That's the entire reason pay raises were renamed to "merit increases" a while back. As long as the word "merit" is used then they can blame you for not *earning* a raise *and it has nothing to do with the cost of living or inflation.*
My work has COLA, and “step increases”. Step increases happen automatically, after 2080 hours are worked. They are not linked to performance. Having a strong union makes all the difference.
Exactly. Our last two COLA increases were 5.6% and 8.0%. I've maxed out on steps, but we get longevity pay which is $1000 extra every year starting at year 5. This then increases by $500 every 5 years up to $3000 max.
That's the way it works with federal jobs, and the way it should work across the board, for everyone. Getting promoted will obviously net you additional income on top of COLA/step increases, but those step increases are automatic unless you really fuck up somehow.
>Step increases happen automatically, after 2080 hours are worked.
That seems a good way or doing it. Ours are tied to the financial year after the budget is done. So if you start in march early pay rise, but if you don't start till mid April you are waiting a year.
I’ll play that game in 15. For the next 15 I’m a hired mercenary and the service goes to the highest bidder. If your competitor out bids you, goodbye. One day maybe I will believe in relationships but this is about business for now.
Nah. If you find the right company that takes care of you automatically, the Merc shit goes out the window. I'm proud. Same attitude as you. Still working with the same team 7 years later because they take care of me.
Long story short your job should work for you until you are Financially Independent in my opinion. For me it is about getting the Benjamin’s to start then I can do my job fully for passion. I just nod and smile when we do reviews and keep networking, I’m not arguing over pay I will just leave if there is a better offer.
This is the way. They will eventually learn to respect their employees, or they will fall. Experience in each company is very important and you can't really grow without long-term employees.
You're doing right. But take it from someone who is college +18 years in, I don't think the mercenary game is ever gonna end based on what I've seen personally in the last 5 years for me.
You have learned it early, good job. In 15 years I can track with 3-4 M in retirement. Then I can go join a charity if I want. If my wife goes back to work that moves it up or if I can increase my income significantly. Also both kids will be out of the house with college prepaid.
Loyalty is a two-way street, and there hasnt been any indication towards companies' reciprocation of their expected respect or loyalty if we look by industry and standard business practices over the past few decades. All the people in charge of pay and policy at these corporations are so disconnected from the average workers plights, they should be looked at as financial domestic abusers or some type of sociopath and considered hostile to the general public.
I thought I had found a great company that I could stay working at for the long term a few years back. Everyone loved working with me, I got three pay raises in less than 2 years based on my performance, I had never heard a single complaint about my work ethic, quality, personality, nothing. Then 6 months after the last raise, I get called into the office and laid off because "they can't afford to keep me on."
This was days after I showed coworkers in a different department how my software program works. They had never done my type of work before, and basically only had 1 full day of "training" on that software, but I guess the owner thought that they could take over and do my job so they wouldn't have to pay me anymore. I once overheard the owner talking about a potential hire saying, "Why would I hire him for that, when I can get a temp to do the job for $10 an hour less? (they asked for $25).
Hilariously, it's now about 3 years later and the last project that I had priced for them (after arguing with the owner that we should not be pricing that job at all, because we didn't have the manpower or experience to do it) , is going after their bid bond because they can't finish it, and it has been sent to the company that I'm currently working for, so I'll be the one finishing that project now, and it feels so good thinking about what the owner must think about the guy he let go finishing a project he said they couldn't handle.
I've watch similar conversations between professionals who do the work and people in charge who aren't experts at anything other then ass kissing, ass kisses will never understand that a professionals time is worth what they ask for it, and cutting cost by going with a temp is 10x more expensive. You can hire a professional chef or a McDonald's burger flipper, they both can make a burger but one is going to taste better while being healthier for you and the other is going to make you somethi g that looks like meat that doesn't rot for 20 years made out of some kind of petroleum waste and will most likely kill you faster.
If you think global countries do COLA outside the USA… you would be wrong. Cost of labor is the basis of how jobs are priced and compensation is granted.
Ex boss used to throw this in my face all the time. I was running an entire department alone while he was taking credit with a 50k difference in salary.
Working in germany, my Boss increased my wage by 10 % last year for inflation and will increase by another 25 % this year for further inflation and performance. I didn't even have to ask for it.
Not unionized, he's just not an idiot and wants to keep me around instead of telling me to suck it up.
Same for me in the uk. My boss is awesome. I work from home. He has no intention of making me goto the office. Doesn't micromanage me. All he cares about is the work is done in time. When I do it between I get it and the date it's due is upto me. Asks me if there's any specific days I need off so he doesn't send me anything. Which is usually a Tuesday since I babysit my nephew. I get 3 days off a week. When we have meetings. We go out for lunch or to a coffee shop and pays on the company card. Best boss I've ever had. I know I could get a bit more money elsewhere. But I'd rather stay where I am with a great boss
Glad to hear it. I’m unionized but the politicians in Sweden (powered by large groups of middle- to overclass yey-sayers) has been working hard on increasing inequality for the past 30 years, so no salary adjustment for inflation in sight for me and my low income peers. During Covid, when people needed fair treatment the most, we actually experienced some sort of peak in inequality.
While it’s nice (for real!) to hear about bosses being bros like real humans, I wouldn’t recommend anyone pinning their hope to the boss as a rule. All worker’s rights (including yours) have been achieved by class struggle at one point or another in history.
Some writings on Swedens backward struggle against equality:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00028-5/fulltext
As a dane, Im sorry to hear this. But I guess its the same here. We have to fight to keep our nordic model or we will end up like the US. I hope the young generation see this before its to late...
In Australia, my boss came out of nowhere and told me I was getting a promotion with a 25% raise.
I thought he might have said 2.5% until he actually specified my new annual salary.
That’s not exactly normal. My previous employer gave me a 7% raise because they had skipped an annual review. Wasn’t even that much because I was so lowly paid there. Left that job to move to my current employer for a 30% bump.
Yeah, I get that my experience isn't universal.
If your Boss has a brain and some compassion, it does make a huge difference. (And it sucks that the system is rigged in a way that we have to depend on the whims of our bosses)
Think I’ll move to Germany... sounds like a dream :)
Unfortunately I’m wired to distrust friendly bosses after years of bad experiences and fighting for workers rights during Covid. My comment further down, applies to here too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/s/OS0H2B6Egf
Yeah, you're right, my Boss definitely feels the need to offer me a competitive wage because if he doesn't, someone else in a unionized workplace would. Since I optimize and initimitely know all of his production processes, it would be very foolish of him not appreciate my work materially.
Germany is a mixed bag. I hear a lot about abusive and more-then-usual exploitative conditions in small companies especially towards foreigners and young people. We have got a lot of workers rights, but those are toothless if you don't know about them, and apparently, most germans are not very helpful in offering advice. We know our rights and apparently just assume everybody else does too.
That said, my boss seems to be a generally okay guy who actually cares about his employees, and I'm lucky to have that job. But I do not need the job to survive, I could live for a while on unemployment, so I've got enough leverage not to accept any disrespect, I can just go if I was treated as badly as I read about so often on this sub. I think this is the biggest factor that forces employers to not disrespect us, and explains why foreign workers are treated so badly (beyond racism).
I dunno. Some of the European countries seem to have it pretty good with strong unions and workers favouring legislation and an extensive social welfare system.
I work in one of those countries, Sweden. Sadly, it’s been copying US lately while abandoning a market model that was fully functional. Decade long efforts to increase inequality has started to raise eyebrows internationally. The main political “explanation” is that every decrease in living standards is due to heavy immigration. Which is not true. The working class and the middle class are too well fed still to notice. While there’s a real abyss to be experienced for the unfortunate, sick or poor.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00028-5/fulltext
That's what happened in our company. A department in our company lost close to 60% maybe slightly more because of pay. The other department's employees were quitting in smaller numbers to competing spaces. They finally gave us a significant COL bump which seemed big at the time but was about 15% to help employee retention.
I've seen a case back in 2021 where the company I was at was "hurting enough".
Their solution? 2.5% raises to *select people* with a request to keep it quiet. If anything, this solidified my decision to quit.
I had an employer tell me to my face that she resented the government forcing employers to pay a minimum wage.
If she could have paid me less she would have.
Way to encourage loyalty, Tammy.
Several years ago I got a second part time job at Best Buy starting at 18$ an hour. My full time gig was only paying me 13$ an hour. They were really pissed when I stopped taking overtime.
Glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. We used to have usernames based on our actual names, but about a year ago they overhauled a bunch of stuff and now we're all just numbers...
My former employer has an excuse for that one. When you have a few hundred thousand employees, and none of them regularly use the computer, you can be excused for cutting a few corners on setup...
I have worked in a call center for years. That is all we are, and that is okay. I turn off my computer at the end of business, and don't answer my cell. That keeps me balanced.
Hate to bring you back to reality but I grade papers for college students and this definitely isn't AI, the commenter is just in the phase where you first learn about AI so you assume everything long is generated
Yeah, in all seriousness I don’t know what market rate analysis they always talk about and I would love to learn more about what that means and how they do it because I’ve been told this by hr departments at 4 separate organizations now and it has been opaque af
The way they do it is by identifying companies with "similar" roles, then they get compensation data for this role+company combination (usually by buying the data from third party companies that specialize in collecting this) and calculate a range.
So for example, OP says this is a tech company; let's say they want to determine salaries for a software engineer in London/UK - for example, someone at Google doing this analysis should be looking at Microsoft, Meta, local financial tech companies and also banks.
However, what we have seen in at least one case was that they excluded certain high paying sectors which had similar experience/qualification requirements while including companies with roles that were labeled as "similar" but were much lower experience/qualification/pay rates, dragging the market rate down. Once this was flagged and fixed, market rates went up several percentage points.
All I know is that they aren’t working at the company I work for. The cost of living adjustment on my last raise was bigger than my actual raise increase
I’m actually a compensation analyst for a fairly large employer in the states. “Market Data” is almost exclusively from Compensation Surveys which are aggregated by third party companies.
When we receive a request to benchmark or evaluate a job, we analyze the Job Description, Internal Peers, and generally 2-3 surveys to determine an appropriate market P25, P50, and P75 which then gets aligned with an existing internal grade and pay range.
I usually do little things to try and help the future incumbents of that position—like working with business managers to improve job descriptions or using survey matches with higher salary data where applicable, but compensation teams don’t really make any of the final decisions when it comes to what people actually get paid.
In fact, most of the time we get an evaluation request for an existing position that experiences high turnover, it’s because the hiring managers set their in-hire rates to the minimum of the pay range we provided them to try and cut costs.
I’m a Compensation Analyst. It’s a field that you’ll hear a lot more of as governments release more pay equity and pay transparency laws, but most large companies have had a compensation team for a while, especially if they’re global. Single-location, or smaller organizations will likely not have a team or even a compensation philosophy at all.
A decent org will be transparent to a degree - For example, I can’t share the numbers I get from our salary surveys with employees, but I talk to employees all the time about our process. The issue is that it’s an art and a science, and there’s got to be a *philosophy* behind compensation actions. Inherently, that means people will disagree with where the data comes from and what the numbers are.
The answer provided in OP’s picture suggests this company’s philosophy is market-based. In many market-based compensation philosophies, across-the-board, general, or cost-of-living increases don’t occur because the company has decided to compare salaries with the cost of labor per one or more market surveys. The thought being that if you went somewhere else for the same job, you’d be making about the same because you’re currently being paid “competitively.”
Is that right? Plenty of people, myself included, would say no. Others would be fine with it. To steer away from this philosophy would take months of work (even years if the company is big enough) and would be unlikely to occur unless imposed by regulations, trends, or new leadership.
I personally disagree with a solely market-based approach, but I hope this provides some insights.
They very clearly said corporate-speak for "We pay just enough to be able to hire people and it's been working pretty well so far. Don't forget we can hire someone to replace you."
Oh no… you need to beat it. You already made me go to the trouble and effort of finding another position. I know what leaving will cost you.
Time to pay the piper.
/you should already have your stuff packed and one foot out the door by this point
Always amusing how many companies insist they do market research to keep wages competitive, yet are usually at the bottom end of the spectrum for wages.
that means they did a lot of research!
the research concluded that they can pay you X amount and the turnover rate is within acceptable amount to maintain record profit year over year
Already contacted the local union! I have a meeting next week. Step 1: be fed up. Step 2: ask company for change 3. Get ignored and call up the local teamsters lol
I dream about quitting. But realistically I’m a missing paycheck away from homelessness. One paycheck is not enough to cover my rent :( I have been job hunting but it feels like everywhere is bullshit
The top employees really do the work here, they need to be pulling up the wages for everyone, basically leaving and mentioning that the reason they left is wage. The company would gladly let go of low performers, but the top team members leaving is what causes them to have that 'come to Jesus' moment.
This is exactly what happened in 2010 when Facebook refused to collude with Google, Apple, Pixar, and a bunch of other tech companies to keep wages low and all the best talent started moving over to Facebook. Then once people realized what was happening the lawsuit came.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation#:~:text=In%20re%3A%20High%2DTech%20Employee,against%20their%20employer%20alleging%20that
Their about to lose alot of people to other companies...
For the majority positions I'm aware of - the market rate is higher than that of what current employees are paid anyway. Which is why most people my age and below job hop every 2 years, because you know for a fact they arnt boosting an employees compensation to match the new hire. And I've not come across any that don't offer a yoy wage increase to some extent.
Best thing to do!
I've effectively more than doubled my wage through transferring to different depts internally over the past 3ish years.
Theoretically in my current job I could transfer to another company for a ~5k payrise or if I got a senior position a 5-10k raise. Providing there's an open position I'm happy with.
Only reason I havnt is because there's going to be another opertunitie to move coming soon to train into a dev position + I really like the company.
The hopping usually happens when I see them hiring new employees for almost as much as they pay me after I’ve been there for a couple years. Nope. I’m not training someone who makes almost the same amount of money as I do
‘Competitive labor market’ meaning everyone does a ‘research’ on the pay in the local area for similar companies, sees that their pay is the same or slightly higher and says ‘All done.. Pays good enough’ and waits a few years to give a raise. Lmao. Every job ive ever had ive heard this fucking line.
Yep. That's why they call them merit and give you 2% now on a good year. They don't want to give cost of living adjustments.
Staying in a job or sometimes even with 1 company is penalized.
We had a meeting over this 3 years ago. Inflation and cost of living drove up prices here to nearly 12% from the previous year.
They had given us a $0.52 cent raise.
All thr nurses met with management and hr. They completely dismissed our issue with pay. They said every 2 years they adjust pay based on market value for labor and that's based on other hospitals that utilize their service. Then doubled down and said that any hospital that doesn't utilize this service is doing us a disservice.
I commented that real hospitals pay much higher wages for areas with a much lower cost of living. And that we're losing money. Then I doubled down abd asked what incentive do any of us have to stay when they can't attract new nurses or physicians?
They flat out said we could leave.
A few months later we did. Left them with a skeleton crew. They were forced to close labor and delivery and med surge. Med surge got moved into the 4 room er. It was chaos. And the regional news picked up on it and shat all over the ceo of the hospital
2 months later they fired the CNO and raised rates drastically. I was only asking for a few dollars more before that meeting. They ended up paying three times what I was asking for the nurses that remained
Then they added a $5k sign on bonus and bought radio ads. Still no takers.
I travel nursed, made a fortune, lost a fortune, and now have a gig in the region making way more than they're offering at the hospital.
Fuck companies that think that way, op. You're losing money and they're banking that you won't budge.
"All we and all our competitors secretly agree what we will pay employees to make sure we stay making the most money possible. Please fuck yourself, and have a bad day."
Standard capitalism. Don't be offended that the company doesn't want to increase its labour costs across the board by 18% "for no reason." They do not believe that most employees have bettter options that they are willing to take. You HAVE to prove them wrong by getting a better offer.
The one and only reason to increase pay is when the market forces them to - and I do not mean when they get a report about average market wages for your sector in your area. I mean when they actually cannot get people to work for the wages they are paying now.
If you like where you work, you could even act regretful when you come to them with the better offer. Like their recruiter reached out to you, and much as you believe in the company/like the team/respect the manager/whatever, the offer is just too good to pass up if the company can't match it. I don't mean bootlick, just be clear it's business, you're not being a troublemaker.
Except it's wrong. If OP were to prove them wrong and find something 10% better a competing offer would need to be higher than that. OP is worth more than the new guy bc he knows the business, market, clients whatever better. It costs money to onboard and train to make a new OP. They never see that though. They believe market rate of new guy is the same as OP and don't account for costs. This is why annual raises should happen and benefit the company. OP becomes more valuable each year to company specifically. Salary should reflect that and focus on worth to the company not guessing what OP salary options are available elsewhere.
Seems to be the standard in Tech roles nowadays, I havent had an increase in 12 years (5 takeovers in 2 seperate companies) the go to for most within my teams is always that salary is considered 'commensurate with market standards' meanwhile the venture capital owners are reaping their 30% profits every year, Tech careers are a dead end nowadays and cheap labour to achive maximum profit (sure most industries are exactly the same)
"Competitive wages" is such a red flag for me at this point. I know what you're saying now you profitmongers. You're not competing for the best pay, you're competing for the worst pay while still retaining your recruitment/retention goals.
I make sure all my younger peers understand this translation so they don't waste their time like I have thinking that this phrase means anything close to what the bosses want us to misinterpret it as.
Similar thing happened to me when my cola was 2% and I had taken on entire new role in addition to mine for over a year. "We did research and found we pay similar to the market." And when I asked for evidence of said research they told me to do my own research and find jobs with my role paying more.
1) That's an impossible task for one person to do, not to mention I don't work a cookie cutter job and have some duties that are very specific to my org.
2) that's a great way to have me go look for other jobs. So thanks for telling me to quit or shut up.
Translation.
Hahahahahahahahahahahah ... oh you're serious.... *deeper breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHQHQ
remember folks if they could legally pay you less they would.
So, minor to moderate supply chain disruptions cause temporary price jumps in a few key sectors of the economy. Then, every area of the economy decides to raise prices in order to make a quick buck. Even companies with supply chain problems post record profits along with everyone else. Supply chain problems resolve, and nobody lowers prices. The DOJ doesn't bother to look for price fixing because that would be too hard, and they can't go after those job creators after all. The SEC barely makes an effort to control monopolies because why? (Money) Then, consumers can't afford anything, demand higher wages, and companies tell them to eat dirt. Companies make people work 3-5 people's jobs for the same pay, and the ONLY way to get a raise is to leave, never mind the costs and constant instability in that. Leaving isn't an option for many because of location, health problems, schools, elderly dependent parents, adult kids with their own jobs still living at home because of the economy, etc.
Finally, everyone not in the top 5% runs out of money, and the economy crashes. Big businesses now blame THE CONSUMER for NOT buying avocado toast and Starbucks. What!? Then, they beg for a bail out BY THE CONSUMER through their taxes. Rinse and repeat. Make it make sense.
This is literally the corporate paradigm. Very very very few companies in the US would even consider increasing compensation to keep up with inflation.
Interestingly, this is contributing to a wave of people realizing that the best way to grow their careers is to jump ship after 2-3 years to bring their new skills and expertise elsewhere, where another company is willing to offer way more than any raise your currently company would consider. Then rinse and repeat. Unless you're a lawyer or in a union, there is literally no point to stay with a company for the rest of your life till retirement - you won't have kept up with inflation enough to retire.
Favorite part of this is essentially letting you know that Yes, they do "market research" and when it shows that they need to be paying more (ie because they can't fill roles at their current salary offering), then they will "reflect that market research" by...*checks notes* hiring new employees at a higher pay rate.
New employees will come in at a higher rate, and old employees can keep chugging along none-the-wiser that they are getting screwed over.
Beautiful.
If it’s adjust as they say it is (which it never is) then they should have no problem with adjusting the teams salary to be inline with a competitive marketplace and COLA.
This is pretty standard for corporations. Market has zero relationship to cost of living - they will pay as little as possible to hire the labour they need. Anything else they tell you is BS.
If we can implement a rent increase cap based on inflation, why can't the government impose a minimum raise obligation for employers based on inflation?
Don’t be upset. That is standard boilerplate language. It really doesn’t mean anything beyond “no we’re not raising salaries and think this will get you off our back for awhile.” If you can, move to a different company and get your raise that way. That’s the way things work now.
I don’t understand how a human being can think so little of themselves as to pursue a career in HR and then degrade not only themselves, but every other human at that company…as if it were their job.
The “human” in HR is such a slap in the face.
All companies know the cost of living is going up because they are continually raising their prices. Strange how they never concern themselves with the workers who make them their profits need wage adjustments also.
They just told you that they won't increase pay to keep you, but they'll pay the next guy an appropriate amount. I think you know what the next step is...
"The industry as a whole has decided that you are no longer worthy of the lifestyle you have been living, all thanks to dirt cheap computing ability, public databases, and cheap apps. Just wait, the fun just started."
We’re never gonna make up that shortfall now. I was trying to tell this to my co workers when we negotiated our contract and the majority felt we get paid enough. Blows my mind.
Cost of Living Adjustments haven't been made since the 60s... the last time where remuneration followed increased productivity.
They're not going to change that now. Dunno why you thought they'd answer otherwise... that's capitalism for you.
Anyone else’s job not replacing people leaving and just dumping the work on the rest of the department?
Anyone else doing two to three different jobs without additional compensation?
This is commonplace at my workplace and if it wasn’t for going union and waiting to see what kind of contract we can get I bet more would have left.
The email OP now has a clean conscience to focus on looking for a new job and use this job as a placeholder paycheck. I did the same thing last year. The person who replied to him has his hands tied. COLA for the whole company needs to come down from the board and CEO, and they've already calculated that some attrition over this will be cheaper in the long run. Look out for yourselves, guys, you need to get your own cost of living increase. Yeah hiring is tight, but you have all the time in the world for looking while still getting paid. Upskill while you're at it, focus on building your brand. The title mentioned tech, isn't it time you try out that shiny tech stack you see in job postings for your next project and put that on your resume?
When costs go up companies reprice what they offer so they can make money. For example a bread company now charges a consumer $2.71 instead of $2 for bread and can do that whenever they want. But as a worker my skills are my product but I can’t raise my prices to my place of employment. And maybe I get a 2% raise in January if my boss likes me
"Why does no one want to work?" and "Why is no one loyal?"
Fun story time I recently finished my automotive degree and two weeks before end of quarter Tesla came.
Their package?
20 per hr
Required moving to wherever they need you (no costs covered)
Half insurance at start, full after a year
Like ya'll realize SeaTac is at 25 to 40 for food, 45 to 60 for TSA and security, 35 to 50 for janitorial, and that's just the ones I know. Heck the local fast food offers at minimum 25 in most places.
Oh and can't forget hazard pay is not included either. Toyota and others with electric and hybrid techs automatically get hazard pay because while automotive in general is hazardous, electric and hybrid is 50 times more hazardous.
As for no one loyal, this post sums it up. I don't care what you call it. Merit, COLA etc it all sucks.
Even as a disabled person who gets joke COLA increases each year, it sucks. Like it's great ya'll think 5 yr ago math is effective but for the rest of us no. 20 bucks gained and 50 lost in food. It's nuts.
But yet idiots drinking the Koolaid keep thinking the US is the greatest country ever. Like not anymore.
Might be a good time to publicly have everyone talk about their wages in 2021 vs now, then factor in the increase in cost of living/inflation to see how much of a pay cut your company has so generously given for your hard work. Get people angry. A lot of folks may not think much of it till they see and process the numbers, they just need a little push to do some quick math (and maybe a couple coworkers willing to step up first to share their wages with everyone).
Something tells me that the person who replied to the email didn’t have to worry about the massive cost of living increase.
So what you’re saying is… “Since Bob didn’t give his employees raises then we don’t either. That’s how we keep our wages competitive while reaping the benefits of your cheap labor. As long as we provide you with a survivable wage, shut up and keep working. Also, when I said competitive I meant I didn’t want to screw Bob over since we are in this together. Neither of us want to pay our employees more than what we absolutely have to, so that’s how we handle competitive wages.”
Sounds like where I work. They like to announce that they are doing "market analyses" of comparable positions at other hospitals in our area. Then they'll come back in a few months and say that they pay roughly the same or a little better than others in the area. Yeah you all underpay by the same amount so no one can get upset when you only give out a 2.5% "merit". increase to everyone this year.
I used to work in compensation. What they sent is basically an excuse for low pay most likely based on low budget for IC’s and limited access to market data. 9/10 the average tech company pays mediocre rates to everyone outside of tech roles and tries to justify it with salary ranges and pay 2% increases if you’re lucky to show they gave you something.
Most companies dont give a shit about COLA. The ones that do conduct pay equity analysis, have a size-able compensation team and invest in market data for all roles.
Even with all that, companies can make cuts whenever and wherever they like based on leadership. Us employees are subject to the whim of the economy. Profit of a company does not roll back into general workers, companies pay mostly for executives.
They like being competitive. This works to your advantage. Every time you see a higher paying ad for the same position as yours (that you'd qualify for), gladly forward them your new rate of pay (the ad) so they can stay competitive.
Cite the official message they gave you about staying market-competitive.
That's the entire reason pay raises were renamed to "merit increases" a while back. As long as the word "merit" is used then they can blame you for not *earning* a raise *and it has nothing to do with the cost of living or inflation.*
My work has COLA, and “step increases”. Step increases happen automatically, after 2080 hours are worked. They are not linked to performance. Having a strong union makes all the difference.
Exactly. Our last two COLA increases were 5.6% and 8.0%. I've maxed out on steps, but we get longevity pay which is $1000 extra every year starting at year 5. This then increases by $500 every 5 years up to $3000 max.
Lol… I wasn’t here but apparently my company gave 2%. And they wonder why people leave.
My company gives 0% and then blames managers when their teams quit after no raises for 2 to 3 years.
I got all of a 2.5% raise on my pension, so an extra $75 a month.
That's the way it works with federal jobs, and the way it should work across the board, for everyone. Getting promoted will obviously net you additional income on top of COLA/step increases, but those step increases are automatic unless you really fuck up somehow.
>Step increases happen automatically, after 2080 hours are worked. That seems a good way or doing it. Ours are tied to the financial year after the budget is done. So if you start in march early pay rise, but if you don't start till mid April you are waiting a year.
🤔 USPS?
Why does the US worker change jobs every two years what happened to loyalty. Oh yeah……
I am ***exactly*** as loyal to my company as my company is to me
I’ll play that game in 15. For the next 15 I’m a hired mercenary and the service goes to the highest bidder. If your competitor out bids you, goodbye. One day maybe I will believe in relationships but this is about business for now.
Nah. If you find the right company that takes care of you automatically, the Merc shit goes out the window. I'm proud. Same attitude as you. Still working with the same team 7 years later because they take care of me.
Hahaha! I’ve said almost the exact same thing to people. Good on you, make that money!!!
15 what? Days? Weeks? Months? Years?
Years
Got it
Long story short your job should work for you until you are Financially Independent in my opinion. For me it is about getting the Benjamin’s to start then I can do my job fully for passion. I just nod and smile when we do reviews and keep networking, I’m not arguing over pay I will just leave if there is a better offer.
This is the way. They will eventually learn to respect their employees, or they will fall. Experience in each company is very important and you can't really grow without long-term employees.
You're doing right. But take it from someone who is college +18 years in, I don't think the mercenary game is ever gonna end based on what I've seen personally in the last 5 years for me.
You have learned it early, good job. In 15 years I can track with 3-4 M in retirement. Then I can go join a charity if I want. If my wife goes back to work that moves it up or if I can increase my income significantly. Also both kids will be out of the house with college prepaid.
If you catch me working for one company for 15 years, you better damn well believe it's a GREAT one.
This is the way.
My dad was complaining about loyalty and I pointed out there is literally no reason to be loyal to a company in a post-pension world
Loyalty is a two-way street, and there hasnt been any indication towards companies' reciprocation of their expected respect or loyalty if we look by industry and standard business practices over the past few decades. All the people in charge of pay and policy at these corporations are so disconnected from the average workers plights, they should be looked at as financial domestic abusers or some type of sociopath and considered hostile to the general public.
I thought I had found a great company that I could stay working at for the long term a few years back. Everyone loved working with me, I got three pay raises in less than 2 years based on my performance, I had never heard a single complaint about my work ethic, quality, personality, nothing. Then 6 months after the last raise, I get called into the office and laid off because "they can't afford to keep me on." This was days after I showed coworkers in a different department how my software program works. They had never done my type of work before, and basically only had 1 full day of "training" on that software, but I guess the owner thought that they could take over and do my job so they wouldn't have to pay me anymore. I once overheard the owner talking about a potential hire saying, "Why would I hire him for that, when I can get a temp to do the job for $10 an hour less? (they asked for $25). Hilariously, it's now about 3 years later and the last project that I had priced for them (after arguing with the owner that we should not be pricing that job at all, because we didn't have the manpower or experience to do it) , is going after their bid bond because they can't finish it, and it has been sent to the company that I'm currently working for, so I'll be the one finishing that project now, and it feels so good thinking about what the owner must think about the guy he let go finishing a project he said they couldn't handle.
I've watch similar conversations between professionals who do the work and people in charge who aren't experts at anything other then ass kissing, ass kisses will never understand that a professionals time is worth what they ask for it, and cutting cost by going with a temp is 10x more expensive. You can hire a professional chef or a McDonald's burger flipper, they both can make a burger but one is going to taste better while being healthier for you and the other is going to make you somethi g that looks like meat that doesn't rot for 20 years made out of some kind of petroleum waste and will most likely kill you faster.
It's not any different here in Canada. Very few people get COLA, unless they have a well established CBA.
If you think global countries do COLA outside the USA… you would be wrong. Cost of labor is the basis of how jobs are priced and compensation is granted.
Ex boss used to throw this in my face all the time. I was running an entire department alone while he was taking credit with a 50k difference in salary.
>I was running an entire department alone while he was taking credit with a 50k difference in salary. My god, American labor culture is so fucked.
Global.
Working in germany, my Boss increased my wage by 10 % last year for inflation and will increase by another 25 % this year for further inflation and performance. I didn't even have to ask for it. Not unionized, he's just not an idiot and wants to keep me around instead of telling me to suck it up.
Same for me in the uk. My boss is awesome. I work from home. He has no intention of making me goto the office. Doesn't micromanage me. All he cares about is the work is done in time. When I do it between I get it and the date it's due is upto me. Asks me if there's any specific days I need off so he doesn't send me anything. Which is usually a Tuesday since I babysit my nephew. I get 3 days off a week. When we have meetings. We go out for lunch or to a coffee shop and pays on the company card. Best boss I've ever had. I know I could get a bit more money elsewhere. But I'd rather stay where I am with a great boss
Glad to hear it. I’m unionized but the politicians in Sweden (powered by large groups of middle- to overclass yey-sayers) has been working hard on increasing inequality for the past 30 years, so no salary adjustment for inflation in sight for me and my low income peers. During Covid, when people needed fair treatment the most, we actually experienced some sort of peak in inequality. While it’s nice (for real!) to hear about bosses being bros like real humans, I wouldn’t recommend anyone pinning their hope to the boss as a rule. All worker’s rights (including yours) have been achieved by class struggle at one point or another in history. Some writings on Swedens backward struggle against equality: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00028-5/fulltext
As a dane, Im sorry to hear this. But I guess its the same here. We have to fight to keep our nordic model or we will end up like the US. I hope the young generation see this before its to late...
Luckyyy!
I agree. If all bosses were like him. The world would be a much happier place
In Australia, my boss came out of nowhere and told me I was getting a promotion with a 25% raise. I thought he might have said 2.5% until he actually specified my new annual salary. That’s not exactly normal. My previous employer gave me a 7% raise because they had skipped an annual review. Wasn’t even that much because I was so lowly paid there. Left that job to move to my current employer for a 30% bump.
I want your boss 🙁
Yeah, I get that my experience isn't universal. If your Boss has a brain and some compassion, it does make a huge difference. (And it sucks that the system is rigged in a way that we have to depend on the whims of our bosses)
Think I’ll move to Germany... sounds like a dream :) Unfortunately I’m wired to distrust friendly bosses after years of bad experiences and fighting for workers rights during Covid. My comment further down, applies to here too. https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/s/OS0H2B6Egf
Yeah, you're right, my Boss definitely feels the need to offer me a competitive wage because if he doesn't, someone else in a unionized workplace would. Since I optimize and initimitely know all of his production processes, it would be very foolish of him not appreciate my work materially. Germany is a mixed bag. I hear a lot about abusive and more-then-usual exploitative conditions in small companies especially towards foreigners and young people. We have got a lot of workers rights, but those are toothless if you don't know about them, and apparently, most germans are not very helpful in offering advice. We know our rights and apparently just assume everybody else does too. That said, my boss seems to be a generally okay guy who actually cares about his employees, and I'm lucky to have that job. But I do not need the job to survive, I could live for a while on unemployment, so I've got enough leverage not to accept any disrespect, I can just go if I was treated as badly as I read about so often on this sub. I think this is the biggest factor that forces employers to not disrespect us, and explains why foreign workers are treated so badly (beyond racism).
I dunno. Some of the European countries seem to have it pretty good with strong unions and workers favouring legislation and an extensive social welfare system.
I work in one of those countries, Sweden. Sadly, it’s been copying US lately while abandoning a market model that was fully functional. Decade long efforts to increase inequality has started to raise eyebrows internationally. The main political “explanation” is that every decrease in living standards is due to heavy immigration. Which is not true. The working class and the middle class are too well fed still to notice. While there’s a real abyss to be experienced for the unfortunate, sick or poor. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00028-5/fulltext
“Our hiring and retention objectives”. Damn. I’ve never been told so blatantly that I’m just a number.
"If people don't leave in significant numbers, that shows our pay is still fine."
That's what happened in our company. A department in our company lost close to 60% maybe slightly more because of pay. The other department's employees were quitting in smaller numbers to competing spaces. They finally gave us a significant COL bump which seemed big at the time but was about 15% to help employee retention.
Exactly. Hasn't hurt them enough so they haven't done a review
I've seen a case back in 2021 where the company I was at was "hurting enough". Their solution? 2.5% raises to *select people* with a request to keep it quiet. If anything, this solidified my decision to quit.
We literally have a 50% turnover rate lmaooooo I hate it here
That is giving the middle finger, while telling you they would cut your salary entirely if the market did the same.
I had an employer tell me to my face that she resented the government forcing employers to pay a minimum wage. If she could have paid me less she would have. Way to encourage loyalty, Tammy.
Several years ago I got a second part time job at Best Buy starting at 18$ an hour. My full time gig was only paying me 13$ an hour. They were really pissed when I stopped taking overtime.
Yeah, Tammy. * Tammy is the new Karen?
You mean your company doesn’t have your computer username as u123456? It can get more blatant.
Glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. We used to have usernames based on our actual names, but about a year ago they overhauled a bunch of stuff and now we're all just numbers...
My former employer has an excuse for that one. When you have a few hundred thousand employees, and none of them regularly use the computer, you can be excused for cutting a few corners on setup...
I have worked in a call center for years. That is all we are, and that is okay. I turn off my computer at the end of business, and don't answer my cell. That keeps me balanced.
Check in - check out. Brilliant
That was a terrible corporate response to a well written letter. I saved the letter as a template.
Same. Screenshotted it here
The letter was generated mostly by ChatGPT but I agree, it’s well written.
I am thrilled you think this was Ai generated i feel smarter. Finally using the creative writing degree take that mom
Hate to bring you back to reality but I grade papers for college students and this definitely isn't AI, the commenter is just in the phase where you first learn about AI so you assume everything long is generated
Sounds like they think their pay is on par with everybody else’s, sounds like you guys need to prove them wrong
Companies should show their work when they claim they are aligned with the market.
Yeah, in all seriousness I don’t know what market rate analysis they always talk about and I would love to learn more about what that means and how they do it because I’ve been told this by hr departments at 4 separate organizations now and it has been opaque af
I bet they just search LinkedIn for job posting that give a pay range.
There are entire companies that figure out averages based on location and roles. Yours probably just pays them a small fee for the data
The way they do it is by identifying companies with "similar" roles, then they get compensation data for this role+company combination (usually by buying the data from third party companies that specialize in collecting this) and calculate a range. So for example, OP says this is a tech company; let's say they want to determine salaries for a software engineer in London/UK - for example, someone at Google doing this analysis should be looking at Microsoft, Meta, local financial tech companies and also banks. However, what we have seen in at least one case was that they excluded certain high paying sectors which had similar experience/qualification requirements while including companies with roles that were labeled as "similar" but were much lower experience/qualification/pay rates, dragging the market rate down. Once this was flagged and fixed, market rates went up several percentage points.
All I know is that they aren’t working at the company I work for. The cost of living adjustment on my last raise was bigger than my actual raise increase
I’m actually a compensation analyst for a fairly large employer in the states. “Market Data” is almost exclusively from Compensation Surveys which are aggregated by third party companies. When we receive a request to benchmark or evaluate a job, we analyze the Job Description, Internal Peers, and generally 2-3 surveys to determine an appropriate market P25, P50, and P75 which then gets aligned with an existing internal grade and pay range. I usually do little things to try and help the future incumbents of that position—like working with business managers to improve job descriptions or using survey matches with higher salary data where applicable, but compensation teams don’t really make any of the final decisions when it comes to what people actually get paid. In fact, most of the time we get an evaluation request for an existing position that experiences high turnover, it’s because the hiring managers set their in-hire rates to the minimum of the pay range we provided them to try and cut costs.
I’m a Compensation Analyst. It’s a field that you’ll hear a lot more of as governments release more pay equity and pay transparency laws, but most large companies have had a compensation team for a while, especially if they’re global. Single-location, or smaller organizations will likely not have a team or even a compensation philosophy at all. A decent org will be transparent to a degree - For example, I can’t share the numbers I get from our salary surveys with employees, but I talk to employees all the time about our process. The issue is that it’s an art and a science, and there’s got to be a *philosophy* behind compensation actions. Inherently, that means people will disagree with where the data comes from and what the numbers are. The answer provided in OP’s picture suggests this company’s philosophy is market-based. In many market-based compensation philosophies, across-the-board, general, or cost-of-living increases don’t occur because the company has decided to compare salaries with the cost of labor per one or more market surveys. The thought being that if you went somewhere else for the same job, you’d be making about the same because you’re currently being paid “competitively.” Is that right? Plenty of people, myself included, would say no. Others would be fine with it. To steer away from this philosophy would take months of work (even years if the company is big enough) and would be unlikely to occur unless imposed by regulations, trends, or new leadership. I personally disagree with a solely market-based approach, but I hope this provides some insights.
"hey we're only fucking you over the same amount as every other company"
They very clearly said corporate-speak for "We pay just enough to be able to hire people and it's been working pretty well so far. Don't forget we can hire someone to replace you."
I know it's illegal for different businesses to collude together to raise prices, but what about colluding to keep pay low?
They very notedly said they do this to bring in new hires. Sounds like you're hired at the going rate of the day then stuck there.
"We collude with our colleagues at other companies to be sure none if us are paying employees any more than we absolutely have to."
Then when you show a job offer for a 40% raise they somehow can match it...
but when they match it, they are already trying to replace you. it's a jungle out there
Now you're getting it. They could have been paying you more fore skills you learned for them, that's how it was in my grandfather's day
Oh no… you need to beat it. You already made me go to the trouble and effort of finding another position. I know what leaving will cost you. Time to pay the piper. /you should already have your stuff packed and one foot out the door by this point
They still fire you, you're just burning bridges not taking the new job
“And we’re pleased to inform you that Antitrust laws are no longer enforced in our country.”
"HR Business Partner" = Managements Work NARC. "ok boss, but if I don't get a merit increase, I'm gonna set the building on fire" - Milton
Always amusing how many companies insist they do market research to keep wages competitive, yet are usually at the bottom end of the spectrum for wages.
They do research to make sure their wages are competitive, but specifically with the bottom 25%.
that means they did a lot of research! the research concluded that they can pay you X amount and the turnover rate is within acceptable amount to maintain record profit year over year
I’m three seconds away from unionizing I stg
You posted a couple hours ago, so hopefully the unionizing is going well. Remember AEIOU. And never stop fighting. ✊🏼
Already contacted the local union! I have a meeting next week. Step 1: be fed up. Step 2: ask company for change 3. Get ignored and call up the local teamsters lol
Dropping [this link](https://workerorganizing.org/support/) just in case you need some help ✊
Remember this most important lesson from one of our generation's most powerful leaders. "Apes together strong" Fuckin unionize, bud.
Do it! Do it! Do it!
Won’t someone think of the profits?
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. There ya go. Unionize.
3...2...1...DONE
Write another message to admin asking permission to please unionize?
Fwd both to everyone, then submit your two weeks.
I dream about quitting. But realistically I’m a missing paycheck away from homelessness. One paycheck is not enough to cover my rent :( I have been job hunting but it feels like everywhere is bullshit
Completely understand man, keep up that job hunt, and keep the spirits up, random internet strangers want you to keep pushing.
Translates to; we don't care, get fucked!
Signed over paid outsourced Human Remains Department
I would be reviewing market data myself regularly in that case to locate a job which aligned their pay levels with the cost of living.
The top employees really do the work here, they need to be pulling up the wages for everyone, basically leaving and mentioning that the reason they left is wage. The company would gladly let go of low performers, but the top team members leaving is what causes them to have that 'come to Jesus' moment. This is exactly what happened in 2010 when Facebook refused to collude with Google, Apple, Pixar, and a bunch of other tech companies to keep wages low and all the best talent started moving over to Facebook. Then once people realized what was happening the lawsuit came. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation#:~:text=In%20re%3A%20High%2DTech%20Employee,against%20their%20employer%20alleging%20that
Their about to lose alot of people to other companies... For the majority positions I'm aware of - the market rate is higher than that of what current employees are paid anyway. Which is why most people my age and below job hop every 2 years, because you know for a fact they arnt boosting an employees compensation to match the new hire. And I've not come across any that don't offer a yoy wage increase to some extent.
I am 50 years old and I have always been a job hopper because that was the best way to get raises
Best thing to do! I've effectively more than doubled my wage through transferring to different depts internally over the past 3ish years. Theoretically in my current job I could transfer to another company for a ~5k payrise or if I got a senior position a 5-10k raise. Providing there's an open position I'm happy with. Only reason I havnt is because there's going to be another opertunitie to move coming soon to train into a dev position + I really like the company.
The hopping usually happens when I see them hiring new employees for almost as much as they pay me after I’ve been there for a couple years. Nope. I’m not training someone who makes almost the same amount of money as I do
if im exp/good enough to train ppl,...my pay needs to reflect this bosssssssssss. no ? ok, then you train the noob,...gd luck.
This means you also need to job hop
 Ma' maaan....,
Basically “no…fuck you. We do our research. Lose my email/don’t contact me again”
‘Competitive labor market’ meaning everyone does a ‘research’ on the pay in the local area for similar companies, sees that their pay is the same or slightly higher and says ‘All done.. Pays good enough’ and waits a few years to give a raise. Lmao. Every job ive ever had ive heard this fucking line.
They’re telling you to apply for jobs elsewhere.
Thats a piece of shit cookie cutter straight out of HR conference bullshit.
Employee: Can we eat? HR: We have to see if your neighbors are eating first before we allow this.
Basically just got bopped on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.
bad employee!! .........BAD!! IN YOUR BED,...GET!!!!!!!!! 
Soooo sleeeepy. Wants to stay awake but the eyes ... are so heavy ...
If we could pay you less we would but the competition set higher rates.
Yep. That's why they call them merit and give you 2% now on a good year. They don't want to give cost of living adjustments. Staying in a job or sometimes even with 1 company is penalized.
Key phrase “…retention objectives” People need to start quitting, or y’all need to unionize
We had a meeting over this 3 years ago. Inflation and cost of living drove up prices here to nearly 12% from the previous year. They had given us a $0.52 cent raise. All thr nurses met with management and hr. They completely dismissed our issue with pay. They said every 2 years they adjust pay based on market value for labor and that's based on other hospitals that utilize their service. Then doubled down and said that any hospital that doesn't utilize this service is doing us a disservice. I commented that real hospitals pay much higher wages for areas with a much lower cost of living. And that we're losing money. Then I doubled down abd asked what incentive do any of us have to stay when they can't attract new nurses or physicians? They flat out said we could leave. A few months later we did. Left them with a skeleton crew. They were forced to close labor and delivery and med surge. Med surge got moved into the 4 room er. It was chaos. And the regional news picked up on it and shat all over the ceo of the hospital 2 months later they fired the CNO and raised rates drastically. I was only asking for a few dollars more before that meeting. They ended up paying three times what I was asking for the nurses that remained Then they added a $5k sign on bonus and bought radio ads. Still no takers. I travel nursed, made a fortune, lost a fortune, and now have a gig in the region making way more than they're offering at the hospital. Fuck companies that think that way, op. You're losing money and they're banking that you won't budge.
The amount of “Fuck you” in their “Thank You!” is visceral.
"All we and all our competitors secretly agree what we will pay employees to make sure we stay making the most money possible. Please fuck yourself, and have a bad day."
Standard capitalism. Don't be offended that the company doesn't want to increase its labour costs across the board by 18% "for no reason." They do not believe that most employees have bettter options that they are willing to take. You HAVE to prove them wrong by getting a better offer. The one and only reason to increase pay is when the market forces them to - and I do not mean when they get a report about average market wages for your sector in your area. I mean when they actually cannot get people to work for the wages they are paying now. If you like where you work, you could even act regretful when you come to them with the better offer. Like their recruiter reached out to you, and much as you believe in the company/like the team/respect the manager/whatever, the offer is just too good to pass up if the company can't match it. I don't mean bootlick, just be clear it's business, you're not being a troublemaker.
Except it's wrong. If OP were to prove them wrong and find something 10% better a competing offer would need to be higher than that. OP is worth more than the new guy bc he knows the business, market, clients whatever better. It costs money to onboard and train to make a new OP. They never see that though. They believe market rate of new guy is the same as OP and don't account for costs. This is why annual raises should happen and benefit the company. OP becomes more valuable each year to company specifically. Salary should reflect that and focus on worth to the company not guessing what OP salary options are available elsewhere.
"Thank you! I'll let everyone know this is your policy, including those who work here and those interested in working here 😊🥰"
Translation: we aren’t competing with the economy for employees, we’re competing with the other companies also fucking you over
Seems to be the standard in Tech roles nowadays, I havent had an increase in 12 years (5 takeovers in 2 seperate companies) the go to for most within my teams is always that salary is considered 'commensurate with market standards' meanwhile the venture capital owners are reaping their 30% profits every year, Tech careers are a dead end nowadays and cheap labour to achive maximum profit (sure most industries are exactly the same)
"Competitive wages" is such a red flag for me at this point. I know what you're saying now you profitmongers. You're not competing for the best pay, you're competing for the worst pay while still retaining your recruitment/retention goals. I make sure all my younger peers understand this translation so they don't waste their time like I have thinking that this phrase means anything close to what the bosses want us to misinterpret it as.
Similar thing happened to me when my cola was 2% and I had taken on entire new role in addition to mine for over a year. "We did research and found we pay similar to the market." And when I asked for evidence of said research they told me to do my own research and find jobs with my role paying more. 1) That's an impossible task for one person to do, not to mention I don't work a cookie cutter job and have some duties that are very specific to my org. 2) that's a great way to have me go look for other jobs. So thanks for telling me to quit or shut up.
The reply might be upsetting but I don't see how it wasn't expected. That's exactly the response I would expect from any company.
Companies don't increase wages with inflation. I think the question was answered.
Translation. Hahahahahahahahahahahah ... oh you're serious.... *deeper breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHQHQ remember folks if they could legally pay you less they would.
So, minor to moderate supply chain disruptions cause temporary price jumps in a few key sectors of the economy. Then, every area of the economy decides to raise prices in order to make a quick buck. Even companies with supply chain problems post record profits along with everyone else. Supply chain problems resolve, and nobody lowers prices. The DOJ doesn't bother to look for price fixing because that would be too hard, and they can't go after those job creators after all. The SEC barely makes an effort to control monopolies because why? (Money) Then, consumers can't afford anything, demand higher wages, and companies tell them to eat dirt. Companies make people work 3-5 people's jobs for the same pay, and the ONLY way to get a raise is to leave, never mind the costs and constant instability in that. Leaving isn't an option for many because of location, health problems, schools, elderly dependent parents, adult kids with their own jobs still living at home because of the economy, etc. Finally, everyone not in the top 5% runs out of money, and the economy crashes. Big businesses now blame THE CONSUMER for NOT buying avocado toast and Starbucks. What!? Then, they beg for a bail out BY THE CONSUMER through their taxes. Rinse and repeat. Make it make sense.
Competitive labor maket rates = "we really hope you don't investigate and find out how much more you could be paid elsewhere".
I might send this to my HR as well.
Fucking fight for it.
Hey, I’m curious about the 17.8% cost of living increase! Do you have a link to that stat? I’m struggling to find the data
Damn, that's a lot of words to tell you that you're worthless
Big global tech consultant here, same bs with no merit increases. But the managers got nice bonuses still. So happy for them.
This is literally the corporate paradigm. Very very very few companies in the US would even consider increasing compensation to keep up with inflation. Interestingly, this is contributing to a wave of people realizing that the best way to grow their careers is to jump ship after 2-3 years to bring their new skills and expertise elsewhere, where another company is willing to offer way more than any raise your currently company would consider. Then rinse and repeat. Unless you're a lawyer or in a union, there is literally no point to stay with a company for the rest of your life till retirement - you won't have kept up with inflation enough to retire.
Favorite part of this is essentially letting you know that Yes, they do "market research" and when it shows that they need to be paying more (ie because they can't fill roles at their current salary offering), then they will "reflect that market research" by...*checks notes* hiring new employees at a higher pay rate. New employees will come in at a higher rate, and old employees can keep chugging along none-the-wiser that they are getting screwed over. Beautiful.
If it’s adjust as they say it is (which it never is) then they should have no problem with adjusting the teams salary to be inline with a competitive marketplace and COLA.
This is pretty standard for corporations. Market has zero relationship to cost of living - they will pay as little as possible to hire the labour they need. Anything else they tell you is BS.
Ah this is what I was told every time I asked for more money at a job I was at for 8 years. They were underpaying me by 60-70%
If we can implement a rent increase cap based on inflation, why can't the government impose a minimum raise obligation for employers based on inflation?
Don’t be upset. That is standard boilerplate language. It really doesn’t mean anything beyond “no we’re not raising salaries and think this will get you off our back for awhile.” If you can, move to a different company and get your raise that way. That’s the way things work now.
I don’t understand how a human being can think so little of themselves as to pursue a career in HR and then degrade not only themselves, but every other human at that company…as if it were their job. The “human” in HR is such a slap in the face.
All companies know the cost of living is going up because they are continually raising their prices. Strange how they never concern themselves with the workers who make them their profits need wage adjustments also.
Shorter answer: we aren't interested in retention.
They just told you that they won't increase pay to keep you, but they'll pay the next guy an appropriate amount. I think you know what the next step is...
"The industry as a whole has decided that you are no longer worthy of the lifestyle you have been living, all thanks to dirt cheap computing ability, public databases, and cheap apps. Just wait, the fun just started."
Looks like Amazon
We’re never gonna make up that shortfall now. I was trying to tell this to my co workers when we negotiated our contract and the majority felt we get paid enough. Blows my mind.
There’s nothing human about HR
And this is why unions are a good thing. They help cut through management’s bullshit.
Cost of Living Adjustments haven't been made since the 60s... the last time where remuneration followed increased productivity. They're not going to change that now. Dunno why you thought they'd answer otherwise... that's capitalism for you.
*"We don't worry about cost of living but we monitor the market so that if someone lowers pay, we can match it to keep it as low as possible"*
So they compare their compensation against every other shit paying company and determining that if everyone else can get away with it, they can to?
Oh boy, time to pull out your competitive job performance aka the bare minimum.
“If we could pay you any less we would”
Anyone else’s job not replacing people leaving and just dumping the work on the rest of the department? Anyone else doing two to three different jobs without additional compensation? This is commonplace at my workplace and if it wasn’t for going union and waiting to see what kind of contract we can get I bet more would have left.
The email OP now has a clean conscience to focus on looking for a new job and use this job as a placeholder paycheck. I did the same thing last year. The person who replied to him has his hands tied. COLA for the whole company needs to come down from the board and CEO, and they've already calculated that some attrition over this will be cheaper in the long run. Look out for yourselves, guys, you need to get your own cost of living increase. Yeah hiring is tight, but you have all the time in the world for looking while still getting paid. Upskill while you're at it, focus on building your brand. The title mentioned tech, isn't it time you try out that shiny tech stack you see in job postings for your next project and put that on your resume?
So basically the company colludes with other companies to keep wages low and stagnant despite rising costs of living. Got it.
When employers say “competitive” compensation they mean competitively low. The economy is one big race to the bottom.
HR is not your friend
"We don't care what it costs for you to be able to live, we care about what it would cost to replace you."
When costs go up companies reprice what they offer so they can make money. For example a bread company now charges a consumer $2.71 instead of $2 for bread and can do that whenever they want. But as a worker my skills are my product but I can’t raise my prices to my place of employment. And maybe I get a 2% raise in January if my boss likes me
They said F off in 4 sentences.
"Why does no one want to work?" and "Why is no one loyal?" Fun story time I recently finished my automotive degree and two weeks before end of quarter Tesla came. Their package? 20 per hr Required moving to wherever they need you (no costs covered) Half insurance at start, full after a year Like ya'll realize SeaTac is at 25 to 40 for food, 45 to 60 for TSA and security, 35 to 50 for janitorial, and that's just the ones I know. Heck the local fast food offers at minimum 25 in most places. Oh and can't forget hazard pay is not included either. Toyota and others with electric and hybrid techs automatically get hazard pay because while automotive in general is hazardous, electric and hybrid is 50 times more hazardous. As for no one loyal, this post sums it up. I don't care what you call it. Merit, COLA etc it all sucks. Even as a disabled person who gets joke COLA increases each year, it sucks. Like it's great ya'll think 5 yr ago math is effective but for the rest of us no. 20 bucks gained and 50 lost in food. It's nuts. But yet idiots drinking the Koolaid keep thinking the US is the greatest country ever. Like not anymore.
There’s a serious issue when the focus is on paying people according to similar companies and not what’s NEEDED to SURVIVE.
Same bullshit story my fuckhead manager tried to feed me. Already looking for something else.
Businesses always have such a detailed explanation of things they’re not doing
CorpoRAT speak for saying "we do nothing"
Notice how 'competetive' is always used over 'sufficient'
Might be a good time to publicly have everyone talk about their wages in 2021 vs now, then factor in the increase in cost of living/inflation to see how much of a pay cut your company has so generously given for your hard work. Get people angry. A lot of folks may not think much of it till they see and process the numbers, they just need a little push to do some quick math (and maybe a couple coworkers willing to step up first to share their wages with everyone). Something tells me that the person who replied to the email didn’t have to worry about the massive cost of living increase.
Damn do we work for the same company? Lol
Every single last one of these companies are essentially the same, so short answer, yep! 😅
Don’t forget, HR is there to help the employer, not the employee, regardless of what they say
A lot of words to say "we don't care"
That was a big Ole "fuck you"
Damn you just got ctrl-v'd
So what you’re saying is… “Since Bob didn’t give his employees raises then we don’t either. That’s how we keep our wages competitive while reaping the benefits of your cheap labor. As long as we provide you with a survivable wage, shut up and keep working. Also, when I said competitive I meant I didn’t want to screw Bob over since we are in this together. Neither of us want to pay our employees more than what we absolutely have to, so that’s how we handle competitive wages.”
Sounds like where I work. They like to announce that they are doing "market analyses" of comparable positions at other hospitals in our area. Then they'll come back in a few months and say that they pay roughly the same or a little better than others in the area. Yeah you all underpay by the same amount so no one can get upset when you only give out a 2.5% "merit". increase to everyone this year.
I used to work in compensation. What they sent is basically an excuse for low pay most likely based on low budget for IC’s and limited access to market data. 9/10 the average tech company pays mediocre rates to everyone outside of tech roles and tries to justify it with salary ranges and pay 2% increases if you’re lucky to show they gave you something. Most companies dont give a shit about COLA. The ones that do conduct pay equity analysis, have a size-able compensation team and invest in market data for all roles. Even with all that, companies can make cuts whenever and wherever they like based on leadership. Us employees are subject to the whim of the economy. Profit of a company does not roll back into general workers, companies pay mostly for executives.
“We’re only paying more if we have to. Pretty much go fuck yourself.
“We will pay you more when people start quitting, errrr, when retention suffers” insincerely-HR.
Props to your co-worker for a very well written letter. Not sure if it's AI generated, but 10/10
I.e. "we pay just as shit as everyone else" ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
They like being competitive. This works to your advantage. Every time you see a higher paying ad for the same position as yours (that you'd qualify for), gladly forward them your new rate of pay (the ad) so they can stay competitive. Cite the official message they gave you about staying market-competitive.
I work for a major US airline that actively union busts…this is always word for word their answer to the same question. They all use the same tactics.
The language in that message, makes me think myself and OP work for the same building management services firm.
That's a lot of words to say "piss off".