The best measure of your value to an employer is, of course, how much money you are paid. That's how we all keep score, and in large part it is what keeps us in a job or drives us to find a new one. Sure, things like job satisfaction and challenging work are fine, but they don't put food in your belly or porn on your computer. And since salary is largely due to market forces beyond your employer's control, it isn't an entirely accurate measure. After all, no matter how good you are at your job or how much your boss loves you, if the market says that someone in your position with your level of experience makes $40,000 a year, then no amount of sucking up will get you to $50,000 (although sucking on its own may make a difference). The only exception I can think of is if you go to a company that has to overpay to get staff, whether it be due to poor financial prospects or a bad reputation or any other reason. I have worked for a company like that, and saw them hire underqualified people at inflated salaries just to fill all the seats at the table. As an employee, the upside is much more money in the short run; however, the down side is a loss in flexibility, since no one else will pay you those kind of dollars. When I bailed on that job, my only requirement was not to lose salary in the move. That I was successful suggests that I wasn't overpaid (at least by that much) in the first place.

One way to measure your value to your employer is by what they do for you that isn't included on your weekly paycheque. Things like staff parties and gifts/bonuses on special occasions like Christmas or your birthday can go a long way to making an employee feel good. My current employer gives both of the above bonuses, along with a gift on staff appreciation day, outings like the Christmas party and the annual summer retreat, early Friday closings in the summer and on long weekends, and, this year only, closing down between Christmas and New Year's.

But those are all company-wide treats. In a law firm, you not only work for the organization but you also usually work for an individual within the organization. I have worked for lawyers who gave me extra gifts or bonuses at Christmas, and one who always brought me back a trinket from one of her too-expensive-for-me vacations. One year, a lawyer I hadn't worked for in six months gave me a bottle of wine in thanks for my work on her files earlier in the year. Another time, my lawyer, stretched to the limits financially due to the dissolution of his firm, still found $150 to slip into a Christmas card. On the flipside, I once had a secretary who I treated with presents at Christmas and on professional assistants (or whatever it's called) day. It's just the right thing to do.

Last Christmas, I faced the possibility of a bonanza. As the single law clerk working for a group of seven lawyers, three of them highly-paid partners of the firm, and having been given a very nice bonus from the firm, I had expectations of a glorious year. Sure, that was the wrong way to think, but my experience had been so positive in the past. What a disappointment. I received a gift from one of the associates - a bottle of tequila from her Mexico trip - and not even a card from anyone else. I can't account for it, since two weeks into the new year they gave me a large raise and have continued to treat me as a valued member of the team this year, matching my 2004 Christmas bonus and already telling me that my salary is going up again in January. Although it is clear I am a valued employee, to my group at least it seems not to go beyond what market forces tell them to do.

Yet, here we are one year later, our group now up to nine lawyers, and I remain hopeful. Either I am a fool or just a positive person. Given my usual realistic outlook, I guess that makes me a fool. This morning, I received an LCBO gift card and a very nice note on a Christmas card from the lawyer who gave me tequila last year. Part of it will be spent on triple sec so I can make use of the margarita recipe she also included in the card, with the balance to go on the nicest bottle of wine I can afford. Maybe in the end this will be all I get from a lawyer this year. But I'll bet I'm still hopeful next year. Unless I tell the buggers off in the interim.

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MOVIE QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I'm not standing here asking you to marry me, I'm just asking you not to marry him."
John Beckwith, "Wedding Crashers" (screenplay by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher)

A great moment from a funny movie, and a much more realistic ending than the standard Hollywood junk of the couple riding off into the sunset together. Also, the first time I saw a movie starring Owen Wilson and didn't come away wanting to slit either my wrists or his throat.