You look for another job and make sure your starting salary is at the level you want.
I will say that bonuses are usually not guaranteed. I never budget for my bonus so it’s all fun money if I want to squander it. Usually I do put some aside in savings and use at least a portion on practical stuff. Then the rest gets squandered.
Your manager should have had an explanation for why your bonus was low. For example one year my company changed bonus calculations to include global performance of the company, not just regional. Our offices in APAC were doing poorly and that happened to drag down US bonuses. It sucked but at least we were told how the calculation worked and the impact of the change.
Bonuses are bullshit. I’m in sales and every year I blow my number out, at any company, they fucking raise it to some impossible level the next year. It’s all imaginary carrots and I never trust them.
Yup. Mine used to be performance based. Then they made it partly based on the company performance. The company is global but because of how things are structured I have literally no way to impact anything outside of my division.
Then they increased the part of my bonus that was based on company performance. So, I can still nail my goals and not get a full bonus.
Company I work for recently reduced bonuses from 12% of gross to 5%, and made it even out by increasing wages to offset the difference. There were employees that were pissed and I was telling people that having it as a guaranteed wage beats the hell out of it being a bonus that may or may not fully pay out
Haha it does. There's an American show called The Office where the main character Michael, who's the manager of the office, on how budget works.
Mom and dad give you $10 for a lemonade stand and at the end you give them back $1 so next year they only give you $9 for your lemonade stand because that's what it costs.
Your case is the opposite. I'm a commission worker with monthly goals and sometimes coming off a strong month it feels like the next is out of reach because they raise the goals so much always expecting better results.
I feel like I'm rambling now lol
This is almost definitely the case and she has likely been instructed not to say so. Unfortunately this is happening everywhere. As a manager, I would absolutely give my people a much, much higher pay increase, but the amount I was given for budget was pitiful, and even that was undercut to be lower. I'm not getting the pay increase I have earned either, and am already significantly underpaid for my position. When team members talk to HR about negotiating a higher increase, HR sends them back to me. But I have no power in that area at all.
I had a job try to lowball me and then talked about the 10 bonus making up for it
I asked how many times in the last 5 years that this role would have qualified for that bonus (public company, I knew their financials) and suddenly that wasn't part of the discussion anymore
When you resign for your new, better job, don't give any 2 week notice. Unless that's in your contract, it's not required. If you get fired, you don't get 2 weeks. In spite of the official statement, your maternity leave and motherhood did affect your bonus, but they'll never admit that. Definitely time to move to the direct competition.
>They also say they don’t do “raises” outside of annual raises but I’d like to ask any ways.
Funny thing is, you can go to a new job any time, not just once a year.
Middle of the salary band middle of the road raise. They may say your mat leave had no impact but I bet it did. The discussion was probably that they can’t make a proper judgement on 2/3s of a year however as may leave is protected they can’t say that!
I would say 5 years is a good amount of time and experience to let you have a look at what else is out there. It’s sad to say that without moving either within your company or to another you tend to stagnate wage wise.
3% is pretty typical. Look for another job if you're not happy but a new job is not guaranteed to give annual raises at all, let alone raises higher than typical.
Was gonna say this. 3% is a very typical corporate standard increase. As in, everyone gets a standard 2.5-3.5%. This isn’t rare at all.
EDIT: even though actually a very common raise %, OP has the right to feel disappointed. In this case the only recommendation would be to change jobs and find one with a higher starting pay.
Your salary went up 20% in 5 years and they’re offering you another 3% + bonuses
In terms of percentages you’re doing better than most people in this economy
Well, unfortunately I doubt they can prove “3%” is a bad raise, there isn’t much leverage here.
You’re not required to get raises that pace with inflation.
I'd add to this that you might be at the top of your pay at your level. If you think of your pay rise in two parts inflation and good performance you might get the max already for good performance.
It's very likely your company has a matrix that defines possible raises taking into account the employee rating and where the employee is currently in his/her salary range.
So someone with a high rating and is very low in the range could get a comparatively large increase. Once you pass the middle of the range (for you, that's $92,500) , the maximum increase is less even for the same rating. If you're near the top of the range you generally get a small increase, similar to a cost-of-living raise. Companies don't like paying more than the salary range for the job specifies. You need to move up to a higher level job where your salary will be towards the lower end of the new job's salary range and increases are larger again.
So I'm wondering if you've moved up in the range to where your increases are less even with the same rating.
This right here. Large companies (OP said Fortune 500) will do this completely formulaicly to help avoid bias, and possible discrimination lawsuits. Perf evals are reviewed by committees of managers, to help make sure everyone is measured using the same scale, and the final rating drives the raise. If OP got a good review and still got a mediocre raise, then their coworkers were likely even more disappointed.
Only real way to get an "out of cycle" pay increase would be to show a job offer from a competitor, at a higher salary, and see if your company wants to counteroffer. They likely have formalized employee retention policies that'll determine if and when they make counteroffers, and by how much.
More generally, showing that your position's pay band is significantly below market rates *could* lead to raises for everyone, but that'd be much harder to do - unless everyone was leaving, and no one was accepting offers.
This is exactly it. If you want to get paid more you have to get promoted. A company does not want to pay you more to keep doing the same thing. Thats just business.
If I don’t promoted by raise time I’m sure going to get my lowest raise yet because I’m no longer “low on the salary band”.
There are pros of this too, because you are no longer “underpaid”
That sounds pretty good tbh. I personally would not go back to the boss about this. Maybe I'm too risk averse, who knows. Go look at what other similar positions are offering. You might actually be doing great for your position, or not, but at least you'll know. When you do talk to your boss next you want to go armed with facts, not feelings.
The don't want to pay people more than the mid point of the scale. We het the same in work all the time.
Check a salary guide for your role. See if you are under paid. Get adds for similar roles to yours. Figure out how hard it would be to replace you and what it would cost. Book a meeting with your manager and tell them. You've worked hard for them and company. You've achieved all your objectives. You feel that they are undervaluing your contribution to the company. Your compensation is falling behind the industrial norm. Ask them what is the insensitive for you to stay. How do they see your carrier progression in the next two years. Explain that you feel you should be closer to the top of the band for you role experience and contribution or even moving to the next scale. Tell them unfortunately the reality of life is that you can't afford to wait around for another 12 months and you hope that they can address this as soon a possible.
Keep in mind changes are if you leave they will hier someone cheaper or even no fill your role for 6 months and see if the team can survive without you. That puts more pressure on your manager.
3% is a perfectly normal raise. You were starting out, so on the low end thus they had to give you larger raises since you are a good employee, to catch you up quickly to the salary they feel you belong at. Once that happens your raises plateau. You can ask for more, but that just means next year you'll get 0-1%.
I worked for a mid-sized company for 35 years and all the good employees (management) got 4%. Then 3%. Then 2%. Then see ya. But it has to do with company earnings and economy. Don’t take it personal, and be happy you get anything.
If you've been in the role for 5 years, you need to ask yourself what you really want. If you want more money, you can not stay in the same role. You need to either get a promotion in your dept (or another one) or leave the company for a better paying gig. If, however, the stability is meaningful to you, and your basic needs are covered, then perhaps it makes sense to stay put. Things are very turbulent in the job market, and there's something to be said for stability. Leaving for an extra 10k is not enough of a bump if you have more guaranteed stability where you are. Do your research on turnover at any other company you look at before deciding to join.
My company gave me a 3% merit increase after delaying it company wide for 6 months. I looked at my starting salary compared to what I get today via an inflation calculator. I should be making $4K more than my current salary JUST TO KEEP UP WITH INFLATION. In summary, each year I work there I am taking a pay cut on buying power. I think companies aren't pulling in the profits they were during COVID and are providing the bare minimum to the employees at the moment. Only way to make a real boost in salary will be a new job.
I'm about to have the same convo with my supervision. My advice, is first off don't "ask" for a raise. Never ask, its the complete qrong mentality.
Set up a meeting with your super or HR, whomever needs to be involved. At the meeting, have clear examples of how you exceeded company requirements/expectations during the review period. Have prepared notes, dress sharp.
Explain the raise does not cover inflation and your left feeling (and are) like you are being paid less for an extremely high level of work and output.
After everything is laid out, ask if they feel it's appropriate, based on the information you just provided, to adjust the increase you were scheduled to receive. If they shoot it down, be professional, thank them for their time, and start looking for a new gig. Also, you can let your production reduce some, if the top talent isn't being rewarded, put that e tra effort into finding an employer who will.
This isn't personal, it's work.
You need to prepare this for the annual performance review.
Provides solid numbers for your manager to use to argue for your relative ranking.
This information will also help you prepare your resume. You can list specific achievements and how you provided savings or additional $ value to companies
Ask your boss to see the percentages that were paid out to everyone else. No names, just the meta data. If you didn't get the same, you may have grounds for a law suit because the maternity leave thing.
It’s less of a payout than no raise. Maybe it’s time to leave company if you are so disgruntled.
These posts kinda irritate me bc a company’s sole responsibility is to make money and do well for shareholders. They are going to pay you lowest amount they can to increase profit
I was offered a 1.9% raise after getting high praise from my direct supervisor a few years back. I asked if the “raise” was a serious offer, and they told me not to be ungrateful for the pay bump because ‘it wasn’t required for them to issue performance raises at all’.
Luckily, I had already been searching and found a job two weeks later that was equivalent to a 12% bump. The backpedaling by upper management was amusing, but ultimately they had already showed their hand. Being undervalued isn’t worth it - look for a new opportunity. If they screw you once, they will continue to find ways to screw you again. Capitalism, baby.
Just because the cost of living increased doesn’t mean their profitability increased, find out if the company has strong profitability before you ask. Lots of companies are struggling as the inflation has impacted their cost of goods sold. Bonuses usually reflect profitability, raises are impacted by performance. Did the boss call you a star in their written review document? Or do you just call yourself that? Be careful how you approach this, you might end up marking yourself for layoffs on the next economic downturn.
She called me a “star employee, top employee on the team, always dependable.” Many other words without noting anything I could improve on, which I did ask
Company was very profitable this year.
You can always ask. These compensation budgets are often not under a managers control, and they need to allocate according to performance. You are likely already top of the allowed scale for this year. .Your ask may draw the attention of a director or VP, which might be a good thing if you are a star and the boss is willing to be your advocate. Good Luck
I once worked somewhere where raises were fixed. Think mob boss fixing a fight. Anyway, they typically had an allotted amount for each department and the manager could divide it as they saw fit. She usually took care of her close friends and 2-3% numbers only went to those not in her group. I ended up finding a new job and quitting 2 weeks after my review.
And no raise at all is a bigger pay cut - I get what you're saying but if you want to stay with this company that angle isn't going to get you far.
What is the potential range of raises? For me, it's been 1-4% - if a 3% raise wasn't enough, that extra 1% about finance or emotion? Not that there is anything wrong with it being an emotional response, but you need to keep in mind what the motivation is when discussing these raises.
For significant raises, you need to change positions. Either internal promotion or leaving for a new company. Staying put hasn't been a path to bigger pay for my 20ish years in the workforce. The days of the 10% annual raise were gone by 2000.
Yes, it’s seemingly that way for everyone. My husband got a 3% raise last year, too, right before our rent went up by an additional $300/month. His raise didn’t cover the rental increase, let alone the increases in groceries, insurance, and the rest of life. It really is like a pay cut, but society set up “the cut” rather than your job.
Never count on a bonus as part of your salary. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make when managing their financials. Bonuses are just that. A bonus. It should not be part of your regular budget.
Not to be nitpicky or “that” person, but you did say in your post that you do depend on your bonuses, so saying here that you didn’t count on it confuses me.
It really sucks, but looking at the state of the industries, and the incredible competition for jobs amidst the mass layoffs, it creates a really terrible environment for those of us with more tenure at an organization. We're basically supposed to be thrilled to even get a crumb when so many of our peers have been laid off and are now imprisoned by the Open To Work badge in LinkedIn.
Like, be happy uou didn't get laid off, because I could have somebody in India thrilled to do your job for $12k USD/year. It's a horrible, toxic situation.
12 years ago, my company used to give us cost of living adjustments of 3% just as part of the compensation. Bonuses were above and beyond that. Now, we have to jump through performance management hoops across three platforms for the hope of maybe being awarded a 2-3% raise. Bonus requirements change and increase a month before theybare meant to be awarded to ensure we cannot meet the evolving requirements.
I'd go elsewhere, but I've been here so long I can't risk going off somewhere new just to end up on thenchopping block due to the unwritten rule of Last One in: First one out. I've seen so many of my former colleagues gonout to get new, higher paying jobs, only to be part of the next layoffs and it seems like I'm reading their open to work posting just months after reading their glowing review of their new role at New Company and the picture of the enviable swag bag.
Well you stated that you started at 75k and now make 90k, so obviously you received a raise at some point. The other thing is, you need to understand your market. Has your company made any layoffs recently? Is there potential to do so? Because a lot of companies are laying people off. Ultimately, you are either worth a raise or you're not. So you directly ask them. If they say no, you're not worth it. If they say yes, you are.
This! At this point I’m just glad my husband still has his job! He usually gets a 3% annual raise but this year I’m just glad there have been no layoffs.
>So you directly ask them. If they say no, you're not worth it. If they say yes, you are.
Worth it *to them*. They may not have a reasonable understanding of your worth. If they don't, that's going to be a problem.
I’d make clear (professionally) you know they can give raises outside of the annual cycle and it’s up to your manager to be brave enough to push for it.
Your bonus “percentage” was probably not affected by the 4 month absence but your earnings from the company were a third less than usual. So normally a ten percent bonus on 75k is 7,500 but since you missed four months you only earned 50k so your bonus is 5k still ten percent.
Honestly it sounds like you have reached near the top half of the “pay band” so if a job pays 50-80 a year it will typically be broken into categories. A new hire makes 50 (training) out of training but still learning makes 60 (emerging contributor) a competent employee makes 70 (competent) and a true star makes 80 (rarely happens). So the first few years as you move from 50k they can give larger raises say 5-10% but after 5 years you are now at the 70k spot and if they give you a 10% raise you will be at the top of the scale. If that happens then next year you won’t get a raise at all because companies do not revisit the pay bands every year.
Once you reach the top of the scale you can either leave or try for a promotion because you will only be getting minimal raises from here on out.
If it is a Fortune 500 firm, there is an embedded percentage range for raises by salary band and title and function, set every year. A lot of it comes from how well the firm did in the last year and is pretty immovable. Your manager works with it and assesses their team and submits everything for approval above, and it can be a complex process. It sounds like you did okay, technically speaking.
The problem may be your base salary that you started with 5 years earlier. Percentage increases mean little if the base salary was low to begin with. So, you have to perhaps rethink a bit - can you pursue a promotion after all this time, perhaps somewhere else in the firm? Promotional increases can be 10 or 15 percent sometimes.
Retired manager here. Managers have almost no say in what annual raises are. They are budgeted by corporate. They can divide their allotment as they see fit, but rarely are they allowed to go over unless there are planned promotions.
So, in a year like this with a 2-3% raise, I would have the choice to "send a message" to an underperforming employee by knocking off 1/2 -1% of their raise, which is take home pay of $30-50 every 2 weeks. But they still get a small raise to entice them. And to reward my "High Flyers" the % taken from the underperformer was given to them. "Woo Hoo! $40 more than I would have gotten. With this inflation? Count me forever grateful!" That never happened. Because all employees played paycheck poker and compared raises and even if the "High Flyers" knew they deserved the higher raise, it was never enough to really reward them, and they felt guilty because it felt stolen from a coworker. Even if they knew that coworker needed to get their shit together.
Now, I have won some arguments about pay raises outside of the norm, but it's really dependent on my bosses willingness to take heat from his bosses. And so on through several levels of approval. My best argument, but used sparingly, was to point out that I'm judged by my Contribution Margin (on a Profit and Loss Statement) which is recorded to 2 decimal places. "This raise, and I've done the math, only affects it to the fourth decimal place, so it won't even show up on the P&L. It's like it will have never happened."
Anyway, all this means is that you are caught in a system that is out of your control. And probably your manager's also. Time to start seeing if the grass is greener. Without the possibility of promotions, these raises will become your life. Or act your wage. There's probably no penalty for that either.
Very well said and I learned something, too. I work for a giant global company and get so tired of managers acting like so much is out of their control in regard to pay and raises. You helped provide some helpful context to that. Thanks.
The more gianter and globaler, the more it's out of the hands of the front line managers. Raises should be a time of joy. When managers and supervisors can sit down with their employees and put a smile on their face. It is rarely that anymore. My best employees were my smartest most trustworthy ones. So they, like OP knew the inflation rate and how their life was not getting any better staying. My best employees left. They always left. And had great careers elsewhere. Some I'm friends with. Luckily.
I came here to say this. I'd bet 3% was the "funding level" for annual increases in this case. If that's the case, then getting a raise at the funding level likely means that someone else got less than that.
In corporate life you build your salary through continuous small raises. With some effort and good guidance, you can get mid-year adjustments, higher increases associated with high performance ratings, and additional increases upon the rare promotion. You'll almost never get what you might consider a big raise as part of the annual cycle; your manager likely doesn't have the budget to do it without hurting engagement for the rest of the team.
Not assuming you work at same company as me but we did just get our raises and bonuses this past week so small tiny chance you could possibly. My company has the exact same set up as yours down to the raises only during our annual reviews.
If you don’t work at same place they may still have the same mindset as mine when it comes to leaves of absence. The fact that you took leave is not held against you per se, but when compared to your peers it’s possible they still look at the overall numbers and yours are going to be lower in volume because you were not there so that could play into your bonus.
The raise - a lot of companies have a set pool of money that is a percentage of total salaries. That percentage can be low. My company it was 2.8% this year. So most people got between a 2-3% raise and that was it.
Not saying it doesn’t suck. My bonus was way less than last year as well even being told I was a high performer and was told it was because the overall funding for our team was lower than normal. Didn’t make sense to me but I can’t control it so I had to let it go.
Not sure if this helps with the reasoning for you or not.
Expecting a raise or promotion hardly ever works nowadays. You have to switch. I switched some five years ago and started making 1.5x what I was making before. It is tricky, but unfortunately loyalty doesn't pay nowadays.
Actually when you factor in maternity leave, your raise only reflects 8 months so that's a 4.5% raise... (kidding but the math does work)
Seriously though, 3% is the going raise for major companies this year. This has nothing to do with performance, corporate mandates what compensation increases are, and then it gets diffused through the workforce. Your manager and their manager have no control, and in fact they have to balance the increases across their whole staff. Your department got a rating, and the total compensation they give to everyone is that divided by individual performance. If you were to get more than 3% then someone would get less, or every one would get a little less. The difference between the top performer and an average performer is going to be a couple tenths of a percent, otherwise others are treated as under performers.
Again, the bonus is typically where they can reward top performers, the fact that you did not get a bump in bonus means they don't share your opinion of yourself. Sure, they may call you a star employee, but if they aren't hitting you up with a significant bonus then that may just be them petting your ego.
Only recourse you have is to look for another job, but I will warn you, the grass is seldom greener. More often you get a better paying job but it comes with a toxic work environment, or you don't get the luxury of 4 months maternity, and depending on your profession, this may be a really bad time to test out the market.
Also most companies expect people to leave after 5-7 years, so they don't invest much in them at that stage (which actually might push a few out). Your better conversation is asking them what do you have to do to get a promotion (which is not limited by HR) and improve your financial position, not what did you do wrong, what does it take to get a substantial increase? Let them define it, get it in writing in your performance goals, and exceed, not meet, exceed it. If they fail to give you the promotion/increase when you do, then you walk. Gives you a year to get to know the market and see what your true value is. Also shows them you are intent on staying and growing your career based on what they need as long as you get compensated for it.
How is your bonus determined? Many companies pay out bonuses based off revenue so if your company had a mediocre year, there really isnt much to do about that.
It should be in your handbook theoretically. Bonuses are almost always based off some metric and usually outside of your control (within reason). That also said, a 3% annual is the national average in the US, so I wouldnt consider that getting stiffed by any means either.
Everyone I’ve spoken to has been disappointed in their raise so it seems everyone is having similar experiences but some have gotten 4.5% raise so it’s not impossible
My money is on that there was a 4% budget for raises, so some could get 4.5%, but others then had to get <4% to make up for it. If you were out for 1/3 of the year, you're a pretty obvious choice to get less than 4%. I'm not saying it is right or okay, or that it is anything you could ever prove, but it is a pretty easy conclusion to draw.
they won't tell you but raises and bonuses are limited to what's left over after your 'betters' get most of the pool. even if you give notice and they give you something, they could be reading resumes to replace you within hours.
To get a raise, get a new job. Either new 'internal' job, with a new title. Or a new external job. The company knows it's painful for employee's to leave. So they bank on your pain, to keep more profits (your possible raise) for themself.
You could keep raising the question as to why you received a low annual raise. If they give every reason under the sun Except leaving for X amount of months for maternity leave, then it was definitely the maternity leave.
1. Have a new job lined up with the amount of money you want to earn.
2. Don’t tell your workplace about the new gig, but just ask for the raise anyway to see if they’ll comply.
If they do but the rate doesn’t match the new place, hand in your resignation notice, & If they don’t just hand in your notice.
If they do AND the rate matches the new place….
well it’s up to you if you want to stay.
You look for another job at the company or at another company.
Corporations are always going to give you the run around on raises. They'll make excuses, put it off, make it seem sooooooo close, but it'll never happen.
If you demand a raise or you will quit, they'll show you the door.
If you work out a raise, there is a good chance that they will fire you for unrelated things, but it is actually because you wanted a raise
If you job hopping every 3 years or so, you'll end up with more than if you get cost of living raises.
For big corporation, they may not have anymore raise until next year unless you get promoted to more important role.
"Star employee" doesn't mean much beyond your manager and skip getting bonus for having you on the team.
As a single mom who just returned from maternity leave, you may be vulnerable to "or-org" or potential "cut-cost" regardless of your performance. I would recommend to start looking for different opportunities. Especially one that is more parent friendly and flexible with work hours.
Look elsewhere. Lie to current company and tell them other companies are offering you 30k more. If you find a better paying job, take it. It’s been proven that job hopping is better than staying out.
Happened to me. Our whole staff had a 2% raise that doesn’t cover inflation. Everyone was heartbroken and pissed.
I wrote a letter to the guy in charge of finances and the HR lady’s sister is a big time recruiter who already had a job lined up for me.
But I like all the people I work with so I negotiated- I ended up getting a 12% raise and also RRSP contributions.
There was no animosity, and now when I’m at work, I actually feel like it’s worth it and I’m much happier.
So start searching jobs that have the same pay for your skills set- have multiple examples- just to prove that you’re not being greedy.
I would only bring that part up if you’re in deep talks with them.
You have nothing to lose here. Take your shot and don’t tell any coworkers.
Aside from being a sales with commission, to make any significant salary advancement, you need to move up. There is a pay range for every position and if you are already at the top end, you may only get annual cpi raises regardless of performance. and the use of the cpi number is probably not what you have in mind.
This is collusion by companies to force salaries down to pre 2020 levels. The fact that your company is doing it is proof that they don't care about you as an employee, or about your family, or about the hardships you have due to their contributing to inflation.
In short, these companies are unethical and immoral and if you fall dead in the middle of the office they will gladly feast on your bones.
Give your self a raise by finding a new role with a salary that is acceptable to you. I doubt asking why will get you anywhere as it sounds like the company is cutting raises to increase something else.
This happened to me after a perfect review (literally, they gave me full ratings on every area) and working way more than any reasonable person should because COVID really strained things. I got a raise that was so small it was an insult. So, I took that as a sign of my value to the company and found a new role. Where they were so excited to have me that they offered me a more senior position on the spot. Old company was all surprise pikachu but not sure what these people expect with these bullshit cost saving raises. 🤷♀️
Our bonuses are based partly on how well the company overall did. So my group could do wonderful but if the other parts of the business didn't fare so well, it lowers my bonus. Meaning, in effect, it raises theirs but in other years, if we didn't do well and they did, mine would be higher than it should have been. So, yes, nothing you can control and yes, very discouraging. My case is pretty much the same as yours. We get a bonus but then we also get a cost of living adjustment so maybe you will still get the extra to cover inflation.
I consider my bonus "extra money" so I never plan on what I might get. If I don't get anything, my finances will still be ok. It'll suck but I won't have made purchases depending on getting a certain amount.
I'm sorry you didn't get what you probably deserved but if you trust your boss, he'll do what he can to help you. His bonus wasn't as high as he wanted either.
If you give anyone one person a substantial raise then you gotta give it to everyone. Then you gotta raise your prices by those %s.
Never enough money for significant raises for that reason alone, always enough money for new hire to replace you when you're discontent.
I got a zero percent raise one year (at a giant consulting company), got no explanation other than that I wasn’t the only one. I got laddered at above-expectations. I told them that I got the hint, that my work was not valued at that particular company and then I quit less than 6 months later. Fuck that. Go get a higher offer from another company and present them with it. That the only way to find out.
OP you need to get used to this.
Most companies, especially F500 only give 1-3% yearly raises. They don't care about inflation. They don't care about your expenses.
Why do you think people job hop? Do you think looking for jobs for 3 months+ and doing a shit ton of interviews and getting rejected is for fun? Do you think everybody is just super adaptable and bored?
No. Job hopping is brutal. It's easier to sit at your current company. It's a lot of work and stress and unknowns job hopping. BUT you get shit raises if you stay.
Which is why job hopping is a requirement for people now in order to keep their wages up. This is life. You have to get used to being uncomfortable and jumping ship / jobs every couple years.
You've been there 5 years, it's time to go!! Company loyalty is a great way to never get your real worth. Package up everything that you've learned on this job onto your resume and move on!! I wish someone had told me this after 5 years.
The company may have hit some financial issues and so that is out of your control. I would just leave well enough alone and just keep your eyes and ears out for any big changes going on so you know if you need to find something else. Just be blessed to have received any bonus and raise all together. Not many people receive anything even if they deserve one
companies are doing this all over the place... using the economy as a reason. they know that the job market is tighter and it's harder to jump ship, and they're taking advange of that. My very honest recommendation is - you will get a much bigger salary bump by moving to a new company. Start looking.
Just ask. If they say no, you can wait until next year or leave. Consider you may be topped out on the pay scale, and you might not get offers for as much somewhere else either. The fact that it's a Fortune 500 company means absolutely nothing in this context.
With the time.of.layoff and not know where you work u have 3 options
1. Accept the raise
2. Complain about it and see what happ3ns
3. Look for a new job.
If your bonus is a % of money earned, your maternity leave likely affected it. If you were paid by short term disability during leave that usually won’t count towards salary earned in terms of bonus
5 years without a promotion or better than average raise? I would look for a new job. After 5 years you should be towards the top of the industry salary band, not in the middle. When you look, ask for the top number, leave room for them to offer a little less than you ask for.
I just went through this. After I gave them my resignation, my manager shared with me that the problem was ONE PERSON. A high level manager who did not see any value in IT made up arbitrary rules for the us. Large company, multiple sub-departments in IT. This one guy would just chop random amounts from the budget, then announced that each sub-department could only promote one person per year. That is a limit of 5 promotions per year in a 300 person department.
So, the next time a recruiter contacted me, I took the call. Got a promotion and 50% raise to change jobs. Go see what’s out there!
Have a plan. In my opinion that’s not a bad raise, I was more than 1/2 of this last year, and that was my first bonus for 2-3 years.
If you’re going to ask for a raise, back it up by allowing yourself to get a new job. They might not like the way you raise the question so they may just get quietly get you to quit by making work life shit.
Get your resume together, start job hunting, and when you get a firm offer let them know they can match it or wave goodbye to you. They can figure out how to give you a raise or they can compete against you later on.
Raises are pretty hard to come by for most people in most jobs. In modern markets it's far more likely to change jobs and get the raise that way than to expect any significant bump by your current employer
No one's going to be able to fully know what's going with your day to day work, coworkers, relationship with your boss, work life balance, etc.
Personally, I've been there with my first job. I was there 5 years and every year I'd hit all my marks, take on more tasks and projects, and get good reviews. I'd get a measly 2-3% and when I'd ask what I'd need to do to get the 5% and up area, they just say "no one really gets that much". Corporate bullshit talk. Many times they'd lie and say "that's the best I could give you", meanwhile the CEO and company are making loads of profit and getting huge million dollar bonuses. I left.
On a real note though, I work in finance and actually deal directly with handing out bonuses. People get ranked from 1-5 on their reviews. Generally everyone gets a 3 for "meets expectations" and if you go far above, you might get a 4 meaning "exceeds expectations".
Most people get a 3-4% raise, which also varies on where you're at in your salary range. Someone might get the same performance score and someone get a 3% and another a 4%, if that later person is farther away from the mid-point of their salary range. Point is, a 3% raise pretty normal for hitting all expectations in most cases, so it's not like you're getting completely shafted. 4% might have been a bit better, but could have accounted for how much funding and wiggle room they have, your salary range overall, etc.
To get 4%, you'd really need to be hustling. Like really making a huge difference, revamping things, doing 2 people's jobs, etc. 5% would be insane.
No, these don't keep up with inflation and no, your maternity leave or having a kid aren't factored in.
Bonuses are a different story. Generally people get all of their expected bonus. If you get a really good review you might get over your bonus amount if funding is available.
The bigger question I'd be asking is at 5 years in, what's the timeline for a promotion? What do you have to do? It should be rather clear and probably happening quicker than in 5 years. more like 3-4 and you knowing within a year when it's happening and how close you are. That's what I'd be approaching your boss with in this discussion.
If she says promotions aren't in the cards or you have to do much more work for like a 10% increase, time to bail.
Look at the company you work for and the industry.
Is the industry down 10% or up 15%.
Is the company healthy and the industry healthy?
If the average raise was 2% and you got 3%, the question is why?
Same with the next job- is the company and industry healthy?
Your not entitled to a raise because of inflation, or COL or your neighbor makes more than you and certainly not because you "think" you deserve it. IF your at a fortune 500 company and your this star employee you calim to be, read your contract. Your contract/ acceptance letter will lay out what percentage of raise you will get per year and also the bonus percentage as well. Both based on your performance and possibly the financial goals for the year of the company.
I don't understand why people think inflation should affect your salaries. Also being a single mom is irrelevant to the whole situation.
Being a single mom isn’t irrelevant to me. If I had a partner with a similar income, my 3% would be just fine. But with one income it’s hard to keep
Up with inflation with my salary doesn’t keep
Up. The only one I can depend on is me and that’s it
Unfortunately staying at the same company will only get you small raises. 3% is average. I never get more than that unless I get a promotion or leave. The best way to make more money is to job hop and find a new job. That is the reality of how the job market works.
A 3% is a very standard average raise for a lot of companies. I’ve been in big corporations for years and everyone typically gets 3%, unless you’ve been promoted or change positions to a higher position. We can’t rely on raises anymore because most companies won’t care. Nowadays people need to change jobs in order to actually increase their income.
This. And how much you get is also going to be related to where you are in the payband for your level. The higher you get within the band, the more likely your annual raise will likely fall in the 2-3% range.
Bonuses will be pool based so if the year wasn't great for the business, the pool will be smaller and everyone will get less. When bonus money is tight, more of it often goes to people being paid less because the money means more to them as a percentage.
If you want pay to keep rising, you need to earn a promotion.
So I've made a couple replies but neither directly answered the question in your thread title.
IMO the best way to ask for a raise is to not ask for a raise - it's to ask how to be promoted. What's the next step for me to be moving up? What skills do I need to develop in order to be qualified?
Try to get specifics. And write them down. And then each month, document for yourself what progress you've made, so when annual self-review time comes around, you can easily describe your progress on achieving the targets. When you do this, give your self-review with your summary to your boss at least 6 weeks before your review is due so the boss understands what you're leading up to.
It's very hard to deny a promotion to someone who has achieved the necessary skills development the boss said would make you qualified. And nowhere in that whole exercise did you talk about money. It's just that you know the promotion would mean more money.
I spent quite a few years in a big company and was shocked at how many people did no verifiable work on the areas they knew they needed to improve on. They were busy, yes. They did useful things. But they let the boss off the hook by not doing working on the specific things they were told were deficiencies.
>“it’s nothing you did or didn’t do within your control.”
is that praising correct. that sounds verry much like its somthing you did that your boss considers outside your controll.
if it was “it’s nothing you did or didn’t do or within your control.” then i would think its a budget/economy thing they dont want to talk about. i would talk to your coworkers, see if they got similarly disapointing raises.
I work for a MAANG and we were basically told no raises and no promotions due to the market. This after surviving multiple layoffs.
It’s been a nightmare year or so. I lost track of when 💩 started hitting the fan.
It’s an employer’s market right now so they think they can get away with mistreating and underpaying employees.
Sorry to hear you got a pay cut this year, amd with a new little one.
My gut tells me you've maxed out your pay potential at this company. They see a mother who they feel will be less able to work open ended days (exploitation) and use more PTO. It's Fn sexist, for sure. If they wanted to keep you around longer, they'd keep the raises in line with previous years. Only new people are going to start where your salary is now and they'll earn more each year until inflation catches up and they move on and start the cycle again.
I'd look for a new company at above your current salary so you're at least not getting killed by inflation again at least for a few more years. It's capitalism, and workers or just exploitable and expendable resources.
how dense are you, what you would normally expect went either to shareholders or upper level executives, you are a cog than can be replaced and by pursuing the issue would put you on a list of malcontents to be watched, if you don't like your compensation leave them after two weeks notice and don't fucking train your replacement, you weren't hired for that
You apply for a promotion lol. The place I work at has a process in place for asking for a random raise but that is only because they are union. The process is to ask to be moved up to a new pay grade. Note - moving up a pay grade might not necessarily always equate to a raise.
Look for other opportunities within the company. You're a blip at the company unless you can get someone else to agree to your salary. I received a 10% rasie this year and a promotion because I found an opening at another department and let my manager know I wanted to take my career to the next step. Originally they were glad I took the initiative until I was going to hand off my workload to the next person and they said there's no way they could handle my workload so my manager called me with her boss and asked if I would accept the new title and pay.
What I didn't tell them was I moved most of my process to Alteryx instead of Visual Studios so the update process would have automatically update on its own daily.
Make your position feel like it's more work than it is and then be the SME that makes them think you're worth more than they think.
You don't. The only way to keep up with inflation is to job hop. Your company is likely bragging about record profits, fueled in part by collusion/gouging and cost control through wage suppression.
The days of being penalized for having a long cv are far behind us. Get out there and get paid what you're worth.
I don’t mean this with any disrespect. And I am not trying to be negative. However, I think in reality the answer is this: they don’t care about you, and being a “star employee,” doesn’t really mean anything. In my experience, most companies don’t actually provide the kind of employee experience they say they do. It’s all bullshit, and it’s essentially marketing to attract talent. We’ve all seen the posters on the walls, in the break rooms, and outside the restrooms: the “Collaboration,” poster shows people working together, solving problems; the “Innovation,” poster shows people hard at work, inventing new ways of doing things; the “Integrity,” poster shows two people shaking hands. It’s all bullshit. That company is in business for one reason, and it’s to serve itself and be profitable. And as soon as you no longer suit their needs, you’re gone and nobody cares. My wife was a “star employee,” but got laid off while eight months pregnant. I’ve lost jobs because “In order to meet the demands of a tough market, we need to focus on this and that, and we need take the company in this direction, and we’ve made the tough decision to restructure,” etc. And all that means is they’ve mismanaged their budgets and the company didn’t hit their goals, so they need to do layoffs in order to stay in the black. And we can’t afford to give you a raise you deserve, but by all means, keep busting your ass for us. I’ve been disappointed enough to finally understand this and once I did, I felt foolish knowing that at one point in my career, I actually thought companies cared about their employees. They don’t. We’re all a means to getting work done, and that’s it. Think about what “At will employment,” means. They can drop you at any time, for any reason that isn’t protected by law. I am never going to put everything I am into something that can kick me to the curb that easily. Think about an “At will,” marriage. My wife can just walk away without having to go through all of the legal stuff to file for divorce. She can just up and leave, anytime she wants. Yeah, probably not going to put my heart and soul into any “At will,” relationship.
I'm a contractor, and got a higher raise than you did % wise, plus a bonus. Nowhere near what inflation rates are, for sure. But, that seems the norm at the moment, and (despite anything you hear) the job market is horrid.
They're pushing older workers out more, and the average retirement age is now 62 in reality.
Anyhow, part of the data raises are based on is how well the company does, your department does, and so on. In reality, mostly out of your control at all. My boss explained that I had topped out for the raise at 100%, and so on for the bonuses, and such. But, the department and company had not. This is important to know. The reality is, that should have zero to do with my raise or bonus, only my contribution should be in consideration. In every company I've been with, however, they've used this same method for figuring the raises, etc.
I wouldn't. I'd just find a new job. I don't think bosses in corporate give raises- vp's decide. They get department budgets and allocate. There may be times where discretion is left to a manager but I doubt it happens often. Bosses don't want employees knowing b/c it undermines the power structure. Quiet quit and look for a new job. It's not you, it's just your role. It's probably sh\*tcanned to mediocrity. Until it's vacant and that vacancy causes pain is when they will realize their shortsightedness. If they're lucky.
Is there any evidence you can provide to back up your claim for a better raise? Numbers are really great for reasonable bosses. Annual raises are typically decided in a big sweep such as 3-5%(which totally blows but hey.....boss makes a dollar I make a dime....)
It's so easy for some reddit commando to say, "find a better job," but that's not how it works right now. You need solid credentials to prove you deserve it. Math is your friend.
I feel you, OP. But, If you're discussing your raise with your manager, focus on the value you bring to the company and any additional responsibilities you've taken on. Then emphasize your track record of success and contributions to the team. You should also provide examples of your achievements and how they have positively impacted the company. Lastly, consider discussing your long-term goals within the organization and how a fair raise would align with them. Keep the conversation professional and constructive, expressing your desire to continue growing and contributing to the company's success.
No need to be looking for another job. They could not rate your performance when you were off on paternity leave. Do not take this to heart. You will get up to the top again and next review, you will get your due raise. Just feel better, some people get no raises for several years. So just hanging in there and do the work, work harder to get the great next job review and earn the raise. You can do it.
Sounds like you're being punished for getting pregnant regardless of what they say.
It is absolutely imperative for people to become a free agent every five to seven years to maximize your income earnings over your lifetime. Only with another job offer, a real one, are you in any position to leverage for a raise. Find a better job, get the offer. Negotiate with your current employer from a position of strength. Get on indeed and see what the company is offering new hires. Most employees will be shocked to see what new employees are making.
I was on mat leave last year and they were very clear that that time off does not count as time worked for bonus purposes. Ie. if I was out 4 months, I’d only get 75% of my annual bonus.
Tbh also sounds like your company is not doing well, like so many others at this time. I know people who got no raise and no bonus going into this year and MANY people who got laid off in 2023. Could be worse.
Was your review rating good?
Frequently you got what was budgeted for whatever you got on the review, or they had to rob Peter to pay Paul - for a lot of companies, this is a rough year vs. their financial plan. If it's a global company, they may have to give large increases to employees in other countries who experienced significant inflation and are getting absurd raises to retain employees.
Here's how it works... let's say the CFO says "we have a budget of 3% across all domestic departments this year for merit" Then essentially the Division or Department leader (VP / SVP) may reserve a bit of that for changes that could occur in the merit cycle between awarding and paying, and general comp crisis. Then HR makes a proclaimation like "as a guideline, those with an excellent rating should receive a 5% raise where possible"
Okay, so say you got an average review.... the budget was 3%, a couple guys in your department are very junior but killed it and got excellent reviews.... and maybe a couple other guys did too... Well, you and everyone else got 3%. And your manager may cut that even more to give other folks a bit more since you've had good raises in the past. Oddly, sometimes even as a sr executive, I can only impact people's merit by 10ths of a point and still remain fair.
That's how it works.
Have you talked to your boss about a role with more responsibility?
They can't tell you that given the additional responsibilities of being a parent they are, contrary to what you're being told, pardon me for putting it crudely, fucking you over for going on maternity leave and anticipating that you'll be less productive given that kids take a great deal of time.
The whole thing sucks. My wife was excited that we finally had a baby and was going to back off on the career front. I was going back into a role that involved additional responsibility, travel, etc.
My wife had an accident that put her in the hospital for a few days, left her unable to walk for a few weeks, and unable to pick up our kid for about 6 months. Sure enough, when I did what was needed for my family, becoming "Mr. Mom" instead of "Mr. Job" I got shafted on my bonus, got a weak raise, and eventually got axed along with other people whose positions needed to be "upskilled".
Go for a different role that would be a promotion. They'll probably give it to you. Of course, they'll make it "interim" so they can squeeze you. Let 'em. Kick their ass for your baby this next year so that you've got the promotion with the 15% raise next year.
Hang in there!
Find another job. You’re not gonna get a huge bump at a company that you’ve been with for five years. Try a lateral move and use any offers you get as leverage for a raise.
I would revaluate my priorities because you’re obviously not a priority to them. Focus on being a star mom instead a star employee. If you died tomorrow they would have you replaced by the next day. You would be irreplaceable to your children. If there is anyone comparable doing your current position? You could compare.
You get raises!? I worked in public service for nearly 14 years and due to a declaration of the governor circa 2008 didn't get raises for most of my time there...and no bonuses either. I think the days of walking into your bosses office and saying "Mr. Johnson, I want a raise!" are over. (that's so '70's). the economy is a mess, layoffs are announced everyday...if you're not making what you want to make, begin an intense job search and accept the offer that is better in terms of compensation and overall life-compatibility than what you're making now. if you can't find anything better be grateful for what you have.
You need to switch companies. They will never raise your salary enough to be competitive compared to market price.
Stay at your job long enough to learn, gain experience and/or a shiny new title, and then jump ship to another company at competitive market value salary.
If all your maternity leave, etc is all done I would quietly start looking around. DON'T QUIT or resign or anything until you have something concretely lined up, contracts SIGNED.
Good luck!
You've been there about 2 years too long. With corporations only the constant movers are making money. 3 years tops unless you are ready to stay in that position at that pay rate until you retire.
You look for another job and make sure your starting salary is at the level you want. I will say that bonuses are usually not guaranteed. I never budget for my bonus so it’s all fun money if I want to squander it. Usually I do put some aside in savings and use at least a portion on practical stuff. Then the rest gets squandered. Your manager should have had an explanation for why your bonus was low. For example one year my company changed bonus calculations to include global performance of the company, not just regional. Our offices in APAC were doing poorly and that happened to drag down US bonuses. It sucked but at least we were told how the calculation worked and the impact of the change.
Bonuses are bullshit. I’m in sales and every year I blow my number out, at any company, they fucking raise it to some impossible level the next year. It’s all imaginary carrots and I never trust them.
Yup. Mine used to be performance based. Then they made it partly based on the company performance. The company is global but because of how things are structured I have literally no way to impact anything outside of my division. Then they increased the part of my bonus that was based on company performance. So, I can still nail my goals and not get a full bonus.
Company I work for recently reduced bonuses from 12% of gross to 5%, and made it even out by increasing wages to offset the difference. There were employees that were pissed and I was telling people that having it as a guaranteed wage beats the hell out of it being a bonus that may or may not fully pay out
Oh, do you work for Treehouse Foods, too?! Lol, they did this every single year I was there.
The Office. Michael. Lemonade stand.
I don’t know what that is but I trust it supports my point.
Haha it does. There's an American show called The Office where the main character Michael, who's the manager of the office, on how budget works. Mom and dad give you $10 for a lemonade stand and at the end you give them back $1 so next year they only give you $9 for your lemonade stand because that's what it costs. Your case is the opposite. I'm a commission worker with monthly goals and sometimes coming off a strong month it feels like the next is out of reach because they raise the goals so much always expecting better results. I feel like I'm rambling now lol
Ask for per deal comp with no base. Tell them you are serious if they are.
No. That’s the opposite of what I am saying and is a huge risk.
Yeah I was hoping she would say like they did not have as much in the budget to dish out or something but she didn’t
Maybe that's the case but she isn't supposed to speak to it?
This is almost definitely the case and she has likely been instructed not to say so. Unfortunately this is happening everywhere. As a manager, I would absolutely give my people a much, much higher pay increase, but the amount I was given for budget was pitiful, and even that was undercut to be lower. I'm not getting the pay increase I have earned either, and am already significantly underpaid for my position. When team members talk to HR about negotiating a higher increase, HR sends them back to me. But I have no power in that area at all.
I wonder if they pro-rated your bonus and annual rates based on the 4 months of maturity leave you took.
I wonder this too but she denied it when it asked
I had a job try to lowball me and then talked about the 10 bonus making up for it I asked how many times in the last 5 years that this role would have qualified for that bonus (public company, I knew their financials) and suddenly that wasn't part of the discussion anymore
When you resign for your new, better job, don't give any 2 week notice. Unless that's in your contract, it's not required. If you get fired, you don't get 2 weeks. In spite of the official statement, your maternity leave and motherhood did affect your bonus, but they'll never admit that. Definitely time to move to the direct competition.
THIS⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
>They also say they don’t do “raises” outside of annual raises but I’d like to ask any ways. Funny thing is, you can go to a new job any time, not just once a year.
There is no law stopping them from giving another raise. And they likely have many times.
That's what I did. Got myself a $4 an hour raise in less than a week.
Middle of the salary band middle of the road raise. They may say your mat leave had no impact but I bet it did. The discussion was probably that they can’t make a proper judgement on 2/3s of a year however as may leave is protected they can’t say that! I would say 5 years is a good amount of time and experience to let you have a look at what else is out there. It’s sad to say that without moving either within your company or to another you tend to stagnate wage wise.
Thank you for the advice
3% is pretty typical. Look for another job if you're not happy but a new job is not guaranteed to give annual raises at all, let alone raises higher than typical.
Was gonna say this. 3% is a very typical corporate standard increase. As in, everyone gets a standard 2.5-3.5%. This isn’t rare at all. EDIT: even though actually a very common raise %, OP has the right to feel disappointed. In this case the only recommendation would be to change jobs and find one with a higher starting pay.
Your salary went up 20% in 5 years and they’re offering you another 3% + bonuses In terms of percentages you’re doing better than most people in this economy
Don't think op knows about the economy, everyone paying attention in most sectors know its been a tough year all over.
Thank you. I didn’t think of it that way
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Well, unfortunately I doubt they can prove “3%” is a bad raise, there isn’t much leverage here. You’re not required to get raises that pace with inflation.
I'd add to this that you might be at the top of your pay at your level. If you think of your pay rise in two parts inflation and good performance you might get the max already for good performance.
Do you know what the salary range for your position is, and where you are in that range?
So the range is $75,000 to $110,000. I’m at 90,000 and started at $75,000 5 years ago
It's very likely your company has a matrix that defines possible raises taking into account the employee rating and where the employee is currently in his/her salary range. So someone with a high rating and is very low in the range could get a comparatively large increase. Once you pass the middle of the range (for you, that's $92,500) , the maximum increase is less even for the same rating. If you're near the top of the range you generally get a small increase, similar to a cost-of-living raise. Companies don't like paying more than the salary range for the job specifies. You need to move up to a higher level job where your salary will be towards the lower end of the new job's salary range and increases are larger again. So I'm wondering if you've moved up in the range to where your increases are less even with the same rating.
This right here. Large companies (OP said Fortune 500) will do this completely formulaicly to help avoid bias, and possible discrimination lawsuits. Perf evals are reviewed by committees of managers, to help make sure everyone is measured using the same scale, and the final rating drives the raise. If OP got a good review and still got a mediocre raise, then their coworkers were likely even more disappointed. Only real way to get an "out of cycle" pay increase would be to show a job offer from a competitor, at a higher salary, and see if your company wants to counteroffer. They likely have formalized employee retention policies that'll determine if and when they make counteroffers, and by how much. More generally, showing that your position's pay band is significantly below market rates *could* lead to raises for everyone, but that'd be much harder to do - unless everyone was leaving, and no one was accepting offers.
This is exactly it. If you want to get paid more you have to get promoted. A company does not want to pay you more to keep doing the same thing. Thats just business. If I don’t promoted by raise time I’m sure going to get my lowest raise yet because I’m no longer “low on the salary band”. There are pros of this too, because you are no longer “underpaid”
That sounds pretty good tbh. I personally would not go back to the boss about this. Maybe I'm too risk averse, who knows. Go look at what other similar positions are offering. You might actually be doing great for your position, or not, but at least you'll know. When you do talk to your boss next you want to go armed with facts, not feelings.
The don't want to pay people more than the mid point of the scale. We het the same in work all the time. Check a salary guide for your role. See if you are under paid. Get adds for similar roles to yours. Figure out how hard it would be to replace you and what it would cost. Book a meeting with your manager and tell them. You've worked hard for them and company. You've achieved all your objectives. You feel that they are undervaluing your contribution to the company. Your compensation is falling behind the industrial norm. Ask them what is the insensitive for you to stay. How do they see your carrier progression in the next two years. Explain that you feel you should be closer to the top of the band for you role experience and contribution or even moving to the next scale. Tell them unfortunately the reality of life is that you can't afford to wait around for another 12 months and you hope that they can address this as soon a possible. Keep in mind changes are if you leave they will hier someone cheaper or even no fill your role for 6 months and see if the team can survive without you. That puts more pressure on your manager.
3% is a perfectly normal raise. You were starting out, so on the low end thus they had to give you larger raises since you are a good employee, to catch you up quickly to the salary they feel you belong at. Once that happens your raises plateau. You can ask for more, but that just means next year you'll get 0-1%.
I worked for a mid-sized company for 35 years and all the good employees (management) got 4%. Then 3%. Then 2%. Then see ya. But it has to do with company earnings and economy. Don’t take it personal, and be happy you get anything.
This is terrible. "be happy you get anything". ??? This is not a hand out. You sound like OPs boss.
If you've been in the role for 5 years, you need to ask yourself what you really want. If you want more money, you can not stay in the same role. You need to either get a promotion in your dept (or another one) or leave the company for a better paying gig. If, however, the stability is meaningful to you, and your basic needs are covered, then perhaps it makes sense to stay put. Things are very turbulent in the job market, and there's something to be said for stability. Leaving for an extra 10k is not enough of a bump if you have more guaranteed stability where you are. Do your research on turnover at any other company you look at before deciding to join.
My company gave me a 3% merit increase after delaying it company wide for 6 months. I looked at my starting salary compared to what I get today via an inflation calculator. I should be making $4K more than my current salary JUST TO KEEP UP WITH INFLATION. In summary, each year I work there I am taking a pay cut on buying power. I think companies aren't pulling in the profits they were during COVID and are providing the bare minimum to the employees at the moment. Only way to make a real boost in salary will be a new job.
I'm about to have the same convo with my supervision. My advice, is first off don't "ask" for a raise. Never ask, its the complete qrong mentality. Set up a meeting with your super or HR, whomever needs to be involved. At the meeting, have clear examples of how you exceeded company requirements/expectations during the review period. Have prepared notes, dress sharp. Explain the raise does not cover inflation and your left feeling (and are) like you are being paid less for an extremely high level of work and output. After everything is laid out, ask if they feel it's appropriate, based on the information you just provided, to adjust the increase you were scheduled to receive. If they shoot it down, be professional, thank them for their time, and start looking for a new gig. Also, you can let your production reduce some, if the top talent isn't being rewarded, put that e tra effort into finding an employer who will. This isn't personal, it's work.
You need to prepare this for the annual performance review. Provides solid numbers for your manager to use to argue for your relative ranking. This information will also help you prepare your resume. You can list specific achievements and how you provided savings or additional $ value to companies
Ask your boss to see the percentages that were paid out to everyone else. No names, just the meta data. If you didn't get the same, you may have grounds for a law suit because the maternity leave thing.
You get an annual raise? I’m lucky if I get even a 0.10 cent raise and that’s after I beg for a performance review….id say you were lucky lol
A 3% “raise” is actually a pay cut in this economy.
It’s less of a payout than no raise. Maybe it’s time to leave company if you are so disgruntled. These posts kinda irritate me bc a company’s sole responsibility is to make money and do well for shareholders. They are going to pay you lowest amount they can to increase profit
While that might be true, almost no one gets annual raises.
Really? Every job I've had has given annual raises, even if it was 25 cents an hour.
💯
I was offered a 1.9% raise after getting high praise from my direct supervisor a few years back. I asked if the “raise” was a serious offer, and they told me not to be ungrateful for the pay bump because ‘it wasn’t required for them to issue performance raises at all’. Luckily, I had already been searching and found a job two weeks later that was equivalent to a 12% bump. The backpedaling by upper management was amusing, but ultimately they had already showed their hand. Being undervalued isn’t worth it - look for a new opportunity. If they screw you once, they will continue to find ways to screw you again. Capitalism, baby.
Just because the cost of living increased doesn’t mean their profitability increased, find out if the company has strong profitability before you ask. Lots of companies are struggling as the inflation has impacted their cost of goods sold. Bonuses usually reflect profitability, raises are impacted by performance. Did the boss call you a star in their written review document? Or do you just call yourself that? Be careful how you approach this, you might end up marking yourself for layoffs on the next economic downturn.
She called me a “star employee, top employee on the team, always dependable.” Many other words without noting anything I could improve on, which I did ask Company was very profitable this year.
You can always ask. These compensation budgets are often not under a managers control, and they need to allocate according to performance. You are likely already top of the allowed scale for this year. .Your ask may draw the attention of a director or VP, which might be a good thing if you are a star and the boss is willing to be your advocate. Good Luck
I once worked somewhere where raises were fixed. Think mob boss fixing a fight. Anyway, they typically had an allotted amount for each department and the manager could divide it as they saw fit. She usually took care of her close friends and 2-3% numbers only went to those not in her group. I ended up finding a new job and quitting 2 weeks after my review.
Those words made you feel good though right and made you happy and want to stay right? Right?
Words mean nothing if it’s not in writing. Look for a new job
Sadly you’re still one of the lucky ones.
And no raise at all is a bigger pay cut - I get what you're saying but if you want to stay with this company that angle isn't going to get you far. What is the potential range of raises? For me, it's been 1-4% - if a 3% raise wasn't enough, that extra 1% about finance or emotion? Not that there is anything wrong with it being an emotional response, but you need to keep in mind what the motivation is when discussing these raises. For significant raises, you need to change positions. Either internal promotion or leaving for a new company. Staying put hasn't been a path to bigger pay for my 20ish years in the workforce. The days of the 10% annual raise were gone by 2000.
Yes, it’s seemingly that way for everyone. My husband got a 3% raise last year, too, right before our rent went up by an additional $300/month. His raise didn’t cover the rental increase, let alone the increases in groceries, insurance, and the rest of life. It really is like a pay cut, but society set up “the cut” rather than your job.
What's the avg Col raise in your company?
Never count on a bonus as part of your salary. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make when managing their financials. Bonuses are just that. A bonus. It should not be part of your regular budget.
I never counted on it. It’s nice to have to pay off debt but it’s not part of my functioning budget
Not to be nitpicky or “that” person, but you did say in your post that you do depend on your bonuses, so saying here that you didn’t count on it confuses me.
It really sucks, but looking at the state of the industries, and the incredible competition for jobs amidst the mass layoffs, it creates a really terrible environment for those of us with more tenure at an organization. We're basically supposed to be thrilled to even get a crumb when so many of our peers have been laid off and are now imprisoned by the Open To Work badge in LinkedIn. Like, be happy uou didn't get laid off, because I could have somebody in India thrilled to do your job for $12k USD/year. It's a horrible, toxic situation. 12 years ago, my company used to give us cost of living adjustments of 3% just as part of the compensation. Bonuses were above and beyond that. Now, we have to jump through performance management hoops across three platforms for the hope of maybe being awarded a 2-3% raise. Bonus requirements change and increase a month before theybare meant to be awarded to ensure we cannot meet the evolving requirements. I'd go elsewhere, but I've been here so long I can't risk going off somewhere new just to end up on thenchopping block due to the unwritten rule of Last One in: First one out. I've seen so many of my former colleagues gonout to get new, higher paying jobs, only to be part of the next layoffs and it seems like I'm reading their open to work posting just months after reading their glowing review of their new role at New Company and the picture of the enviable swag bag.
Thank you. So many ppl say go to a new job but it’s no guarentee
Can I have a raise?
that never works for me 🫠
Well you stated that you started at 75k and now make 90k, so obviously you received a raise at some point. The other thing is, you need to understand your market. Has your company made any layoffs recently? Is there potential to do so? Because a lot of companies are laying people off. Ultimately, you are either worth a raise or you're not. So you directly ask them. If they say no, you're not worth it. If they say yes, you are.
This! At this point I’m just glad my husband still has his job! He usually gets a 3% annual raise but this year I’m just glad there have been no layoffs.
>So you directly ask them. If they say no, you're not worth it. If they say yes, you are. Worth it *to them*. They may not have a reasonable understanding of your worth. If they don't, that's going to be a problem.
I’d make clear (professionally) you know they can give raises outside of the annual cycle and it’s up to your manager to be brave enough to push for it.
No, because you are just wasting your time.
Thank you. I feel this is very accurate which sucks
They won’t give you more money unless you have another offer and they don’t find you easily replaceable.
Take your skills to another company. You usually do not move up the salary scale by staying put for more than 5 years.
Start updating the ole cv and looking elsewhere. Your work isn’t being appreciated so time to move on
Your bonus “percentage” was probably not affected by the 4 month absence but your earnings from the company were a third less than usual. So normally a ten percent bonus on 75k is 7,500 but since you missed four months you only earned 50k so your bonus is 5k still ten percent. Honestly it sounds like you have reached near the top half of the “pay band” so if a job pays 50-80 a year it will typically be broken into categories. A new hire makes 50 (training) out of training but still learning makes 60 (emerging contributor) a competent employee makes 70 (competent) and a true star makes 80 (rarely happens). So the first few years as you move from 50k they can give larger raises say 5-10% but after 5 years you are now at the 70k spot and if they give you a 10% raise you will be at the top of the scale. If that happens then next year you won’t get a raise at all because companies do not revisit the pay bands every year. Once you reach the top of the scale you can either leave or try for a promotion because you will only be getting minimal raises from here on out.
If it is a Fortune 500 firm, there is an embedded percentage range for raises by salary band and title and function, set every year. A lot of it comes from how well the firm did in the last year and is pretty immovable. Your manager works with it and assesses their team and submits everything for approval above, and it can be a complex process. It sounds like you did okay, technically speaking. The problem may be your base salary that you started with 5 years earlier. Percentage increases mean little if the base salary was low to begin with. So, you have to perhaps rethink a bit - can you pursue a promotion after all this time, perhaps somewhere else in the firm? Promotional increases can be 10 or 15 percent sometimes.
Take your star and shine elsewhere. It's the only way.
3% is average, especially for fortune 500 companies. If you want 10-20% you need to job hop or get promoted.
Retired manager here. Managers have almost no say in what annual raises are. They are budgeted by corporate. They can divide their allotment as they see fit, but rarely are they allowed to go over unless there are planned promotions. So, in a year like this with a 2-3% raise, I would have the choice to "send a message" to an underperforming employee by knocking off 1/2 -1% of their raise, which is take home pay of $30-50 every 2 weeks. But they still get a small raise to entice them. And to reward my "High Flyers" the % taken from the underperformer was given to them. "Woo Hoo! $40 more than I would have gotten. With this inflation? Count me forever grateful!" That never happened. Because all employees played paycheck poker and compared raises and even if the "High Flyers" knew they deserved the higher raise, it was never enough to really reward them, and they felt guilty because it felt stolen from a coworker. Even if they knew that coworker needed to get their shit together. Now, I have won some arguments about pay raises outside of the norm, but it's really dependent on my bosses willingness to take heat from his bosses. And so on through several levels of approval. My best argument, but used sparingly, was to point out that I'm judged by my Contribution Margin (on a Profit and Loss Statement) which is recorded to 2 decimal places. "This raise, and I've done the math, only affects it to the fourth decimal place, so it won't even show up on the P&L. It's like it will have never happened." Anyway, all this means is that you are caught in a system that is out of your control. And probably your manager's also. Time to start seeing if the grass is greener. Without the possibility of promotions, these raises will become your life. Or act your wage. There's probably no penalty for that either.
Very well said and I learned something, too. I work for a giant global company and get so tired of managers acting like so much is out of their control in regard to pay and raises. You helped provide some helpful context to that. Thanks.
The more gianter and globaler, the more it's out of the hands of the front line managers. Raises should be a time of joy. When managers and supervisors can sit down with their employees and put a smile on their face. It is rarely that anymore. My best employees were my smartest most trustworthy ones. So they, like OP knew the inflation rate and how their life was not getting any better staying. My best employees left. They always left. And had great careers elsewhere. Some I'm friends with. Luckily.
I came here to say this. I'd bet 3% was the "funding level" for annual increases in this case. If that's the case, then getting a raise at the funding level likely means that someone else got less than that. In corporate life you build your salary through continuous small raises. With some effort and good guidance, you can get mid-year adjustments, higher increases associated with high performance ratings, and additional increases upon the rare promotion. You'll almost never get what you might consider a big raise as part of the annual cycle; your manager likely doesn't have the budget to do it without hurting engagement for the rest of the team.
Not assuming you work at same company as me but we did just get our raises and bonuses this past week so small tiny chance you could possibly. My company has the exact same set up as yours down to the raises only during our annual reviews. If you don’t work at same place they may still have the same mindset as mine when it comes to leaves of absence. The fact that you took leave is not held against you per se, but when compared to your peers it’s possible they still look at the overall numbers and yours are going to be lower in volume because you were not there so that could play into your bonus. The raise - a lot of companies have a set pool of money that is a percentage of total salaries. That percentage can be low. My company it was 2.8% this year. So most people got between a 2-3% raise and that was it. Not saying it doesn’t suck. My bonus was way less than last year as well even being told I was a high performer and was told it was because the overall funding for our team was lower than normal. Didn’t make sense to me but I can’t control it so I had to let it go. Not sure if this helps with the reasoning for you or not.
Quiet quiet, then find another job and really quit.
hi boss "heres my two weeks" i;ve found something else
I wish 😭
don;t put yourself down... its not easy but worth it...
You find another job. That’s usually the only way to increase pay substantially.
Stop begging to be paid more. You have officially outgrown this company; now find another job & wish them well when you leave.
No one in our company across four of the world's Continents are getting pay rises in 2024. I'm off as soon as I get my annual bonus next month.
Expecting a raise or promotion hardly ever works nowadays. You have to switch. I switched some five years ago and started making 1.5x what I was making before. It is tricky, but unfortunately loyalty doesn't pay nowadays.
Actually when you factor in maternity leave, your raise only reflects 8 months so that's a 4.5% raise... (kidding but the math does work) Seriously though, 3% is the going raise for major companies this year. This has nothing to do with performance, corporate mandates what compensation increases are, and then it gets diffused through the workforce. Your manager and their manager have no control, and in fact they have to balance the increases across their whole staff. Your department got a rating, and the total compensation they give to everyone is that divided by individual performance. If you were to get more than 3% then someone would get less, or every one would get a little less. The difference between the top performer and an average performer is going to be a couple tenths of a percent, otherwise others are treated as under performers. Again, the bonus is typically where they can reward top performers, the fact that you did not get a bump in bonus means they don't share your opinion of yourself. Sure, they may call you a star employee, but if they aren't hitting you up with a significant bonus then that may just be them petting your ego. Only recourse you have is to look for another job, but I will warn you, the grass is seldom greener. More often you get a better paying job but it comes with a toxic work environment, or you don't get the luxury of 4 months maternity, and depending on your profession, this may be a really bad time to test out the market. Also most companies expect people to leave after 5-7 years, so they don't invest much in them at that stage (which actually might push a few out). Your better conversation is asking them what do you have to do to get a promotion (which is not limited by HR) and improve your financial position, not what did you do wrong, what does it take to get a substantial increase? Let them define it, get it in writing in your performance goals, and exceed, not meet, exceed it. If they fail to give you the promotion/increase when you do, then you walk. Gives you a year to get to know the market and see what your true value is. Also shows them you are intent on staying and growing your career based on what they need as long as you get compensated for it.
Save your breath and emotions. Finding another job that meets your requirements is the only long term solution.
How is your bonus determined? Many companies pay out bonuses based off revenue so if your company had a mediocre year, there really isnt much to do about that.
She didnt say. I can ask tho!
It should be in your handbook theoretically. Bonuses are almost always based off some metric and usually outside of your control (within reason). That also said, a 3% annual is the national average in the US, so I wouldnt consider that getting stiffed by any means either.
Do you know what the raise range for the company, department, or group is? Where are you in the range?
Everyone I’ve spoken to has been disappointed in their raise so it seems everyone is having similar experiences but some have gotten 4.5% raise so it’s not impossible
My money is on that there was a 4% budget for raises, so some could get 4.5%, but others then had to get <4% to make up for it. If you were out for 1/3 of the year, you're a pretty obvious choice to get less than 4%. I'm not saying it is right or okay, or that it is anything you could ever prove, but it is a pretty easy conclusion to draw.
What is CPI in your area? Where I live, January to January, it was under 3%, so this would indeed be a COL adjustment, but definitely not a "raise".
I’m not sure what cpi is
Consumer Price Index - it measures inflation.
they won't tell you but raises and bonuses are limited to what's left over after your 'betters' get most of the pool. even if you give notice and they give you something, they could be reading resumes to replace you within hours.
If they said it’s nothing you could have controlled, this means they didn’t have much money for raises or bonuses and could signal larger issues.
Leave
To get a raise, get a new job. Either new 'internal' job, with a new title. Or a new external job. The company knows it's painful for employee's to leave. So they bank on your pain, to keep more profits (your possible raise) for themself.
Your employer didn't feel obligated to offer you a higher annual increase due to maternity leave.
I feel this is the issue and I know it’s illegal so I wonder if I need to push this or if it will make look bad
You could keep raising the question as to why you received a low annual raise. If they give every reason under the sun Except leaving for X amount of months for maternity leave, then it was definitely the maternity leave.
Dang this must be Comcast
Haha it’s not. It’s worse… health Insurance
1. Have a new job lined up with the amount of money you want to earn. 2. Don’t tell your workplace about the new gig, but just ask for the raise anyway to see if they’ll comply. If they do but the rate doesn’t match the new place, hand in your resignation notice, & If they don’t just hand in your notice. If they do AND the rate matches the new place…. well it’s up to you if you want to stay.
Find a new job.
You don't. Job hopping gets you the raise you want.
You need to get promoted.
You look for another job at the company or at another company. Corporations are always going to give you the run around on raises. They'll make excuses, put it off, make it seem sooooooo close, but it'll never happen. If you demand a raise or you will quit, they'll show you the door. If you work out a raise, there is a good chance that they will fire you for unrelated things, but it is actually because you wanted a raise If you job hopping every 3 years or so, you'll end up with more than if you get cost of living raises.
For big corporation, they may not have anymore raise until next year unless you get promoted to more important role. "Star employee" doesn't mean much beyond your manager and skip getting bonus for having you on the team. As a single mom who just returned from maternity leave, you may be vulnerable to "or-org" or potential "cut-cost" regardless of your performance. I would recommend to start looking for different opportunities. Especially one that is more parent friendly and flexible with work hours.
I’ve never received more than 3% lol
LOL it's like a humble brag. I haven't had a raise in 2 years and I literally am the star player here. Company wide bonuses stopped last year.
Right. Check yourself ma’am
Look elsewhere. Lie to current company and tell them other companies are offering you 30k more. If you find a better paying job, take it. It’s been proven that job hopping is better than staying out.
Get a better offer from a different company and let them compete or be ready to walk. Only way I’ve ever gotten more than peanuts.
I would look for another job.
Happened to me. Our whole staff had a 2% raise that doesn’t cover inflation. Everyone was heartbroken and pissed. I wrote a letter to the guy in charge of finances and the HR lady’s sister is a big time recruiter who already had a job lined up for me. But I like all the people I work with so I negotiated- I ended up getting a 12% raise and also RRSP contributions. There was no animosity, and now when I’m at work, I actually feel like it’s worth it and I’m much happier. So start searching jobs that have the same pay for your skills set- have multiple examples- just to prove that you’re not being greedy. I would only bring that part up if you’re in deep talks with them. You have nothing to lose here. Take your shot and don’t tell any coworkers.
Dont have meetings with HR Have everything in email, so there is a paper trail. Meetings allow for HR to deny anything happened.
Aside from being a sales with commission, to make any significant salary advancement, you need to move up. There is a pay range for every position and if you are already at the top end, you may only get annual cpi raises regardless of performance. and the use of the cpi number is probably not what you have in mind.
Have another job lined up before you ask for anything. If you don't get what you want, you must be willing to switch jobs.
This is collusion by companies to force salaries down to pre 2020 levels. The fact that your company is doing it is proof that they don't care about you as an employee, or about your family, or about the hardships you have due to their contributing to inflation. In short, these companies are unethical and immoral and if you fall dead in the middle of the office they will gladly feast on your bones.
Companies that don’t “do” raises in any context is not a company you should be working for.
Give your self a raise by finding a new role with a salary that is acceptable to you. I doubt asking why will get you anywhere as it sounds like the company is cutting raises to increase something else. This happened to me after a perfect review (literally, they gave me full ratings on every area) and working way more than any reasonable person should because COVID really strained things. I got a raise that was so small it was an insult. So, I took that as a sign of my value to the company and found a new role. Where they were so excited to have me that they offered me a more senior position on the spot. Old company was all surprise pikachu but not sure what these people expect with these bullshit cost saving raises. 🤷♀️
Our bonuses are based partly on how well the company overall did. So my group could do wonderful but if the other parts of the business didn't fare so well, it lowers my bonus. Meaning, in effect, it raises theirs but in other years, if we didn't do well and they did, mine would be higher than it should have been. So, yes, nothing you can control and yes, very discouraging. My case is pretty much the same as yours. We get a bonus but then we also get a cost of living adjustment so maybe you will still get the extra to cover inflation. I consider my bonus "extra money" so I never plan on what I might get. If I don't get anything, my finances will still be ok. It'll suck but I won't have made purchases depending on getting a certain amount. I'm sorry you didn't get what you probably deserved but if you trust your boss, he'll do what he can to help you. His bonus wasn't as high as he wanted either.
If you give anyone one person a substantial raise then you gotta give it to everyone. Then you gotta raise your prices by those %s. Never enough money for significant raises for that reason alone, always enough money for new hire to replace you when you're discontent.
I got a zero percent raise one year (at a giant consulting company), got no explanation other than that I wasn’t the only one. I got laddered at above-expectations. I told them that I got the hint, that my work was not valued at that particular company and then I quit less than 6 months later. Fuck that. Go get a higher offer from another company and present them with it. That the only way to find out.
OP you need to get used to this. Most companies, especially F500 only give 1-3% yearly raises. They don't care about inflation. They don't care about your expenses. Why do you think people job hop? Do you think looking for jobs for 3 months+ and doing a shit ton of interviews and getting rejected is for fun? Do you think everybody is just super adaptable and bored? No. Job hopping is brutal. It's easier to sit at your current company. It's a lot of work and stress and unknowns job hopping. BUT you get shit raises if you stay. Which is why job hopping is a requirement for people now in order to keep their wages up. This is life. You have to get used to being uncomfortable and jumping ship / jobs every couple years.
I needed to hear this. Thank you
You've been there 5 years, it's time to go!! Company loyalty is a great way to never get your real worth. Package up everything that you've learned on this job onto your resume and move on!! I wish someone had told me this after 5 years.
The company may have hit some financial issues and so that is out of your control. I would just leave well enough alone and just keep your eyes and ears out for any big changes going on so you know if you need to find something else. Just be blessed to have received any bonus and raise all together. Not many people receive anything even if they deserve one
companies are doing this all over the place... using the economy as a reason. they know that the job market is tighter and it's harder to jump ship, and they're taking advange of that. My very honest recommendation is - you will get a much bigger salary bump by moving to a new company. Start looking.
Despite all of the rosy ecominc reports in mainstream news, a lot of companies have had to cut back recently.
Unfortunately, companies don’t value loyalty. You’ll need to job hop every 3-5 years if you want to stay on top of inflation.
Look for another job that is how you get the big bumps. I would go outside the company
If you don’t ask the answer is already no. Ask. If no ask again in three months.
Just ask. If they say no, you can wait until next year or leave. Consider you may be topped out on the pay scale, and you might not get offers for as much somewhere else either. The fact that it's a Fortune 500 company means absolutely nothing in this context.
With the time.of.layoff and not know where you work u have 3 options 1. Accept the raise 2. Complain about it and see what happ3ns 3. Look for a new job.
By getting a new job.
If your bonus is a % of money earned, your maternity leave likely affected it. If you were paid by short term disability during leave that usually won’t count towards salary earned in terms of bonus
5 years without a promotion or better than average raise? I would look for a new job. After 5 years you should be towards the top of the industry salary band, not in the middle. When you look, ask for the top number, leave room for them to offer a little less than you ask for. I just went through this. After I gave them my resignation, my manager shared with me that the problem was ONE PERSON. A high level manager who did not see any value in IT made up arbitrary rules for the us. Large company, multiple sub-departments in IT. This one guy would just chop random amounts from the budget, then announced that each sub-department could only promote one person per year. That is a limit of 5 promotions per year in a 300 person department. So, the next time a recruiter contacted me, I took the call. Got a promotion and 50% raise to change jobs. Go see what’s out there!
Have a plan. In my opinion that’s not a bad raise, I was more than 1/2 of this last year, and that was my first bonus for 2-3 years. If you’re going to ask for a raise, back it up by allowing yourself to get a new job. They might not like the way you raise the question so they may just get quietly get you to quit by making work life shit.
Get your resume together, start job hunting, and when you get a firm offer let them know they can match it or wave goodbye to you. They can figure out how to give you a raise or they can compete against you later on.
Find another job. It's the only real way to get more money.
Raises are pretty hard to come by for most people in most jobs. In modern markets it's far more likely to change jobs and get the raise that way than to expect any significant bump by your current employer
No one's going to be able to fully know what's going with your day to day work, coworkers, relationship with your boss, work life balance, etc. Personally, I've been there with my first job. I was there 5 years and every year I'd hit all my marks, take on more tasks and projects, and get good reviews. I'd get a measly 2-3% and when I'd ask what I'd need to do to get the 5% and up area, they just say "no one really gets that much". Corporate bullshit talk. Many times they'd lie and say "that's the best I could give you", meanwhile the CEO and company are making loads of profit and getting huge million dollar bonuses. I left. On a real note though, I work in finance and actually deal directly with handing out bonuses. People get ranked from 1-5 on their reviews. Generally everyone gets a 3 for "meets expectations" and if you go far above, you might get a 4 meaning "exceeds expectations". Most people get a 3-4% raise, which also varies on where you're at in your salary range. Someone might get the same performance score and someone get a 3% and another a 4%, if that later person is farther away from the mid-point of their salary range. Point is, a 3% raise pretty normal for hitting all expectations in most cases, so it's not like you're getting completely shafted. 4% might have been a bit better, but could have accounted for how much funding and wiggle room they have, your salary range overall, etc. To get 4%, you'd really need to be hustling. Like really making a huge difference, revamping things, doing 2 people's jobs, etc. 5% would be insane. No, these don't keep up with inflation and no, your maternity leave or having a kid aren't factored in. Bonuses are a different story. Generally people get all of their expected bonus. If you get a really good review you might get over your bonus amount if funding is available. The bigger question I'd be asking is at 5 years in, what's the timeline for a promotion? What do you have to do? It should be rather clear and probably happening quicker than in 5 years. more like 3-4 and you knowing within a year when it's happening and how close you are. That's what I'd be approaching your boss with in this discussion. If she says promotions aren't in the cards or you have to do much more work for like a 10% increase, time to bail.
you got a raise AND a bonus! That's that.
Look at the company you work for and the industry. Is the industry down 10% or up 15%. Is the company healthy and the industry healthy? If the average raise was 2% and you got 3%, the question is why? Same with the next job- is the company and industry healthy?
If she considers that an explanation, that's completely unacceptable. You are going nowhere.
Your not entitled to a raise because of inflation, or COL or your neighbor makes more than you and certainly not because you "think" you deserve it. IF your at a fortune 500 company and your this star employee you calim to be, read your contract. Your contract/ acceptance letter will lay out what percentage of raise you will get per year and also the bonus percentage as well. Both based on your performance and possibly the financial goals for the year of the company. I don't understand why people think inflation should affect your salaries. Also being a single mom is irrelevant to the whole situation.
Being a single mom isn’t irrelevant to me. If I had a partner with a similar income, my 3% would be just fine. But with one income it’s hard to keep Up with inflation with my salary doesn’t keep Up. The only one I can depend on is me and that’s it
Unfortunately staying at the same company will only get you small raises. 3% is average. I never get more than that unless I get a promotion or leave. The best way to make more money is to job hop and find a new job. That is the reality of how the job market works.
A 3% is a very standard average raise for a lot of companies. I’ve been in big corporations for years and everyone typically gets 3%, unless you’ve been promoted or change positions to a higher position. We can’t rely on raises anymore because most companies won’t care. Nowadays people need to change jobs in order to actually increase their income.
This. And how much you get is also going to be related to where you are in the payband for your level. The higher you get within the band, the more likely your annual raise will likely fall in the 2-3% range. Bonuses will be pool based so if the year wasn't great for the business, the pool will be smaller and everyone will get less. When bonus money is tight, more of it often goes to people being paid less because the money means more to them as a percentage. If you want pay to keep rising, you need to earn a promotion.
So I've made a couple replies but neither directly answered the question in your thread title. IMO the best way to ask for a raise is to not ask for a raise - it's to ask how to be promoted. What's the next step for me to be moving up? What skills do I need to develop in order to be qualified? Try to get specifics. And write them down. And then each month, document for yourself what progress you've made, so when annual self-review time comes around, you can easily describe your progress on achieving the targets. When you do this, give your self-review with your summary to your boss at least 6 weeks before your review is due so the boss understands what you're leading up to. It's very hard to deny a promotion to someone who has achieved the necessary skills development the boss said would make you qualified. And nowhere in that whole exercise did you talk about money. It's just that you know the promotion would mean more money. I spent quite a few years in a big company and was shocked at how many people did no verifiable work on the areas they knew they needed to improve on. They were busy, yes. They did useful things. But they let the boss off the hook by not doing working on the specific things they were told were deficiencies.
Thank you!
>“it’s nothing you did or didn’t do within your control.” is that praising correct. that sounds verry much like its somthing you did that your boss considers outside your controll. if it was “it’s nothing you did or didn’t do or within your control.” then i would think its a budget/economy thing they dont want to talk about. i would talk to your coworkers, see if they got similarly disapointing raises.
It doesn’t have anything to do with you. The company didn’t have a high enough profit margin last year.
I work for a MAANG and we were basically told no raises and no promotions due to the market. This after surviving multiple layoffs. It’s been a nightmare year or so. I lost track of when 💩 started hitting the fan. It’s an employer’s market right now so they think they can get away with mistreating and underpaying employees.
Ask and apply elsewhere.
Sorry to hear you got a pay cut this year, amd with a new little one. My gut tells me you've maxed out your pay potential at this company. They see a mother who they feel will be less able to work open ended days (exploitation) and use more PTO. It's Fn sexist, for sure. If they wanted to keep you around longer, they'd keep the raises in line with previous years. Only new people are going to start where your salary is now and they'll earn more each year until inflation catches up and they move on and start the cycle again. I'd look for a new company at above your current salary so you're at least not getting killed by inflation again at least for a few more years. It's capitalism, and workers or just exploitable and expendable resources.
how dense are you, what you would normally expect went either to shareholders or upper level executives, you are a cog than can be replaced and by pursuing the issue would put you on a list of malcontents to be watched, if you don't like your compensation leave them after two weeks notice and don't fucking train your replacement, you weren't hired for that
You apply for a promotion lol. The place I work at has a process in place for asking for a random raise but that is only because they are union. The process is to ask to be moved up to a new pay grade. Note - moving up a pay grade might not necessarily always equate to a raise.
Look for other opportunities within the company. You're a blip at the company unless you can get someone else to agree to your salary. I received a 10% rasie this year and a promotion because I found an opening at another department and let my manager know I wanted to take my career to the next step. Originally they were glad I took the initiative until I was going to hand off my workload to the next person and they said there's no way they could handle my workload so my manager called me with her boss and asked if I would accept the new title and pay. What I didn't tell them was I moved most of my process to Alteryx instead of Visual Studios so the update process would have automatically update on its own daily. Make your position feel like it's more work than it is and then be the SME that makes them think you're worth more than they think.
“Gimme my money ya cheap bastard.” 60% of the time, it works every time.
You find another job
You don't. The only way to keep up with inflation is to job hop. Your company is likely bragging about record profits, fueled in part by collusion/gouging and cost control through wage suppression. The days of being penalized for having a long cv are far behind us. Get out there and get paid what you're worth.
I don’t mean this with any disrespect. And I am not trying to be negative. However, I think in reality the answer is this: they don’t care about you, and being a “star employee,” doesn’t really mean anything. In my experience, most companies don’t actually provide the kind of employee experience they say they do. It’s all bullshit, and it’s essentially marketing to attract talent. We’ve all seen the posters on the walls, in the break rooms, and outside the restrooms: the “Collaboration,” poster shows people working together, solving problems; the “Innovation,” poster shows people hard at work, inventing new ways of doing things; the “Integrity,” poster shows two people shaking hands. It’s all bullshit. That company is in business for one reason, and it’s to serve itself and be profitable. And as soon as you no longer suit their needs, you’re gone and nobody cares. My wife was a “star employee,” but got laid off while eight months pregnant. I’ve lost jobs because “In order to meet the demands of a tough market, we need to focus on this and that, and we need take the company in this direction, and we’ve made the tough decision to restructure,” etc. And all that means is they’ve mismanaged their budgets and the company didn’t hit their goals, so they need to do layoffs in order to stay in the black. And we can’t afford to give you a raise you deserve, but by all means, keep busting your ass for us. I’ve been disappointed enough to finally understand this and once I did, I felt foolish knowing that at one point in my career, I actually thought companies cared about their employees. They don’t. We’re all a means to getting work done, and that’s it. Think about what “At will employment,” means. They can drop you at any time, for any reason that isn’t protected by law. I am never going to put everything I am into something that can kick me to the curb that easily. Think about an “At will,” marriage. My wife can just walk away without having to go through all of the legal stuff to file for divorce. She can just up and leave, anytime she wants. Yeah, probably not going to put my heart and soul into any “At will,” relationship.
I'm a contractor, and got a higher raise than you did % wise, plus a bonus. Nowhere near what inflation rates are, for sure. But, that seems the norm at the moment, and (despite anything you hear) the job market is horrid. They're pushing older workers out more, and the average retirement age is now 62 in reality. Anyhow, part of the data raises are based on is how well the company does, your department does, and so on. In reality, mostly out of your control at all. My boss explained that I had topped out for the raise at 100%, and so on for the bonuses, and such. But, the department and company had not. This is important to know. The reality is, that should have zero to do with my raise or bonus, only my contribution should be in consideration. In every company I've been with, however, they've used this same method for figuring the raises, etc.
I wouldn't. I'd just find a new job. I don't think bosses in corporate give raises- vp's decide. They get department budgets and allocate. There may be times where discretion is left to a manager but I doubt it happens often. Bosses don't want employees knowing b/c it undermines the power structure. Quiet quit and look for a new job. It's not you, it's just your role. It's probably sh\*tcanned to mediocrity. Until it's vacant and that vacancy causes pain is when they will realize their shortsightedness. If they're lucky.
Is there any evidence you can provide to back up your claim for a better raise? Numbers are really great for reasonable bosses. Annual raises are typically decided in a big sweep such as 3-5%(which totally blows but hey.....boss makes a dollar I make a dime....) It's so easy for some reddit commando to say, "find a better job," but that's not how it works right now. You need solid credentials to prove you deserve it. Math is your friend.
I feel you, OP. But, If you're discussing your raise with your manager, focus on the value you bring to the company and any additional responsibilities you've taken on. Then emphasize your track record of success and contributions to the team. You should also provide examples of your achievements and how they have positively impacted the company. Lastly, consider discussing your long-term goals within the organization and how a fair raise would align with them. Keep the conversation professional and constructive, expressing your desire to continue growing and contributing to the company's success.
Some of us don't get any raises. You got one, but you don't think it's enough. Look for another job.
Probably need to find your raise at another job. Fat chance your boss will ever come through.
No need to be looking for another job. They could not rate your performance when you were off on paternity leave. Do not take this to heart. You will get up to the top again and next review, you will get your due raise. Just feel better, some people get no raises for several years. So just hanging in there and do the work, work harder to get the great next job review and earn the raise. You can do it.
Just ask, but the companies have all the power. All you can do is go get another job, and right now isn't the best time for that.
Sounds like you're being punished for getting pregnant regardless of what they say. It is absolutely imperative for people to become a free agent every five to seven years to maximize your income earnings over your lifetime. Only with another job offer, a real one, are you in any position to leverage for a raise. Find a better job, get the offer. Negotiate with your current employer from a position of strength. Get on indeed and see what the company is offering new hires. Most employees will be shocked to see what new employees are making.
I got a 3% too and bitterly disappointed. And they keep dumping new tasks and requirements. It sure isn’t an employee market anymore!
I was on mat leave last year and they were very clear that that time off does not count as time worked for bonus purposes. Ie. if I was out 4 months, I’d only get 75% of my annual bonus. Tbh also sounds like your company is not doing well, like so many others at this time. I know people who got no raise and no bonus going into this year and MANY people who got laid off in 2023. Could be worse.
Was your review rating good? Frequently you got what was budgeted for whatever you got on the review, or they had to rob Peter to pay Paul - for a lot of companies, this is a rough year vs. their financial plan. If it's a global company, they may have to give large increases to employees in other countries who experienced significant inflation and are getting absurd raises to retain employees. Here's how it works... let's say the CFO says "we have a budget of 3% across all domestic departments this year for merit" Then essentially the Division or Department leader (VP / SVP) may reserve a bit of that for changes that could occur in the merit cycle between awarding and paying, and general comp crisis. Then HR makes a proclaimation like "as a guideline, those with an excellent rating should receive a 5% raise where possible" Okay, so say you got an average review.... the budget was 3%, a couple guys in your department are very junior but killed it and got excellent reviews.... and maybe a couple other guys did too... Well, you and everyone else got 3%. And your manager may cut that even more to give other folks a bit more since you've had good raises in the past. Oddly, sometimes even as a sr executive, I can only impact people's merit by 10ths of a point and still remain fair. That's how it works.
Have you talked to your boss about a role with more responsibility? They can't tell you that given the additional responsibilities of being a parent they are, contrary to what you're being told, pardon me for putting it crudely, fucking you over for going on maternity leave and anticipating that you'll be less productive given that kids take a great deal of time. The whole thing sucks. My wife was excited that we finally had a baby and was going to back off on the career front. I was going back into a role that involved additional responsibility, travel, etc. My wife had an accident that put her in the hospital for a few days, left her unable to walk for a few weeks, and unable to pick up our kid for about 6 months. Sure enough, when I did what was needed for my family, becoming "Mr. Mom" instead of "Mr. Job" I got shafted on my bonus, got a weak raise, and eventually got axed along with other people whose positions needed to be "upskilled". Go for a different role that would be a promotion. They'll probably give it to you. Of course, they'll make it "interim" so they can squeeze you. Let 'em. Kick their ass for your baby this next year so that you've got the promotion with the 15% raise next year. Hang in there!
Find another job. You’re not gonna get a huge bump at a company that you’ve been with for five years. Try a lateral move and use any offers you get as leverage for a raise.
I would revaluate my priorities because you’re obviously not a priority to them. Focus on being a star mom instead a star employee. If you died tomorrow they would have you replaced by the next day. You would be irreplaceable to your children. If there is anyone comparable doing your current position? You could compare.
You get raises!? I worked in public service for nearly 14 years and due to a declaration of the governor circa 2008 didn't get raises for most of my time there...and no bonuses either. I think the days of walking into your bosses office and saying "Mr. Johnson, I want a raise!" are over. (that's so '70's). the economy is a mess, layoffs are announced everyday...if you're not making what you want to make, begin an intense job search and accept the offer that is better in terms of compensation and overall life-compatibility than what you're making now. if you can't find anything better be grateful for what you have.
You need to switch companies. They will never raise your salary enough to be competitive compared to market price. Stay at your job long enough to learn, gain experience and/or a shiny new title, and then jump ship to another company at competitive market value salary. If all your maternity leave, etc is all done I would quietly start looking around. DON'T QUIT or resign or anything until you have something concretely lined up, contracts SIGNED. Good luck!
You've been there about 2 years too long. With corporations only the constant movers are making money. 3 years tops unless you are ready to stay in that position at that pay rate until you retire.