fancy food, invest in our personal development.

Srilankan people have everything – connection with their family and friends. Love of their homeland. Much better work life balance. Respect for nature and natural resources. And comparing to the rest of southeast Asia, they are just as hardworking as we are. They try hard. But they don't have an environment, social rights, social system, health system, that would support them.

I don't know exactly what will happen to Ranga's wife mother, if she doesn't get the operation. But we don't need to come there. I believe that we can help her get this operation. 

So, who is Ranga's wife's mother, D. Malani from Thiththagalla, Ahangama? 

She is 52, she lives in Thiththagalla, Ahangama, South Sri lanka and as you can see on the picture, she looks much older that 52 years old due to her illness. She has two sons and a daugther and 3 grand children with the 4th one of the way. Her husband is sick as well, he has astma and he can't work anymore. They live only from the support of their children.

 Ranga's daughters, D. Malani granddaughters

You'd like to help? Great!

 We will collect donations until 25th of December. When we collect 1000 eur, I will send money to Ranga's bank account and his mother will have the operation. I will update you about everything that will be going on with Ranga's wife's mother and you can expect pictures of her after the operation. In case we collect less than 1000 eur I will talk to Ranga if less money helps or not and together with you I will decide what to do with the money in this case. If you donate 10 eur, we need 100 people.  If you donate 20 eur, we need 50 people. If you donate 40 eur, we need 25 people. If you donate 1000 eur, we are done. :)

Also, if you visit Sri lanka, Ranga can arrange you a visit to his house, you can meet his mother and maybe even stay in Unawatuna hostel. I can also send you a copy of her medical report - I didn't want to add it to the blog, since it's a preety personal thing, but I can share it with you, if you need it to double check.

Good deeds, good karma. Merry Christmas and please share this blog, thank you!

Ursa, Jost & Ranga

From 9 to 5: (How) will generation Y change (slovenian) work culture?

I’ve been working for more than 10 years now. Not full time, obviously, but I had a bunch of student jobs. Since 2011 I earned more than 20.000 eur with my student jobs. But it was not about the money - it was about gaining experiences, discovering what I really want to do, what is important in a job for me on as a part of my never ending dream job hunt mission. I made in depth analysis of learning outcomes from each job I had - in terms of job expectations - and shared some thoughts on how will we, generation Y, change the work culture forever.

It's all about expectations

I’ve been thinking a lot about job expectations lately. What does an employer expect from me, what are their fears, wishes and what do I expect from them, what do I wish, what do I fear. I also realized there is a huge mindset gap between generation Y and older generation. As Petra said last week in her TEDxUL talk, we as generation Y have a huge need for purpose in our work. We also crave diverse work, autonomy, big picture, impact of our work on society, receiving feedback. We are quite needy, older generation would say. But I would say back to them - you are quite crazy, staying in a job you don’t even like for 40 years.

I think that for our parents it was about receiving salary in the end of the month, so they could live well. Now, we also want this, but we also want much more. Our parents had it much simpler - as long as their job allowed them to go home at 4 pm so they could pursue their hobbies in the afternoon and take care of their family, it was enough. Also, ideal situation for every company, having employees with low expectations and lack criticism.

The expectations we have today are quite overwhelming - definitely for the companies, but sometimes even for ourselves. On one hand we want purpose, impact, autonomy and on the other hand we just went through a big recession, where even some of my brightest friends, that gained a lot of experiences as students, searched for a job for more than 6 months.

Zmelkoow: BIT  - the point of life is lying at the beach …

In high school I was dreaming about a job, where I wouldn't have to work. Someone would pay me to spend time on the beach. Well … I quickly realized, that you have to work in life, especially if you don't want to live with your parents forever. With Zois scholarship I had I also realized that you can buy stuff with money and above all, you can travel if you have money. Lost in life, without any awareness of my passions or strengths, I applied to communication studies at FDV.

ŠS PRSS - school for life

In my first year of college I  developed a very important goal: to discover, what I want to do in my life. I can’t remember what exactly triggered this goal, but for sure ŠS PRSS (student PR society) had a lot to do with it. I was attending educational lectures called PRedigra where I was listening to different professionals presenting their jobs.

I always had a question :D

I realized that as a student of communications I can do sooo many different things (from project management, copywriting, dealing with media etc.). There was too much choice and I had no idea how can I decide. That's why I got involved in many student projects, that helped me raise my self awareness regarding my strengths, weaknesses and wishes for the future.

ŠS PRSS was not about gaining PR knowledge. Most importantly, I learned how to manage my time, organize events,  communicate with people, motivate the team etc. 7 years ago I was horrible at all of those things. I was an annoying, smart ass egocentric person and a quite horrible team member. Not saying that I'm awesome now, but there are some changes.

Shaping my expectations

Besides student projects I always had a student job  - due to my studies I had a lot of time for different student jobs. All those jobs very much more than a source of finances - I was gaining experiences and I developed a sense of what I like and don’t like in a job. I have a quite detailed list of what I want from a job today. I could not come up with this list, if it wasn’t for 10 years of experiences from a range of students jobs I had. Some of you might be thinking - you are expecting too much, you are young, you should adapt. Sure. But I was adapting for the past 10 years already. Now I allow myself to have high expectations. And I do not expect that any job will cover all of those expectations. At least not soon.

What I wish for in a job:

• My idea of an ideal full time job is 30 hours a week with unlimited unpaid vacations or at least 35 days of paid vacations
• Having a great mentor, that supports me, gives feedback and inspires me as a leader
• Working with a team of people, that are smart, fun to work with and have similar values
• Working in environment, that supports improvement, is open to change, flexible work hours, healthy lifestyle, work life balance, uses new technology, respects your values etc.

I am glad to say that my current job covers numbers 2 and 3 very well and it partially covers number 4. I am working on improving number 1 and number 4.

My smart ass message to generation Y regarding our work attitudes:

• explore and observe yourself, what do you want, what you don't want, if you didn’t do it as a student, start today, it’s never too late,
• recession brought a very unhealthy feelings into our society meaning you should accept every job there is (it’s better to search longer than settle for a very shitty job),
• you can have high expectations towards your job, except in a case when you either do not have any work experience or you do not have any financial security - in those two cases, take any job you can get,
• If you are not satisfied with your job, start looking for a new job,
• You can always quit your job and get a new one,
• Change jobs until you find the one, where you wake up in the morning and are happy to go there
• We have the power to create a new set of work ethics: respecting work life balance, private life, having a freedom towards where and when you work, having an option to bring your values to the workplace, creating 6-hour work day, creating new standards in the area of soft skills (nonviolent communication practices as sth normal etc.), treating people as human beings etc.

How did I come up with my wish list?

From each student job I had, I learned sth. Not just content-wise, but it also shaped my attitude towards work. I checked my “študentski servis” account and since 2011 I earned more than 20.000 eur through student work. OMG, where is all my money? Right, I invested it in travelling and education. Best decision ever. Of course, I was very lucky with my Zois scholarship and the fact that I lived with my parents until I graduated helped a lot.

Make your own list of your learnings

You had a lot of jobs so far. Volunteer, paid, student, regular, freelancing, whatever. If it makes sense to you, follow the method and analyse your previous experiences. This can help you shape your expectations towards your job. Next time you get a question on a job interview regarding your expectations, it will be a very easy question to answer.

Stop reading, if you're not interested. Seriously, this will go on for a while. I shortened it 4 times. It's still long.

My student jobs from 2004 - 2015

Delo tiskarna

When I was 15, I had my first paid job. I got 600 tolars (around 3 eur) per hour.

• I don't want to do physical work, standing 8 hours a day is horrible,

• I hated the routine, creativity level was 0.

Delo call centre

• Boring job can make you tired (just from being so bored). Horrible. 

Student jobs

Working in a bar

• communication skills are very important for managing choleric people,
• Have an awesome boss in quite awesome; Iztok once said: “This is a job you do besides your studies. You can not work more than 15 hours a week.” Respect!

Cuttysark pizza girl

I was even making pizzas, yes. I took any job I could get.

• people that worked there had totally different mindset and I could not relate to the content of their conversations at all. Do not want to work with people like that.

Promotions in big supermarkets

• If I'm not interested in the products I promote I'm not motivated to really sell it to the people.

In the end of my first year as a student I realized that I want to gain experiences relevant for the area of communications. I saw that student organization was looking for journalists and I got my first experience of a real selection process.

Journalist at Šouvizija

• work of a journalist is a very dynamic, since you meet a lot of new people, it's never the same, so there is no routine, you learn a lot
• I can learn anything, things I didn't believe I can learn - if someone pushes me to do it - I learned how to use camera, edit videos etc
• I loved the flexibility and the schedule because I could work almost anytime and my coworkers were simply amazing, everyone was under the age of 30, mostly 20
  
  

Want to know how much fun we had at Šouvizija and how openminded was our editor Martin? Check out this video I made: https://vimeo.com/11995225

Receptionist in a hostel DIC

• More work I have, the better. Time passes fast and I enjoy the stress of a long to-do list.

Eventmanager at Prosperia

• having an office in the city centre in very practical to organize other things in life
• I like event management only if I like the content of the event

PR for project Simbioza

• Good leader can motivate you a lot (thank you Žiga)
• some people really don't like if you think too much with your own brain and are proactive, some people love it and some people are allergic to it
• it's important to reach clear financial expectations, volunteering has a limit

 

TBA, Teambuilding academy

• Loved dynamic, creative work, where you don't sit in the office, sometimes we spent a whole day in the nature on a teambuilding programme,
• The team is one of the most important things and there's a huge difference if you work with people, that are your friends or with people, that have a big distance towards you,
• reading academic articles and books for understanding theoretical background of things you do, like managing teams or motivating people is very important and valuable,
• Motivating, energetic and positive boss can motivate you endlessly (thank you Luka),
• If sth is a big part of organizational culture (like attitude towards work-life balance) it's very hard to change this so you either have to accept it or let it go. 

 Luka and other amazing people - TTT4 generation

Youth trainer (freelance)

I was delivering week-long non-formal education trainings for young people around Europe.

• It is exhausting to travel all the time and if you travel all the time it's not fun anymore,

• working abroad means being away from your family, friends,
• I loved the international environment, International people, different opinions, different backgrounds, opportunity to be creative, open-mindedness of teams,
• Most of all I love the feeling that I am doing something that has an impact, participants do not only gain a lot of knowledge, they change their believes, develop their values,
• dependency on public funds such as Erasmus Plus sucks the life and time out of you.

Community manager at FlyKly

I worked in an international startup in a very small team.

• I had a great boss, Niko is great with people, motivating, understanding, fun,
• Niko was very dedicated to his work but he could understand that it's his business, not mine and he accepted that after 5 p.m. I work on my personal projects,
• having a great relationship with your boss can also be very valuable, since he was very open towards my suggestions and ideas,
• I learned that the office location can affect your life a lot: my way to work from Šiška through Tivoli park to Trnovo was meditation on it’s on. 

Public speaking trainer at Dober stik

I took my passion for training to another level and started collaborating with Alenka and Nina.

• it's not a good idea to start a business with someone you do not know very well,

• be very very clear to clear up expectations, team roles, relations, finances, motives,
• Having a wide range of knowledge is something very useful,
• time management, organization, good communication skills are crucial skills for having your own business besides the professional knowledge you gotta have.

Cofounder and trainer at zavod ImpACT

In January, me and Alenka started zavod ImpACT. It is still ongoing and we learned a lot in the past year.

• having some kind of financial security is very important, that you are not stressed by paying your bills in the end of the month (big thanks to our boyfriends and also - playing with startups is a privilege, not everyone can afford that),
• I loved the lifestyle, it was very dynamic; we were developing workshops, delivering workshops, communicating with participants, business partners, attending educational events, having meetings while walking to Rožnik ...
• Even delivering workshops can become a routine,
• As my own boss, I have very high expectations towards myself (very unhealthy),
• having another person my age with the same values and drive as myself is something very inspirational.

Change things. Hunt your dream job. Don’t settle.

To finish this very long blog post, I want to say: develop your self awareness. Explore your interests. Find out who you are, your drive, your values. Search for a job, don’t settle for a first one you see. Develop expectations towards your job. Hunt your dream job. Change the status quo. Push for changes. Improve things. Get your work life balance working just the way you want to. Be happy.