Stuart Rodgers Photography
STUART-RODGERS
EMPLOYEES ARE
Dedicated to providing the best service, product and artistic value to
our clients. Our goal is to make
every client pleased with every contact with our company and product received
from us. Staff members here are
treated as adults and equals. As
such, you are expected to make sound business decisions on the job that
contribute to the success of the company, your fellow workers, and yourself.
PARTICIPATION
Our philosophy is built on participation and
involvement. Don’t settle down. Give opinions, seek opportunities and advancement, always say
what you think. Don’t just be one
more person in the company.
Your opinion is always interesting, even if
no one asked you for it. Make your
voice count. Your seed of and idea
can be built upon and grown.
Stuart-Rodgers and its people must strive to
communicate with frankness and honesty. You
must be able to believe fully in what is said to you by your co-workers.
PRIDE
It’s only worth working at a place in which you can be proud. Create this pride by ensuring the quality of everything you do. Don’t let a product leave the company if it’s not up to the highest standards. Don’t write a letter or a memo that is not absolutely honest.
CODE
OF ETHICS
We at Stuart-Rodgers expect to treat all our customers, suppliers and
fellow staff members with absolute courtesy, fairness, and honesty.
At no time should anyone be misled
about our prices, services or policies. We
reserve the right as business people and artists to withhold sensitive
professional information as needed. Therefore,
we will not disclose names of labs that we use, retouching artists, oil artists,
or any other such information. We
will also maintain the right to our copyright privileges and stand up to any
possible customer intimidation in this regard.
Customers under no circumstances have the right to copy any of our work
without written consent.
FULL-TIME STAFF
Sales staff will be scheduled for 5 days per week including a Saturday. You will be expected to be at the office 1/2 hour before the start of business each day and 15 minutes after closing. Production staff have more flexible hours but are responsible for making sure they work the required hours per week.
All staff are required to punch in and out on the computerized time tracking system that can be accessed from any terminal in either office. Failure to punch in or out will result loss of eligibility for bonus pay and commissions.
BENEFITS
FOR FULL-TIME STAFF
Medical and Dental insurance is available through Stuart-Rodgers after
three months of employment. Coverage
is available for employees and their families.
The cost of the coverage is born by the employee for the first six
months. After six months of
service, Stuart-Rodgers will pay one half of the individual coverage (not
family). These payments will be in
the form of payroll deductions.
DRESS CODE
As another part creating a professional and positive experience for all of our important clients, we are instituting the following company dress code. During working hours, this code is to be followed:
Production and back room staff:
 | Jeans and otherwise casual attire is appropriate |
| No clothing with words, characters, symbols or pictures |
Studio Sales and Photography Staff:
| Business Casual Attire |
| No clothing with words, characters, symbols or pictures |
| For men: slacks and polo or button down shirt, no tee shirts or jeans |
| For women: dress slacks and a dress blouse (no bare shoulders) or below the knee skirt with a dress blouse (no bare shoulders) or dress (no bare shoulders). No tee shirts or jeans. |
Weddings and corporate candid events:
| Dress to the level of the guests. If it’s black tie for guests, we are black tie, if it’s business attire for guests, we wear dress slacks, a white button down shirt, tie and dress shoes. |
| I feel for Black tie events a woman should be a little dressier than white button down following the above rules. |
Schools:
| Same as studio sales and photography staff |
Location Sittings:
| Business casual is generally appropriate unless you will be shooting at a formal event in which case you will need to match the event attire |
General rules:
| All tattoos are to be covered |
| All piercing other than ears need to be removed or covered |
| For women long sleeve blouses are recommended |
| No clothing with words, characters, symbols or pictures |
Evanston rules for attire and traffic on the sales floor:
We are creating a sales, photography and marketing environment here that stresses professionalism, service, empathy and attention to detail. As part of that image, we ask that if you are on, walking through, or in any way close to the sales floor, you be dressed appropriately for it. That means, if you are dressed casually:
| If you need to talk with a salesperson, ask them to come to your desk, do not go to theirs |
| Use the back stairs when possible, not the front stairs |
| Use the upstairs kitchen area |
The goal with this is to continue improving and professionalizing our image at the client contact level. It will also reduce traffic through the sales areas which will improve the clients experience as well.
SICK
LEAVE
As in any service organization, it is necessary that each employee assume
the responsibility for the work assigned to him or her and complete this work
on schedule. Needless to say, when you are sick and not at work, it throws
a heavy burden on your fellow workers. To have the Sick Pay reflect the working
environment and individualize the burden that absences place on co-workers,
the sick leave policy will be as follows:
You are entitled to one sick day during each
calendar quarter. They do not
accumulate. One sick day per calendar quarter is payable.
More than 1 sick day taken in a quarter is not payable.
Paid sick leave is allowable after three months of employment.
Time when you are out sick will be paid at
1/2 your normal salary. It can
never be used as overtime.
If
you have had no absences, you will be paid of bonus worth 3 full days salary.
If
you have taken one day, you will receive a bonus worth 2 full days of salary.
HOLIDAYS
You must be employed full-time for three months before holiday benefits
can be paid. New Year’s, Memorial
Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will all be paid holidays.
If any of these falls on a day when you are normally off, you will
receive another day off. To receive pay for the day, all full-time staff members
must be here the day before and the day after a holiday unless you are on
approved vacation time (if it is a regularly scheduled workday).
PHOTOGRAPHY PAY
Our policy is to pay photograph rates on jobs that are done after normal business hours. Assignments done during normal business hours are not billable on separate pay sheets at the photography rate.
Turning in jobs Ontime:
In order to turn jobs around within the delivery dates promised to our clients, they must be on our servers within 24 hours of the shoot (or by the Monday following any Friday, Saturday or Sunday shoot).
Photo pay rates for jobs done off site include a 25% on-time delivery bonus. If images for a job are not delivered to Stuart-Rodgers within 24 hours of the shoot or as specified above for weekend work, this 25% bonus will be deducted from your pay for the job. When a job comes in late, an email will be automatically generated to you and the accounting department.
If you have geographical issues related to getting your jobs turned in, we have an FTP site that can be accessed and used for job submission. (FTP Instructions on Wiki)
Lost or Mixed up Seniors:
Last year production spent days fixing problems related to cards being downloaded to incorrect folders or never being downloaded at all. In many cases sales also needed to get involved calling clients to re-schedule or asking them to "describe their son or daughter". None of it was professional or up to the standards we sell to the schools or expect from one another. In the end, the problems were related to human error in the card handling process on site.
Senior Shooting rates include a $10.00 / hour successful completion bonus. To be eligible for the bonus there can be no lost or mixed up sittings from any photographers on the day that you shoot. We encourage you to be careful with your images and copying. Also make certain the other staff on the job with you are getting the job done correctly since the bonus is applied to everyone shooting on the day in question.
Missing or failed uploads take 1 - 2 weeks to appear and the successful completion bonus will be deducted from your next check if problems appear. Be careful, and make sure everyone on the job is being careful. No lost or mixed up images, ever.
Three areas to watch on site:
VACATIONS
Stuart-Rodgers believes everyone should take
their vacation every year. It is
vital for your health and the company’s welfare.
No excuse is good enough for accumulating vacation days for “later”.
After an employee has been a full time employee with the company for one full year, he or she is entitled to two weeks paid vacation to be taken over the course of your second year of employment. Vacation time is not accumulated so be sure to take yours each year. Vacation times must be staggered, so please check with the scheduling manager as soon as you know the dates that you would like for your vacation. The schedule will be made out on a first come first served basis. When a holiday occurs during your vacation, you will be entitled to an extra day. When planning vacation time, the following rules will apply:
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1 - 2 weeks of vacation must be scheduled between January 1 and May 15th. If you are eligible for three weeks of vacation, a minimum two weeks of accrued time must be taken during this time. If you are eligible for two weeks of vacation, a minimum of one week must be taken during this time. |
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No more than one week can be scheduled between May 15th and August 1st. |
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No vacations will be allowed between August 15 th and December 31st. No requests for vacation during that time will be accepted or considered. If you submit a request during that period, none will be granted. |
Please be aware of the following policies regarding scheduling of vacation time and time off:
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Vacation time is allotted and signed up for on the Vacation schedule that is circulated early in the year. Please make EVERY effort to have signed up on this by February 28th. If NOT, we will need six weeks notice and these requests may not be able to be approved based on scheduling needs along with other company priorities. |
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Each staff member will be allowed 3 “last minute” changes per year to their schedule. This type of change includes “I’m working late and want to come in late.”, “I’m going to a party and want extra time off.”, “I’m having a friend in for the night and want to work ½ day.” Please use these changes wisely. Holly and Kathy will be keeping track of these requests and they must be made by email. |
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For staff photographers, if you are scheduled to work on a day when you also have a job, you are expected to be in the office at the start of business that day. |
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For sales staff, our doors open at 9:00 and close at 5:00, that means we arrive at 8:30 and are ready to open at 9:00, not walking in the door at 9:00. Closing at 5:00 means that we close the doors and stop handling clients at 5:00 and begin the end of day process. It does not mean that we begin the end of day process at 4:30 and race out the door at 4:59. |
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENTS
LAST MINUTE JOBS
At times we have had to turn away commercial candid assignments because we could not find anyone to cover them. We are in the photography business and we must cover this type of event. Turning them away not only looses that particular job, but also potential future jobs from that client. By saying “no”, we force the client, who we have fought hard to get, to call a competitor and have the competitor build the relationship … we will not survive long as a retail photo studio under those circumstances.
Photographers will be assigning on-call evenings. If you are scheduled as “on-call” understand that if a client calls for a last minute job, you are expected to cover it. Being “on-call” will be considered part of the job requirements covered by your regular salary here. Any jobs that may come in for you on your “on-call” evening will be compensated at your regular photography rate.
NORMAL AFTER HOUR SCHEDULING
In addition to having and "on-call" assignment, other weeknight evening and weekend jobs are a normal and expected part of your responsibilities as a photographer here. These jobs are part of the bread and butter of our business and we invest thousands of dollars annually to develop the referral network that brings them to us. Please understand that shooting these jobs is part of your responsibility as a photographer here and Kathy and Holly will assume you are available unless otherwise planned for on the vacation schedule.
We will be assigning these jobs based upon which staff photographer has the best qualifications for the job and notifying you of the assignment by email or telephone ahead of time.
OVERTIME
Overtime is calculated by a combination of our punch system and the worksheets posted at:
ftp://12.171.15.171/Payroll%20Files
Because may staff here
have variable pay rates, we have provided these template worksheets for you to
use when calculating the pay due you.
Federal law states that you are eligible for
overtime for any time over 40 hours, that you work in a 7 day week (168 hour
period). The software that prints the timecard reports accounts for two full
weeks in every pay period and automatically splits out any overtime payable for
those two weeks. You are not however, eligible for overtime for hours over 8 in
the "dangling" day.
The only way to calculate if those
"dangling" hours are overtime eligible, is to make the calculations by hand and
submit them in a consistent and logical form showing how many hours over 40 you
have worked in the following 168 hour period that includes the "dangling" day.
We will be happy to pay for those hours as overtime given correct and consistent
documentation provided by you.
PAY
PROCEDURE
Paychecks are issued on the 15th and the last day of each month.
If that day comes on a Sunday or Holiday, you will be paid on the
following day. If that day comes on
a Saturday, you will be paid on the preceding day.
All documented payroll information (eg. hours, commissions etc.) must be
submitted to the accounting by the last day of the pay period as specified on
the payroll schedule sheet or that pay will be deferred to the next pay
period.
All overtime must be preapproved before it is worked.
Payroll will only be paid when the correct payroll period summary sheets are filled out and submitted. These must be submitted on the last day of the pay period in question as listed at:
ftp://12.171.15.171/Payroll%20Files.
REVIEWS
When you are hired (full-time) you will be brought on the payroll at a
“let’s get acquainted” salary. Your
salary and performance will be reviewed after 6 months on the payroll.
After that, you will have a performance review during
the winter
with management and/or fellow staff members.
Your compensation will be strictly tied to
measurable performance goals.
Please be aware that at Stuart-Rodgers Ltd. we are committed to creating a working environment in which we all feel welcomed and comfortable. Our goal is to ensure that everyone here can achieve their highest potential. This is possible only by adherence to the highest standards of conduct in all our associations here. Please read carefully the following publication from the US government and understand that in all ways we believe in and will enforce these guidelines.
All conduct here will be held to the highest level of compliance. No comments, emails, web browsing, phone conversations or other verbal or non-verbal communication that causes discomfort to fellow employees here will be tolerated.
If an occasion arises that appears to be in-appropriate, please feel comfortable reporting it immediately to Scott or Holly.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Facts About Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:
| The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex. |
| The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee. |
| The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct. |
| Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim. |
| The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome. |
It is helpful for the victim to directly inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available.
When investigating allegations of sexual harassment, EEOC looks at the whole record: the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination on the allegations is made from the facts on a case-by-case basis.
Prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers are encouraged to take steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring. They should clearly communicate to employees that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. They can do so by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains.
CONCLUSION
This manual is designed to be a guideline for our growth as a company and
as individuals. Working as a team, we will all benefit from the increased
rewards that our company attains. The
keys again will be teamwork, cooperation, communication, respect and ever higher
expectations of one another and ourselves.