5 ms·

I wish. It's more commonly some sort of good-cop bad-cop routine, where the line manager really appreciates your work and fights hard for you against the upper

by Dove 16y ago

I wish. It's more commonly some sort of good-cop bad-cop routine, where the line manager really appreciates your work and fights hard for you against the upper level manager, who is just so stingy about raises in general. If you're stellar, you wind up with something way better than your teammates, but an insult compared to what you could command on an open market. I think on some level, they're constrained by collective bargaining agreements. Maybe they hope you've been with the company so long you only see the people around you. Maybe they only see the people around them. There was a real technical superstar of a guy a few years ago. I didn't work with him, but a coworker did. He went to management and said, "Give me a 17% raise or I'm leaving." They didn't and he did. The fallout was cataclysmic. I left a project about three years ago, and there was widespread panic when I announced my decision to leave. I took four months to pack things up and leave them in a stable state, but you cannot totally mask the absence of talent. A coworker asked, "Is there anything this program could do to make you stay?" I answered, "No." He said, "How about a 200% raise?" I said, "Oh, I'd stay another year for that." Judging from the fallout over that year, it would have been an efficient option. But they either didn't have the power or didn't have the perception.

jrockway 16y ago
He went to management and said, "Give me a 17% raise or I'm leaving." They didn't and he did. The fallout was cataclysmic. I wish this happened more often. Then people would just automatically receive, as a raise, whatever it costs to hire a replacement. The problem is that people are really too nice about their compensation and don't realize that they have a business to run -- themselves. (Man, now I want to get a business card that lists my title as "Technical Prostitute".)
- shin_lao 16y ago
  I'm sorry but when you reach that kind of situation, you have a huge HR problem.
  - shadowfox 16y ago
    But this seems to be fairly common among the mid-to-large size companies.
- gaius 16y ago
  Why 17%?
  - rkudeshi 16y ago
    Maybe so the raise could ultimately be 10-15% and the company would think they'd "won."
  - wlievens 16y ago
    Probably added up to some round number, a psychological barrier. There's no reason the percentage should be a "round" number :-)
- gclaramunt 16y ago
  > (Man, now I want to get a business card that lists my title as "Technical Prostitute".) http://www.thatwasfunny.com/differences-between-consulting-and-prostitution/49 http://www.thatwasfunny.com/differences-between-consulting-a...
- andrew1 16y ago
  Wouldn't you get stuck in a loop though? I demand a raise today or I'll quit so I'm given $X to pacify me. What stops me doing the same next week?
  - Dove 16y ago
    Whether you're actually worth $X.
umjames 16y ago
Did you or that guy already have another job lined up, or did you just walk? Also, when you decided to leave, did you give your former employer 4 months notice or was it less (the standard 2 weeks) and it grew to 4 months? If you already had accepted the other job, how did you handle pushing back your start date with them? I'm curious, because I'm currently entertaining changing jobs. More money isn't the main reason, it's because I want to work on more modern technologies, and my current job is stuck in the mid-1990's. I'd also be interested in any details you'd be willing to share about these fallouts.
- Dove 16y ago
  I don't know about the other guy. I can't imagine it would have been hard for him to work. I was moving between projects in the same company for technical reasons; my salary and position didn't change. The flippant raise offer was from the program I was leaving; it wasn't serious and it wasn't possible. Everyone knew that. In spite of the bitter tone of my post, I've enjoyed working where I do and do my best to make transitions smooth. I, the program I was leaving, and the program I was going to got together and figured out what seemed best for everyone. We agreed to 4 months of support. What actually happened is that a couple months after I left, they called in a panic. . . and I ended up supporting them on Fridays for about 18 months thereafter, before finally weaning them.

by Dove 16y ago

jrockway 16y ago

He went to management and said, "Give me a 17% raise or I'm leaving." They didn't and he did. The fallout was cataclysmic. I wish this happened more often. Then people would just automatically receive, as a raise, whatever it costs to hire a replacement. The problem is that people are really too nice about their compensation and don't realize that they have a business to run -- themselves. (Man, now I want to get a business card that lists my title as "Technical Prostitute".)

shin_lao 16y ago
I'm sorry but when you reach that kind of situation, you have a huge HR problem.
- shadowfox 16y ago
  But this seems to be fairly common among the mid-to-large size companies.
gaius 16y ago
Why 17%?
- rkudeshi 16y ago
  Maybe so the raise could ultimately be 10-15% and the company would think they'd "won."
- wlievens 16y ago
  Probably added up to some round number, a psychological barrier. There's no reason the percentage should be a "round" number :-)
gclaramunt 16y ago
> (Man, now I want to get a business card that lists my title as "Technical Prostitute".) http://www.thatwasfunny.com/differences-between-consulting-and-prostitution/49 http://www.thatwasfunny.com/differences-between-consulting-a...
andrew1 16y ago
Wouldn't you get stuck in a loop though? I demand a raise today or I'll quit so I'm given $X to pacify me. What stops me doing the same next week?
- Dove 16y ago
  Whether you're actually worth $X.

umjames 16y ago

Did you or that guy already have another job lined up, or did you just walk? Also, when you decided to leave, did you give your former employer 4 months notice or was it less (the standard 2 weeks) and it grew to 4 months? If you already had accepted the other job, how did you handle pushing back your start date with them? I'm curious, because I'm currently entertaining changing jobs. More money isn't the main reason, it's because I want to work on more modern technologies, and my current job is stuck in the mid-1990's. I'd also be interested in any details you'd be willing to share about these fallouts.

Dove 16y ago
I don't know about the other guy. I can't imagine it would have been hard for him to work. I was moving between projects in the same company for technical reasons; my salary and position didn't change. The flippant raise offer was from the program I was leaving; it wasn't serious and it wasn't possible. Everyone knew that. In spite of the bitter tone of my post, I've enjoyed working where I do and do my best to make transitions smooth. I, the program I was leaving, and the program I was going to got together and figured out what seemed best for everyone. We agreed to 4 months of support. What actually happened is that a couple months after I left, they called in a panic. . . and I ended up supporting them on Fridays for about 18 months thereafter, before finally weaning them.