# Ride For Company Or Not?



## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

This year I'll be riding in the Saratoga Tour de Cure again, but the dilemma I'm facing is whether or not I should ride for my company. Last year they sponsored us by paying our registration fee and also giving us free bike jerseys with the company's logo printed on them. They didn't have to do any of that, of course, but it was a nice gesture. I didn't expect them to do it this year, which is why I began asking my HR reps in January if the company would sponsor us again. If not, it would've given me plenty of time to get donations, and registration would've only been $7.50 instead of the $25 it is now. I asked several times spaced about two weeks apart between requests, and finally I got an answer to my question two weeks ago. The answer was a yes. However, yesterday HR finally sent out the email with the appropriate link for registering with the team, but this time there was no discount code to waive the fee. I immediately emailed HR and asked what the discount code was, and the response was that the company wasn't going to sponsor us this year. Needless to say, I was put out by that contradiction. The HR rep went onto say that she expects the American Diabetes Association rep to be here early next week, and supposedly that person will allow us to register for the cheaper price, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. Either way, I'm going to spend money on registration, but I don't know if I should wear the company jersey considering I experienced what was essentially a textbook bait-and-switch. 

What exacerbates this is the fact that my company has been cutting back on all the little things that make working there enjoyable for the sake of reducing costs. For example, this past Thanksgiving's lunch was really substandard compared to the nice lunch we had Thanksgiving 2012. I also had to work on Christmas, and this time there was no food provided even though there was a full meal given the previous Christmas. They've even gone as far as removing the good coffee and replacing it with this crap that I wouldn't feed to my worst enemy. The $25 registration fee isn't high; it's practically small change for what I make. What really bothers me is the fact that HR was downright lazy in letting me know what the situation was after I repeatedly asked them, because had they given me a clear answer in January I would have had an extra two months to accrue donations. That would have effectively doubled what I'll now be able to get.

What would you guys do?


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

It sounds like either way you're doing most of the leg-work yourself. Therefore, I wouldn't feel particularly obligated to promote your company at the ride. Wear whatever jersey you like.


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## headloss (Mar 3, 2013)

Sounds like HR may be in the dark to some extent. Sounds like there is a new jackass at the top of your company counting beans and spending money elsewhere... sad.

On one hand, contributing to the work team and having a good showing may open some eyes (as opposed to making it look like no one cares if no one joins the work team). Personally, lacking the support, I'd ride alone anyways.


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## .je (Aug 25, 2012)

To me too it looks like someone went through expenses and didn't know much about the sponsorship... should be re-educated! They might come around and sponsor again.

Or else maybe it's a sign of a focus on new strategies and core competencies:


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

Last year I organized an MS ride at our company. Got jerserys and everything made up. Company put up for jerseys but that was really it. Got my biggest donation from a client (who I then picked up one for his charity). But it looks good for you at the company. Wear the jersey.


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## Social Climber (Jan 16, 2013)

Stop whining over the $18, be glad you have a job and show some company spirit.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

Social Climber said:


> Stop whining over the $18, be glad you have a job and show some company spirit.


You must be reading a different thread. Nowhere was there an $18 figure, and nowhere did I whine about the price. This is about a company that has a lazy HR department and bean counters in upper management.


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## rlb81 (Feb 2, 2010)

If you're feeling dicked (seems like you are) then don't do it. I've never been one for school spirit or company spirit so unless they were paying 100% I would be inclined to not support them. Nothing personal, it's just business


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## Bee-an-key (May 5, 2007)

Focus on raising money for a good charity, that is the point. Wear what ever you want, who cares? Leave your job if you don't like it, we are all replaceable, they will not miss you. Start your own company and you can put your company money and jersey into raising funds for a cause. This is obviously a big enough issue to you that you are soliciting advice from strangers, not a big issue to your HR or your company. If you don't like them quit.


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## pone (Sep 19, 2012)

if it were me, if the company didn't want to sponsor me, it wouldn't make sense to fly their colors as if they had.


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

SauronHimself said:


> You must be reading a different thread. Nowhere was there an $18 figure, and nowhere did I whine about the price. This is about a company that has a lazy HR department and bean counters in upper management.


Seems a bit harsh. I mean, do you really know they are being "lazy" or is that just what you want to believe?

As for the bean counters, is the company doing well financially? Is there a forecast for growth? Are there any short or long term R&D needs in order to stay nimble and competitive in the market? is there aging equipment that needs to be replaced? Did you get a raise and/or bonus this year?

My point being there are ALOT of potential factors for what you are seeing as lazy and tight with their wallet.

- Your friendly neighborhood mildly lazy HR guy.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

krisdrum said:


> Seems a bit harsh. I mean, do you really know they are being "lazy" or is that just what you want to believe?


The laziness judgment is also based on experiences coworkers have had with our reps. I started emailing my two reps at the beginning of January, then mid January, then beginning of February, then mid February, and finally the beginning of March when I got my answer shortly thereafter. Except for my final request, the response I always got was that they'd get back to me. What I did differently the last time was CC'ing their boss on my email, and magically they came back to me with answer and in a reasonable length of time.


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## NYC_CAAD (May 4, 2011)

This! Wear a granfondony jersey on the day of the ride..




Opus51569 said:


> It sounds like either way you're doing most of the leg-work yourself. Therefore, I wouldn't feel particularly obligated to promote your company at the ride. Wear whatever jersey you like.


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## Social Climber (Jan 16, 2013)

The $18 was referring to the difference between the $7.50 and the $25 registration fee. So yes, I should have said $17.50. I was rounding.

And I read this to be whining about the fee:

_If not, it would've given me plenty of time to get donations, and registration would've only been $7.50 instead of the $25 it is now. I asked several times spaced about two weeks apart between requests, and finally I got an answer to my question two weeks ago. The answer was a yes. However, yesterday HR finally sent out the email with the appropriate link for registering with the team, but this time there was no discount code to waive the fee. I immediately emailed HR and asked what the discount code was, and the response was that the company wasn't going to sponsor us this year. Needless to say, I was put out by that contradiction. _

Keep in mind that every company is cutting back these days. Better they save a few beans on stuff like this than start laying people off, don't you think?


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

Social Climber said:


> The $18 was referring to the difference between the $7.50 and the $25 registration fee. So yes, I should have said $17.50. I was rounding.


There would be no $17.50 registration fee. It was $7.50 in January, and now it's $25.



Social Climber said:


> Keep in mind that every company is cutting back these days. Better they save a few beans on stuff like this than start laying people off, don't you think?


The world isn't as cut and dry as simply not working somewhere if you don't like the policies, and it's not as simple as accepting cutbacks versus having no job. That doesn't improve anything in the long term.

I was invited by my module managers to be an interviewer for a candidate who applied to our open shift engineer slot. I wanted to gauge his attitude about how he would approach problems if he worked here, so I asked him if he disliked anything at his current company, and he said yes and went on to explain what those things were. I followed up by asking what he tried to do to change those things, but unfortunately he did nothing, so I asked why. His response was that he "didn't think he could make a difference" and that he was also "afraid to rub the wrong person the wrong way and lose his job". Because of the way he answered that question, I did not recommend him for hire, but obviously that decision won't ultimately rest with me. Anyone can kiss your butt in an interview and study certain things to know how to answer any technical question, but that isn't the only thing that makes you valuable to a company in my opinion. To me the people who idly accept negative changes--even small ones--and don't do anything to change their companies' environments positively aren't any different than fast food workers who respond to everything with, "Want fries with that?". Those people are order takers. The working world needs more professionals instead.


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## Social Climber (Jan 16, 2013)

SauronHimself said:


> The world isn't as cut and dry as simply not working somewhere if you don't like the policies, and it's not as simple as accepting cutbacks versus having no job. That doesn't improve anything in the long term.
> 
> I was invited by my module managers to be an interviewer for a candidate who applied to our open shift engineer slot. I wanted to gauge his attitude about how he would approach problems if he worked here, so I asked him if he disliked anything at his current company, and he said yes and went on to explain what those things were. I followed up by asking what he tried to do to change those things, but unfortunately he did nothing, so I asked why. His response was that he "didn't think he could make a difference" and that he was also "afraid to rub the wrong person the wrong way and lose his job". Because of the way he answered that question, I did not recommend him for hire, but obviously that decision won't ultimately rest with me. Anyone can kiss your butt in an interview and study certain things to know how to answer any technical question, but that isn't the only thing that makes you valuable to a company in my opinion. To me the people who idly accept negative changes--even small ones--and don't do anything to change their companies' environments positively aren't any different than fast food workers who respond to everything with, "Want fries with that?". Those people are order takers. The working world needs more professionals instead.


I get what you are saying, but you also need to pick your battles. Is this one the one you want to be known for picking? And are you doing anything about it other than complaining?


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

Sauron, I see where you are coming from. One of the reasons I got into my current profession was just exactly what you describe, seeing something that didn't sit well and trying to do something about it. Armed with a rudimentary understanding I may have gone about it not exactly the right way, and frankly I don't think I made an impact, but it did solidify that I wanted to pursue that type of work as a profession. Quit my job, hocked myself up to my eyeballs and went back to school. Between my education and experience since, as you said it is rarely that cut and dry from the other side of the fence as well. I hope you are taking some positive steps to address what you see as an issue. I hope you also realize there may be bigger fish to fry or other extenuating circumstances that lead to the interactions as they played out.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

I know it's not Thread Dredge Thursday, but I had to resurrect this oldie to deliver some favorable news. 

I initially registered for the 2015 Tour de Cure as an independent rider because of last year's unpleasantness, and because I reached Champion level last year ($1000 or more funds raised) my 2015 registration was free, so I didn't have to rely on my employer's sponsorship at all. Let's fast forward to yesterday. I got emailed by one of the HR reps who was involved in the registration fee fiasco last year, and she asked why I wasn't on the company team this year. I politely explained my gripes and that I didn't feel appreciated for raising the most amount of money on the team ($2200) by a landslide and didn't even get a "thanks for the effort". That's all I really wanted considering nobody else on the team went to those lengths to raise diabetes research funds. The team's original goal was $15000 and was arbitrarily cut in half to $7500 a week before the event because we were nowhere close to hitting the original goal. Now, we did hit the reduced goal by $556, but I explained to this HR girl that we would've been nowhere close to the reduced goal had I left the team. I did my $2200, and the other 33 riders raised $5856. Luckily, this HR girl saw reason and gave me a sincere apology for what happened last year. She also offered to have my name displayed on the TVs in all the entrances as appreciation for raising the most money on the team this year assuming I chose to rejoin it. Bear in mind by this time the 35 riders currently on the team raised only $5095 toward its $10 000 goal, and I was already at $5001 by myself. The team's best guy was at only $588. Perhaps the HR rep's ulterior motive was to have my funds under the team's total, but I don't care. I got an apology and a tiny bit of recognition for putting forth the extra effort, and I'm happy with that.

I guess all is well that ends well?


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## Mcfarton (May 23, 2014)

something is always better than nothing even if it is a day late and a dollar short. 
Great job on the fund raising. I lack skills and experience with it. I truly am impressed with the amount that you raised. Last year I took part in the MS ride and paid most of my charity myself.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

Mcfarton said:


> something is always better than nothing even if it is a day late and a dollar short.
> Great job on the fund raising. I lack skills and experience with it. I truly am impressed with the amount that you raised. Last year I took part in the MS ride and paid most of my charity myself.


This year ended up being more positive. Our fab has a new GM whom people seem to like a lot. I never got any face time with him until last week. He called me into his office for a short 1v1 just so he could meet the guy who raised half our company team's money. At this point I was at $5901, and because he doesn't like odd numbers very much he gave $99 to make it $6000 even. Then he invited me to come to the site leadership team meeting the following Wednesday (yesterday) so I could be formally recognized in front of all upper management. To my added surprise, the GM invited two VIPs for this. One was the regional TdC director, and the other was Angelo Mazzone who owns Mazzone Hospitality and has for several years donated all the food and services to cater the after-ride lunch, the Champions dinner, and the Champions celebration party in August. Those two presented me with a bag full of goodies and clothing, and the GM gave me a framed award. Angelo and the TdC director asked me to be part of their executive fundraising team, and now my company's team captain wants me to be his co-captain so he can focus on organizing training rides while I drive the fundraising.


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## RL7836 (Jun 17, 2014)

Congratulations on a great job raising funds & also getting some decent recognition.

Isn't it amazing the difference a few people can make in how you were treated in back to back years?


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