2012 Edition: What’s your raise this year?

[Coronita]

We use to do this… Are you guys seeing employers giving more, giving less or about the same.

I’ll start.
1)Side gig… I didn’t give myself a raise this year.

2)In my full time rat race..4% bump,8% bonus cash bonus, and $80k worth of equity that now takes 4 years to vest, so I guess you can say that’s about a $20k equity bonus per year. Looks like my bonus was cut in half, the equity was about the same and the base pay raise was about the same.

[SK in CV]

I have a question. Your question begs the question (in the classic sense), by presuming that everyone gets a raise every year. In the industry I’ve worked in for more than the last decade, nobody gets a raise every year. Almost everyone’s comp is based on very objective metrics. Bill more, get paid more. Increased technical skills lead to higher billing rate, leads to higher variable compensation.

So my question is, do you think that another year on the job is a good reason for an employer to pay more for the same services? Shouldn’t raises (and compensation in general) be based on more objective measurements, like merit, performance, absolute value, and capped by comparable rates and conditions within the market place?

This presumption that another year on the job is good cause for a raise, absent other measurements, bugs the hell out of me.

[Anonymous]

[quote]This presumption that another year on the job is good cause for a raise, absent other measurements, bugs the hell out of me.[/quote]

Here’s a little gem that I heard from a colleague years ago:

There is a difference between having ten years of experience, and having one year of experience repeated ten times.

[Coronita]

[quote=pri_dk][quote]This presumption that another year on the job is good cause for a raise, absent other measurements, bugs the hell out of me.[/quote]

Here’s a little gem that I heard from a colleague years ago:

There is a big difference between having ten years of experience, and having one year of experience repeated ten times.[/quote]

Your friend would have been fired from a high tech position long time back. because he would have been outdated the 2nd year.

[Coronita]

[quote=SK in CV]I have a question. Your question begs the question (in the classic sense), by presuming that everyone gets a raise every year. In the industry I’ve worked in for more than the last decade, nobody gets a raise every year. Almost everyone’s comp is based on very objective metrics. Bill more, get paid more. Increased technical skills lead to higher billing rate, leads to higher variable compensation.

So my question is, do you think that another year on the job is a good reason for an employer to pay more for the same services? Shouldn’t raises (and compensation in general) be based on more objective measurements, like merit, performance, absolute value, and capped by comparable rates and conditions within the market place?

This presumption that another year on the job is good cause for a raise, absent other measurements, bugs the hell out of me.[/quote]

I guess for me, since I work in a for profit business, that is completely dependent on consumers, and since this year my company has reported yet record profits again, and that the company’s performance considerably better than last year, and that since it’s competitors and peers have been reporting similar successes…And a lot of it was directly or indirectly tied to the division I’m in, and specifically the projects my team has worked on…

I would say, yes I do expect raises/bonuses/incentives to be distributed this year and every year the company is profitable to folks/group in the company that was considered a top performer (which I was), …Otherwise, frankly, folks like me would just walk over to another similar companythat does the same thing that is appropriately compensating…And probably get a 10-20% bump just by switching itself…Because some folks generally can do that.

I wouldn’t know how I would feel if I worked for a non-profit company…But then again, I don’t think I would.

[ocrenter]

$1000 per month increase.

[Anonymous]

[quote=flu]Your friend would have been fired from a high tech position long time back. because he would have been outdated the 2nd year.[/quote]

flu, Read it again and think about it.

Do I really have to ‘splain it to you?

(Funny, my friend is now a VP/CTO at AMD, and is now moving to San Diego to take an executive position at a large semiconductor company – can’t say the name, but can you guess? – I’ll be posting a “Recommendations on where he should live” thread shortly…)

[Coronita]

[quote=pri_dk]flu, Read it again and think about it.

Do I really have to ‘splain it to you?

(Funny, my friend is now a VP/CTO at AMD, and is now moving to San Diego to take an executive position at a large semiconductor company – can’t say the name, but can you guess? – I’ll be posting a “Recommendations on where he should live” thread shortly…)[/quote]

oops. brain fart.. sorry about that..yes I get it…I misread what you said…Idiot, FLU… But now that you mentioned AMD, I can’t help but chuckle at the irony.

[UCGal]

No clue on raises. We’re being acquired and they may use that as an excuse not to give any raises. After a few years of frozen pay – they did give raises last year… and my division is profitable and my review was decent… so hopefully I’ll get something.

Merit bonus will be typical according to a formula based on pay grade and review performance. My division did well – but we’ll be hammered by the other division’s losses. Somehow they always turn the “green lights” reported by the third quarter into “red” or “Yellow” stop lights for the year. I’m skeptical of how they determine this stuff. But I should get something… Nominally about 10%. It’s not distributed till June, though.

Equity grants – they changed the distribution for that last year – now you have to be a “chosen one” to get any. It used to be a pretty standard part of our total compensation… Not anymore.

[The-Shoveler]

First: Doesn’t anyone get a cost of living wage increase anymore?

Of course I mean everyone knows there is no plan to keep interest rates at 2% while inflation is 4% or anything like that so there is no cost of living increase really.

Ok end sarcasm.

Got 4% last year , expect 4% this year as well.
not counting stock options.

[sdrealtor]

I’ll tell you on 12/31/12 when I know

[kev374]

I haven’t got a raise since 2007, I work in IT as a Sr. Software Consultant.

Actually the contracts rates have plummeted around 10% since ’07 but somehow I have managed to hold on to what I was making BUT that means in REAL terms my pay has actually fallen 10-20% in the last 4 years.

THANK off shoring and L1 visa abuse for that. The problem is getting worse with IT wages falling and the HUGE influx of cheap L1 labor, the government does nothing about this.

The lucky ones are the full time employees of companies that have managed to avoid layoffs, they have gotten cost of living raises over the years and it’s become so out of wack that at the company I work the total compensation package of full timers now exceeds what consultants make!

[dumbrenter]

I pay IT consultants for their services and always thought their rates are too high for what they do. The worst are the IT service companies.
Agree about rates plummeting since ’07 but I am not complaining.
I know it is not a politically correct thing to say these days, but I wish the government does nothing about it. Actually, I am betting on MSFT, GOOG, QCOM and AAPL lobbying to make sure government does nothing about it.

[quote=kev374]I haven’t got a raise since 2007, I work in IT as a Sr. Software Consultant.

Actually the contracts rates have plummeted around 10% since ’07 but somehow I have managed to hold on to what I was making BUT that means in REAL terms my pay has actually fallen 10-20% in the last 4 years.

THANK off shoring and L1 visa abuse for that. The problem is getting worse with IT wages falling and the HUGE influx of cheap L1 labor, the government does nothing about this.

The lucky ones are the full time employees of companies that have managed to avoid layoffs, they have gotten cost of living raises over the years and it’s become so out of wack that at the company I work the total compensation package of full timers now exceeds what consultants make![/quote]

[Rich Toscano]

[quote=SK in CV]I have a question. Your question begs the question (in the classic sense), by presuming that everyone gets a raise every year. In the industry I’ve worked in for more than the last decade, nobody gets a raise every year. Almost everyone’s comp is based on very objective metrics. Bill more, get paid more. Increased technical skills lead to higher billing rate, leads to higher variable compensation.

So my question is, do you think that another year on the job is a good reason for an employer to pay more for the same services? Shouldn’t raises (and compensation in general) be based on more objective measurements, like merit, performance, absolute value, and capped by comparable rates and conditions within the market place?

This presumption that another year on the job is good cause for a raise, absent other measurements, bugs the hell out of me.[/quote]

The cost of living goes up every year (even in calendar years 2008 and 2009 the cost of living went up). So if you didn’t get a raise in a given year, your compensation has actually declined.

[sdrealtor]

But if you perform below average you should fall behind. Its the private sectors way of showing you where the door is without getting sued.

[Author]

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