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If deflation occurs would you ask for a pay reduction as well? Probably not. But, at the same time you have to do what's best for you and your family. Easiest

If deflation occurs would you ask for a pay reduction as well? Probably not. But, at the same time you have to do what's best for you and your family. Easiest thing is just to have a straight up conversation with your manager and see if you can get a timeline for a response and specific actions that will be taken in pursuit of this. Be prepared for "no", and be prepared to have to find a new job. In the vast majority of conversations I have with people on this topic, they have to find a new job to get a higher salary, unfortunately.

bubersson 5y ago
At that point the employer could ask for a reduction... The situation is symmetric.
seqizz 5y ago
Does deflation occur? If yes, I am not too old to see it I guess. And one can argue that the company should be the one asking for pay reduction in that case. Also I agree about "find a new job to get a higher salary" thing. Then I witnessed the company struggling to find a good replacement etc. Are these people really dumb, or is it something else going on that I can't see.
- ericmay 5y ago
  > Are these people really dumb I'd say it's less "dumb" and more that the incentives are aligned in such a way that they just won't do it. But we know that it works well. Netflix I think is/was known for finding out new market rates and just giving everyone a raise to reflect that rate so they don't leave. Also I think people in positions where they're making the call on rates don't have data or other information to really assess what we see as so obvious, which is that losing an engineer over a 5% pay increase during a period of inflation is far more costly than just giving them the pay increase. But I see this kind of thing all the time. There are a lot of what I call "boomerang companies" especially Fortune 500 where if you want a meaningful raise at the company you have to leave and then get hired back. Problem is many leave and don't come back, so the company churns talented people and keeps all the people who can't get higher rates on the market. It's really silly.
farmerstan 5y ago
I guess you don’t remember the dot com bust and all the salary cuts that happened with some companies instead of layoffs.
- ericmay 5y ago
  No I don't. In 2000/2001 I was 12 years old and in grade school.

bubersson 5y ago

At that point the employer could ask for a reduction... The situation is symmetric.

seqizz 5y ago

Does deflation occur? If yes, I am not too old to see it I guess. And one can argue that the company should be the one asking for pay reduction in that case. Also I agree about "find a new job to get a higher salary" thing. Then I witnessed the company struggling to find a good replacement etc. Are these people really dumb, or is it something else going on that I can't see.

ericmay 5y ago
> Are these people really dumb I'd say it's less "dumb" and more that the incentives are aligned in such a way that they just won't do it. But we know that it works well. Netflix I think is/was known for finding out new market rates and just giving everyone a raise to reflect that rate so they don't leave. Also I think people in positions where they're making the call on rates don't have data or other information to really assess what we see as so obvious, which is that losing an engineer over a 5% pay increase during a period of inflation is far more costly than just giving them the pay increase. But I see this kind of thing all the time. There are a lot of what I call "boomerang companies" especially Fortune 500 where if you want a meaningful raise at the company you have to leave and then get hired back. Problem is many leave and don't come back, so the company churns talented people and keeps all the people who can't get higher rates on the market. It's really silly.

farmerstan 5y ago

I guess you don’t remember the dot com bust and all the salary cuts that happened with some companies instead of layoffs.

ericmay 5y ago
No I don't. In 2000/2001 I was 12 years old and in grade school.