salary increase

[growing_older]

I visited an outsourcing company we were using in India. It's not just the outsourcing companies that work fantastically long hours for very little pay. The hotel waiters worked 7AM to 11PM six days a week, through they were allowed to be off-duty from about 2PM to 4PM. The hotel IT guy who kept trying to fix the room internet connections worked 6AM to 10PM six days a week with no breaks. They seemed cheerful enough about it and said they were happy to have jobs, since there were huge numbers of people who would quickly take the jobs if they didn't work the full hours.

The actual outsourcing company worked 12 hour shifts 9AM to 9PM (or the reverse, for a somewhat smaller group) but all the managers stayed a few hours extra every day and most workers did as well.

 

[trying2save]

I visited an outsourcing company we were using in India. It's not just the outsourcing companies that work fantastically long hours for very little pay. The hotel waiters worked 7AM to 11PM six days a week, through they were allowed to be off-duty from about 2PM to 4PM. The hotel IT guy who kept trying to fix the room internet connections worked 6AM to 10PM six days a week with no breaks. They seemed cheerful enough about it and said they were happy to have jobs, since there were huge numbers of people who would quickly take the jobs if they didn't work the full hours.

The actual outsourcing company worked 12 hour shifts 9AM to 9PM (or the reverse, for a somewhat smaller group) but all the managers stayed a few hours extra every day and most workers did as well.

America is a great country isn't it? People should be thankful that we live in this great country.

 

[Linney]

I'm surprised by the small raises that tech people are getting. Meanwhile, all I read in Mass High Tech is about how there aren't enough qualified engineers because all the boomers are retiring. Then I look at the byline, and it's usually some comp. sci. professor or another looking out for his own job security.

Yep, 0% raise this year at the tech company that I work for. Good thing too -- if I got a raise, it would have meant that I was severely underpaid in my position (only the severely underpaid got a raise this year).

Our company has changed the way that it does compensation. Very few raises will be given out. Instead, we're going to get a variable yearly bonus which reflects our performance and is supposed to be the equivalent of a raise <yeah, right>. If the company does extremely well, we get a bonus. If the company does average or poor, little to no bonus. It's a real win-win.... for them.

We're in that stage of the employment cycle where managers are saying 'just be glad you still have a job'. Been putting in lots of hours lately. Still have a job, for now. It hasn't left me with much time to post here at the ER forum lately <sigh>

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

We're in that stage of the employment cycle where managers are saying 'just be glad you still have a job'. Been putting in lots of hours lately. Still have a job, for now. It hasn't left me with much time to post here at the ER forum lately <sigh>

Really? It feels to me as if I have been in the same cycle since 2001.

 

[Linney]

We're in that stage of the employment cycle where managers are saying 'just be glad you still have a job'. Been putting in lots of hours lately. Still have a job, for now. It hasn't left me with much time to post here at the ER forum lately <sigh>

Really? It feels to me as if I have been in the same cycle since 2001.

LOL, how true! Since 2001 management has been giving us small raises and telling us that we're lucky to still have a job. This year, they skipped the raise and just told us we still have a job.

 

[ziggy29]

3% last year, 2% the year before that. In 2000, after my first year with Megacorp, I got 14%. The bubble popped after that, and since then it hasn't kept up with inflation.

 

[SingleMomDreamer]

I'm a researcher with a non-profit. Our raises are 3.5% or 0% (in recessions). We expect 3.5% this year -- it takes a year for the recession to hit our paychecks. In my previous job I earned 10% a year (also a non-profit). Gave me great negotiation power for my current salary in a location where expenses are a fraction of DC.

 

[hellodeli1]

Raise and Bonus

I received a 9% raise now preceded by about an 11% raise 6 months ago. I also got a ~5% bonus.

No complaints from me!

musings on personal finance

 

[FIREd]

Pharma here... 7% raise in 2006, 7% raise in 2007, don't know yet for this year, but smaller raise expected. The annual bonus has also been slashed this year after three generous years (10, 12 and 13.5% of gross).

I posted the above message before raises and bonuses for 2008 were officially annonced. Now we know this year's numbers. For 2008, 8% merit raise + increase in pay grade due to promotion for a total of almost 16% raise for base salary. The annual bonus was slashed from an expected 13.5% of gross base salary to about 10% this year. Due to the promotion, the size of the bonus could increase next year though, up to 18% of gross base salary. Also the company slashed some benefits (25% cut in 401K match and fewer stock options).

 

[laurence]

Interesting, I became a manager 3 months ago, and it's review time, so I've learned we have a 4% pool this year. I'm going to get nothing due to the late year promotion, but I've gone from 64k to 93k in 3 years, plus goodies/profit sharing so I'm not sweating it. It's an engineering/IT/Software shop, typical mega-corp with many thousands of employees.

 

[tuixiu]

I had a great deal last year.

CTO decided he needed some sort of lead for our small development team so he promoted me to lead. That came with 5k raise and I managed to negotiate an extra week of vacation as well. This happend right before the usual 3% raise which came on top of the new 5k higher salary.

CTO then left the company and new Boss doesn't use me in lead type role at all. I'm essentially the same job as before but with extra 5k annually and week vacation for playing middle manager for about 2 months.

Woot.

 

[growing_older]

They came through with another 5% this year. But bonus was slashed to almost nothing - I guess that's what all the meetings were about - and we've been told that next year bonus will be tiny if there's any at all. There's been a lot of talk about the company doing something to reward top performers, but I think they just want everyone to work hard to "be a top perfromer" in hopes of getting a reward, which is not likely to be as significant as people want to imagine it might be. Or maybe this is code for executive pay will increase. I don't know. I want to FIRE.

 

[aworkingrachel]

I got a 4% raise this year.

But in 2007 I took a new job that effectively gave me a 100% raise.

 

[Buckeye]

I traded in my 3% for a fourth week of vacation (a trade the company has never done before). The time is much more valuable to me than the money since my family lives a 4-5 hour flight away and a visit consumes at least one day of my trip. It also makes me smile that neither the state government nor the school district nor the village nor the federal government benefits from my gain.

Also, they might expect me to work more if they pay me more and that woud not be good!

 

[growing_older]

Good Trade. I would take that deal if I could with my employer, too.

 

[CCdaCE]

I traded in my 3% for a fourth week of vacation (a trade the company has never done before). The time is much more valuable to me than the money since my family lives a 4-5 hour flight away and a visit consumes at least one day of my trip. It also makes me smile that neither the state government nor the school district nor the village nor the federal government benefits from my gain.

<snip>

Brilliant!

-CC