Windows to Russia

President Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Yekaterinburg where he is set to attend the opening ceremony of a monument to former Russian head of state Boris Yeltsin, who today would have turned 80 years old. Sculptor Georgy Frangulyan says the monument comprises several pieces of marble weighing 15 tons each and stands at around 10 meters tall. Frangulyan noted that the monument’s dynamic composition symbolises Yeltsin’s energy. Read More >>> Source: Voice of Russia.

What I am not sure about on this particular occasion: Medvedev has made a few statements about Yeltsin and that Russia should embrace the real value of reforms made by Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin…

Has Medvedev stepped right or wrong in his endorsement of a man that is either loved or hated equally?

I know what my wife says about him (Yeltsin) and she don’t like him… 🙂

I guess time will see…

Windows to Russia!

• Yeltsin laid foundations of modern Russia – Medvedev (rt.com)
• Boris Yeltsin: What’s in a name? (rt.com)
• Yeltsin: epitome of 1990s Russia remembered (rt.com)
• Human rights “immediate” issue for society – Medvedev (rt.com)
• Rehabilitating Yeltsin (bbc.co.uk)
• Statue of Yeltsin to be unveiled (bbc.co.uk)
• Yeltsin was fond of protocol, order and would never be late – former head of protocol (rt.com)

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking about one of the highest Googled keywords we have on Windows to Russia.

Average Wages: Several times everyday someone comes to Windows to Russia to see what Russians make in wages. (Not Much, but getting better.)

So this article will give you a better idea about wages in Russia. If you think you would come here to get rich, probably will not happen. If you come to Russia to have fun, that will happen!
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Salary Research Shows Wages Increasing

By Yekaterina Dranitsyna

Staff Writer

Most private companies in St. Petersburg — 95 percent — increased staff salaries in 2007, according to the latest salary and remuneration survey issued by Avanta Personnel recruiting company, and more than 90 percent of local companies plan to raise wages this year.

During the last year, the average salary increase in the city was 12-13 percent, while the maximum increase was reported at 30 percent. In 2008, private companies in St. Petersburg will increase salaries by 10-12 percent on average, while the maximum increase is again planned at 30 percent, Avanta Personnel reported.

“The gap between salary rates in Moscow and St. Petersburg is narrowing. In St. Petersburg the average salary is 84 percent of that in Moscow. In Vladivostok, which holds the third place in Russia, the salaries are just 55 percent of Moscow’s level,” said Anna Yegorova, head of Labour Market Research at Avanta Personnel.

Yegorova indicated that the main factors that influenced last year’s increase were the personal achievements of employees and the labor market situation, though company performance and inflation also affected salary levels.

In the survey, Avanta Personnel analyzed data concerning the HR policies of over 43,500 employers and salaries of over 27,400 employees from 92 international and Russian companies. Half of these companies were foreign, 40 percent Russian and 11 percent joint ventures.

By January 2008, the average monthly income was reported at 31,090 rubles ($1,261) for office managers, 21,520 rubles ($873) for secretaries, 11,375 rubles ($461) for office cleaners, 28,713 rubles ($1,165) for HR managers, 42,828 rubles ($1,738) for shift managers, 23,502 rubles ($953) for production operators, 26,782 rubles ($1,087) for mechanics and 25,506 rubles ($1,035) for forklift truck drivers.

Average salaries in other categories included:

Unskilled workers: 19,726 rubles ($800)

Financial analysts: 32,280 rubles ($1,310)

Accountants: 22,513 rubles

($913)

Sales representatives: 33,322 rubles ($1,352)

Merchandisers: 18,610 rubles ($755)

Software engineers: 45,684 rubles ($1,854)

IT specialists: 29,290 rubles ($1,188)

Besides the basic salary, 66 percent of the survey participants paid performance-based bonuses (12-20 percent of the annual base salary), 47 percent paid bonuses on the occasion of the anniversary of the company or date an employee started to work there, or other one-off bonuses at the management’s discretion, and 37 percent paid guaranteed bonuses either monthly or once or twice a year.

In sales departments, average sales commissions amount to 40-50 percent of the base salary.

The most common benefits provided by employers in St. Petersburg include medical insurance (78 percent of companies) and lunch benefits (73 percent).

Depending on their position, employees could be awarded other privileges. Top-managers are provided with a company car in 57 percent of companies, managers in 29 percent, and sales personnel in 20-35 percent.

Over 90 percent of companies cover their employees’ cell phone expenses, over 80 percent cover business trip expenses and 95 percent provide training programs for employees.

The average annual turnover in personnel at St. Petersburg companies is 14 percent, according to Avanta Personnel.
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The real problem is once you leave Moscow you can see that wages drop fast. The smaller the town the less money you make. Once you get to the villages wages are non existent.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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For Months now I have done a lot of thinking over many cups of coffee about comments. I have never achieved a balance on Windows to Russia. It is either comment crazy or no comments at all. So as I drink my coffee this morning and realize that I dealt with thousands and thousands of caught spam. I dealt with multiples of hate, death and destruction comments. I had a handful of decent comments. I had a bunch of cut and paste, slam the world, USA, Israel, Russia and much more comments. I had a sleaze of porn comments that got around the filters. I had hours of work just to get a handful of good comments out of the pile of crap. (See the paradox?)

If I allowed comments to run unmoderated and just post as they are presented. I would have an average of 1200 comments a day. But when these comments sell Viagra, porn, hate, love, home windows, basement repair, clothes, hats, boots, t-shirts and hundreds of other items. What good are they?

I myself very rarely leave comments anywhere in the blogging world. When I do, I mean what I say. I have just a handful of blogs to follow and they are what interest me. So I will leave a comment for them as I read their articles. I follow major news sites and see sometimes a 100,000+ comments left on an article. I realized the stupidity when I see many times the first comment left says, “I am first commenter!” Then you realize it is just a game…

Windows to Russia on any given day has 2000+ readers. That swells to many more, half the time. This number is excluded from the thousands of hits I get by spam bots, search bots and such. So for a Russian blog we are busy and I want it to stay that way. But I also realize that statistics point to the fact that less than half, of one half, of one percent of the real readers ever comment. A non blogging reader just does not comment very often. I read many articles that say 10 to 15 percent or more of your readers will comment. I will tell you, “No they do not.” Well maybe that is high percent is true if you play games yourself by commenting all over the blog world then you will get a return comment as a favor. (Is that really a comment?) Even if they try to act intelligent and leave a good comment they are still just there because they want a link.  In the blogging world they all want to link to a high PR blog or site. Hence we leave comments that really have no meaning just to leave a link to our site. All in the glory and grace of the Almighty Google God… 🙁

I track and have been tracking statistics for years now. Windows to Russia has exceeded 4,000,000+ actual hits and that is climbing rapidly. I do not game Alexa, Google Page Rank or any other form of trying to play with my SEO. I also have Google ad-sense now but that is a futile effort at best on my part…

So I have reached a decision after many months of fighting with all forms of comments. I have tired of spending hours everyday sifting through thousands of comments. This is a time consuming process that takes away from the main issue. Posting to “Windows to Russia…”

So I have gone to Google and used its Friend-connect system. Google is very anti-spam and will help curtail tons of spam in that fact alone. The WordPress comment system is a spam magnet and I do not like that. In fact every comment system that I have used internal or external has been a spam magnet with WordPress. The spammers are better than the controllers and they get by almost anything…

So all the old comments are still there. Except the WordPress comment box has been removed. In its place is now the Google Friend-connect system. So now you must sign up and you still will be moderated. I will also put a CAPTCHA in place if need be. To stop spam that is still getting through…

Other words if you are human and you really have something to say. If you are not here just to leave a link. Then we want you to express it. At that point I can give attention to a real comment and maybe something constructive will come out of it…

Comments became a deficit and a hindrance…

Windows to Russia!

• I Personally Simply Hate Spam Comments… (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee and The Spam King Country… (windowstorussia.com)
• Ukraine posting from McDonalds… (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee and Gone is 2010 and Hello 2011… (windowstorussia.com)
• Drugs – A Big Problem in Russia For The Children… (windowstorussia.com)
• Back Home in Russia – Safe and Sound… (windowstorussia.com)
• Learn Some Russian Words: From Svet! (windowstorussia.com)
• Miracles Do Happen With Google… (Sitelinks) (windowstorussia.com)
• Come to Russia you can Read Some of the Signs! (windowstorussia.com)