Did you get a raise?

[booradley]

I did. OK. Great. But at 2.3%, it was lower than expected coming off a year where, again, I said "Yes" to every report request that came to my way, and basically busted my ass to make everyone happy.

According to NBCNews, the average rate increase is projected to be 3%. So, am I to be insulted, here?

I'm a business analyst and information systems analyst for a national marketing firm. I'd be interested in some serious feedback before I have a little chat with my boss (the COO) on Monday.

[Lathum]

I did, around 5%. I was actually surprised because I moved from Seattle to Cincinnati. My company does cost of living adjustment, so in Seattle I got 110% pay, so I figured no raise this year to compensate. I am also consistently a top performer in all our metrics, so that likely helped.

[path12]

I got a nice raise this year, 9%. But it was the first one in almost 4 years, so if you spread it out it's not as impressive. I'm still taking it though.

[Matthean]

So what if you got the highest raise among your co-workers?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

A raise is not a requirement, it's a reward. I'm always surprised how many people look at the average national raise percentage and assume that anything below means your employer doesn't think you did an average or better job. There are factors within each business that vary the raise percentage quite a bit.

Bottom line.....do your job and the increase in pay will come, whether at your current job or somewhere else.

[claphamsa]

nope, federal pay freeze. They have also cancelled performance bonuses.

[Flasch186]

right, inflation is at zero! MBBF its been a while, how have you been? McCain still slaying the election? Polls looking good?

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

A raise is not a requirement, it's a reward. I'm always surprised how many people look at the average national raise percentage and assume that anything below means your employer doesn't think you did an average or better job. There are factors within each business that vary the raise percentage quite a bit.

Bottom line.....do your job and the increase in pay will come, whether at your current job or somewhere else.

Only issue I have with this is a raise should be at least equal to inflation. Otherwise, you're just getting a smaller pay cut.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Only issue I have with this is a raise should be at least equal to inflation. Otherwise, you're just getting a smaller pay cut.

That usually takes care of itself. Most management understand that and adjust accordingly.

Edit: I should also add that my statement doesn't apply to the health care sector, where inflation couldn't even save people from the pay cuts that occurred last year. Average 'raise' last year amongst radiologists in the KC area last year was -7%. Radiology assistant pay dropped even more.

[albionmoonlight]

Federal worker being furloughed. So a pretty significant pay cut.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by booradley

I'm a business analyst and information systems analyst for a national marketing firm.

That's the most lofty way to say, "recluse that hides things in trees," I've ever seen.

[SegRat]

No raise in 4 years. Health insurance doubled, retirement contribution tripled.

[booradley]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

That's the most lofty way to say, "recluse that hides things in trees," I've ever seen.

I don't understand you. You think I keep a low profile, and that hurts me?

[Balldog]

I got just above 6%.
Company average was 2%.
I received Exceeds Expectations and Ready for Advancement on my review. And a lot of new people to the organization you were not eligible for a raise benefited me.

[dawgfan]

3% raise, which was the max they were giving out at the non-corporate executive level. Looks like inflation was ~1.7% this past year, so I guess I effectively got a 1.3% raise.

[cougarfreak]

My teacher's union has waived raises for 4 straight years to save jobs. Meanwhile, our local newspaper reported a couple of months ago that our Superintendent has had raises all of those years, and his benefits package now includes his entire family healthcare paid for (about $750 a month), and his retirement contribution to his state retirement is covered by the board as well (our version of social security, about 10%). His salary is now over triple what I make as an 18th year teacher.

[BrianD]

I got about 3%. I wouldn't be insulted by 2.3% as that may very well be about average for your company.

I also would not put up above-and-beyond efforts hoping to get a bigger raise. In my experience, anything you do becomes the baseline for what others expect of you. People just don't have time to pay attention and notice if you are giving extra. Do your job and do it well, but make sure you take care of your own work/life balance.

[BYU 14]

4.23%, which I am very happy about considering my job is for a company that administers a State Medicaid plan and other plans administering the product have not received a raise in 4 years and we have gotten one every year. No complaints here at all.

Coaching stipends went up a bit this year too for the first time in years, though that is an insignificant amount and I would coach for free anyway.

[MacroGuru]

25% pay raise, but I came into the company at a lower level than most and turned the sales team around, so my base pay was adjusted accordingly and I am now at the highest level besides my boss.

[Desnudo]

Do you know what the bands were? If not, it's always tough to reverse negotiate anyway, less so if you have no idea what the targets were. I'd recommend having a forward looking conversation where you state you disappointment with the amount and then ask what the two things are that you can do in the next period to change that amount. It may be that he views value differently then you.

The real problem is that you had no idea what your performance target was and clearly different expectations. So, it's a pain in the ass, get more familiar with your boss and actively get his feedback.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

That usually takes care of itself. Most management understand that and adjust accordingly.

Edit: I should also add that my statement doesn't apply to the health care sector, where inflation couldn't even save people from the pay cuts that occurred last year. Average 'raise' last year amongst radiologists in the KC area last year was -7%. Radiology assistant pay dropped even more.

Yes, the management looks out for the workers pay versus inflation...

not necessarily market forces just, y'know, they take care of ya.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Yes, the management looks out for the workers pay versus inflation...

not necessarily market forces just, y'know, they take care of ya.

yeah, I'm not even sure what that meant. how else would it take care of itself outside of raises?

[Autumn]

I'm self-employed so I never get a raise. Hooray!

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I'm self-employed so I never get a raise. Hooray!

Ditto, i just figure out when I can start charging more.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by chadritt

Ditto, i just figure out when I can start charging more.

yeah, and for us it's been a long time.

[Fidatelo]

I got 1.X%. The X ended up being 0.

About 6 years ago I got a hefty increase when the company matched an offer I had elsewhere. I was concerned at the time that they would hold it against me but I was still relatively new to the company so I wasn't really sure. Since then my salary has increased a grand total of about 3%. Looks like I should have trusted my gut.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Autumn

yeah, I'm not even sure what that meant. how else would it take care of itself outside of raises?

I assumed that most posters would understand that raises are required to keep up with inflation and that it wouldn't need to be spelled out. I was obviously mistaken. My apologies.

[Flasch186]

..and management is required to give an F about how inflation effects the worker bee.

[Eaglesfan27]

I got about 2.6% raise and a substantial productivity bonus this year.

[illinifan999]

No pay raise. No bonus. Since our health premiums went up, I'm now making less than I did last year.

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

nope, federal pay freeze. They have also cancelled performance bonuses.

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Federal worker being furloughed. So a pretty significant pay cut.

Same here. 0% pay raise (for the third year in a row). No performance bonus. +5 furlough days. +Health premium increase.

[Icy]

Mine will be dealt next month, this is a new thing for me as I have always been self employed until past year, but i'm looking for at least a 25% increase.

I joined this company just a year ago with a good salary but around the average for my responsibilities in similar companies in the new very competitive market of mobile advertising/publishing/billing.

I should have asked for more when i joined, but due my inexperience negotiating salaries I just accepted what they offered as it sounded good enough for me (not just the salary but the freedom of no set schedule and telecommuting if/when i want) and I was confident i could over-perform and felt it was good to start low and get more once I proved what i could do (this could be again due to my inexperience working for others and still having some kind of self employed mentality, the better you do, the more you earn).

Since i joined, the company has doubled the sales volume and half of the company volume keeps being done by me and the team I trained and supervise. Thanks to that overachievement I reached the top bonus I had dealt and received some extra. I also received my share of the company dividends as I also own a very small part part of the company but of course every partner does, so that has nothing to do with my performance besides helping the company to have enough profit to share it between partners.

I also rejected a big offer (double of my current salary but requiring to move to London where life is way more expensive that in Spain) as I posted here in FOFC some months ago from a competitor through a head hunter and my company owners know about it, so i expect a big effort by them.

On the other side, I have the recognition already, my responsibilities have grown a lot and I'm big part in all the strategic decisions at the company, now i just expect the salary to match that too but don't think it will be a problem as the company comes from a record revenue year and the new year looks even better as the mobile business keeps growing so fast (we are in a big new internet bubble).

I'll update once i get news.

[miked]

As part of our grants, we budget in 3% increases annually. Even though I have people 100% covered by grants, my University insisted on a pay freeze for all (except Deans, etc) and I was forced to re-allocate the money elsewhere. The money was already given, so I don't understand what the problem was.

[Butter]

I have been on a pretty fast advancement track that has slowed of late, so this past year I got a 4.5% raise partly due to the company moving my job into Northern Kentucky from Northern Cincinnati, and the 20 minutes they tacked onto my commute. Otherwise I think raises were capped at about 3%.

[Suburban Rhythm]

3%, but first raise in 3 years.

My prior job (11+ years), large corporation where, while I suspected there were ridiculous raises and bonuses at the senior management level, I was sort of blissfully ignorant.

Current position is a much smaller company. The problem with his is I now have access to, and see daily, the goofy expenses and bonus payments to people who can barely tie their own shoes. It is infinitely more frustrating.

[booradley]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I got 1.X%. The X ended up being 0.

About 6 years ago I got a hefty increase when the company matched an offer I had elsewhere. I was concerned at the time that they would hold it against me but I was still relatively new to the company so I wasn't really sure. Since then my salary has increased a grand total of about 3%. Looks like I should have trusted my gut.

Yep. Got a 20% hike last year when I proved my workload had tripled. I actually talked with our CFO last night, and this was one of the first things he mentioned : "Well, you just got a big increase LAST year ..."

I think I'm kinda maxed out on salary for my current position. Until I move up, I get the feeling I can look forward to more of the same, hard work or no.

[saldana]

yes, but only 2%, which is probably only going to put my check at what it was before the fiscal cliff decrease. i am ok with it though since this was my first year with this company, and i got 2 rather nice bonuses during the course of the year.

[booradley]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

3%, but first raise in 3 years.

My prior job (11+ years), large corporation where, while I suspected there were ridiculous raises and bonuses at the senior management level, I was sort of blissfully ignorant.

Current position is a much smaller company. The problem with his is I now have access to, and see daily, the goofy expenses and bonus payments to people who can barely tie their own shoes. It is infinitely more frustrating.

Amen to this. We are dominated by Sales Execs who will order the curtains changed in their hotel rooms (didn't like the color) at an exorbitant cost. I have SO many stories like that, and now I'm like you. I don't want to know anymore ...

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

A raise is not a requirement, it's a reward. I'm always surprised how many people look at the average national raise percentage and assume that anything below means your employer doesn't think you did an average or better job. There are factors within each business that vary the raise percentage quite a bit.

Bottom line.....do your job and the increase in pay will come, whether at your current job or somewhere else.

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I assumed that most posters would understand that raises are required to keep up with inflation and that it wouldn't need to be spelled out. I was obviously mistaken. My apologies.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by booradley

I think I'm kinda maxed out on salary for my current position. Until I move up, I get the feeling I can look forward to more of the same, hard work or no.

I think I'm pretty much in this boat. Been in the same position for a dozen years. Came in young and a little underpaid, and had nice raises for the first half-dozen years or so (and a nifty bonus when the company I originally worked for was sold). Since then I've been in maybe the 3%-5% range -which is still pretty good - but I feel like that is barely keeping up with inflation and with health care increases I'm probably losing a little ground.

Now, I could probably have the opportunity to move to other positions, but I'm not actually sure it is worth it at this point from a headache (time, demands, commute, etc) standpoint. I could probably make a little extra in bonuses by helping out with more proposal writing, etc - but I'm not sure how bonus that really is, compared to just being a form of OT.

[Suburban Rhythm]

One of my favorite stories from my time in (large-ish) corporate America.

I imagine this is most place, but, HR required that the distribution of performance review grades be a bell curve. At my company, it was 1-5. One being "How aren't you fired already?", Five being "Why are you still here, way too smart!?" Expectations were about 80% of people would be scored as a 3.

So, my 3rd year in the department (second job in the company overall), our manager is explaining this to us. The prior two years I'd been graded as a 4.

"So...I wanted to give you a 4 again. But, you know, with the new HR regulations, I have to tweak in places. So, you'll be scored a 3 this year. You are at the high end of the 3 range, though. Any questions?"

While I had plenty of things to say, none would have change my score, so just accepted it.

Fast forward 4 months or so (reviews were done company wide 6/30, but your raises were effective your anniversary date). Meet with same supervisor. He has a post-it note with a % and dollar amount written on it.

He slides it across the table. It's like 2%, and the corresponding salary increase. He explains it by saying "Well, it's a little less, because you did drop from a '4' to a '3' this year"

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by booradley

I think I'm kinda maxed out on salary for my current position. Until I move up, I get the feeling I can look forward to more of the same, hard work or no.

I think it's similar for me, they've mentioned that my salary is high in comparison to those around me. But what bothers me is not even keeping up with inflation. If 6 years ago I was worth paying the high-end of market wages to retain, then I should still be worth the same to them, only they are effectively paying me less. I don't see myself here a year from now if they don't recognize that, and I won't be swayed by any last-minute offers to match this time either.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

One of my favorite stories from my time in (large-ish) corporate America.

I imagine this is most place, but, HR required that the distribution of performance review grades be a bell curve. At my company, it was 1-5. One being "How aren't you fired already?", Five being "Why are you still here, way too smart!?" Expectations were about 80% of people would be scored as a 3.

So, my 3rd year in the department (second job in the company overall), our manager is explaining this to us. The prior two years I'd been graded as a 4.

"So...I wanted to give you a 4 again. But, you know, with the new HR regulations, I have to tweak in places. So, you'll be scored a 3 this year. You are at the high end of the 3 range, though. Any questions?"

While I had plenty of things to say, none would have change my score, so just accepted it.

Fast forward 4 months or so (reviews were done company wide 6/30, but your raises were effective your anniversary date). Meet with same supervisor. He has a post-it note with a % and dollar amount written on it.

He slides it across the table. It's like 2%, and the corresponding salary increase. He explains it by saying "Well, it's a little less, because you did drop from a '4' to a '3' this year"

Our company was like this, but a little worse:
1-5 in opposite order to yours. 1: You're the best. 5: You're outta here. But our 3 (doing your job) rating was split into 3 levels o give more differentiation. This year it's back to straight 1-5.

For a while there was a forced distribution of ratings into the bell curve which just rubs people the wrong way. Depending on where the ratings had to look like a bell curve at what level (section of 12-15, division of 100, department of 500?), you could have a high performing section where everyone is lights out and someone is still getting screwed.

Any, +4.5% here, give or take, but total cash compensation is -10% for 2013.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by finketr

Our company was like this, but a little worse:
1-5 in opposite order to yours. 1: You're the best. 5: You're outta here. But our 3 (doing your job) rating was split into 3 levels o give more differentiation. This year it's back to straight 1-5.

For a while there was a forced distribution of ratings into the bell curve which just rubs people the wrong way. Depending on where the ratings had to look like a bell curve at what level (section of 12-15, division of 100, department of 500?), you could have a high performing section where everyone is lights out and someone is still getting screwed.

Any, +4.5% here, give or take, but total cash compensation is -10% for 2013.

Bolded was my running joke in our team meetings.

The idea that our team of 13 people have any more than 1 or 2 outstanding employees is ridiculous! If we were all outstanding, we wouldn't be here anymore

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

Bolded was my running joke in our team meetings.

The idea that our team of 13 people have any more than 1 or 2 outstanding employees is ridiculous! If we were all outstanding, we wouldn't be here anymore

Maybe a better way to say it would be: Relative to the rest of the division, our section was all high performers.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by finketr

Maybe a better way to say it would be: Relative to the rest of the division, our section was all high performers.

I understand your thinking. But management's thinking, I did not.

I can understand each LOB as a whole should be it's own bell curve. But down to the team level is what I didn't get. Our manager admitted HR required it be followed at the team level so they could ensure the bell curves for LOB and company wide.

In your scenario, it only works if your group of 10 has 4 strong performers, another group has none. And that was too much for HR to keep track of.

[booradley]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

One of my favorite stories from my time in (large-ish) corporate America.

I imagine this is most place, but, HR required that the distribution of performance review grades be a bell curve. At my company, it was 1-5. One being "How aren't you fired already?", Five being "Why are you still here, way too smart!?" Expectations were about 80% of people would be scored as a 3.

So, my 3rd year in the department (second job in the company overall), our manager is explaining this to us. The prior two years I'd been graded as a 4.

"So...I wanted to give you a 4 again. But, you know, with the new HR regulations, I have to tweak in places. So, you'll be scored a 3 this year. You are at the high end of the 3 range, though. Any questions?"

While I had plenty of things to say, none would have change my score, so just accepted it.

Fast forward 4 months or so (reviews were done company wide 6/30, but your raises were effective your anniversary date). Meet with same supervisor. He has a post-it note with a % and dollar amount written on it.

He slides it across the table. It's like 2%, and the corresponding salary increase. He explains it by saying "Well, it's a little less, because you did drop from a '4' to a '3' this year"

Holy shit, that's one of the worst stories I've ever heard. I would've been tempted to bust his face open before I walked out. But then again, I've just completed an exceptionally rough day, so my emotions are running a little high ...

[IlliniCub]

I've gotten 3% the last few years, also a raise due to a promotion but that doesn't count.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Was I supposed to get a raise? When was this supposed to happen?

Coincidentally, yes, I got a 43% raise effective May 1.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by cartman

I love it when someone is called out and then they eject...im sure we'll see more awesomesauce MBBF quotes that foot the bill for meme of the week.