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Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

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Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#11

Post by onion2k »

koenvdb wrote: post #4
onion2k wrote: post #3

Look at the 'problem' from the company's perspective. They're making bank. They're not losing staff. They might not even know you're unhappy. Why would they change anything? If you want things to change you have to act.

I feel like this is such an annoying attitude from companies. Just show your appreciation towards your employees and give them a raise once in a while. Without the employee having to ask the employer. I get that money needs to be made, but that will stop fairly quickly if you don't keep your employees happy. Of course you will hear the standard management talk "but then, how are we supposed to know that you want a ra…

I get that money needs to be made, that will stop fairly quickly if you don't keep your employees happy

The author of this post says they're working super hard, productivity is up, the company is making money, and they're not complaining. All of the signals that the company is getting are very positive that this person is having fun, enjoying their work, and they're happy with their salary.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#12

Post by koenvdb »

throwaway576652 wrote: post #8

What do you mean? It's well-known fact that if you want to increase your salary, you need to change employer.

This really depends on the company you work for, I've had several increases of salary at the same employer, just because I asked for it and had some good arguments. It costs way more money to get a new employee than it will cost to give an existing employee a pay raise.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#13

Post by varispeed »

Corporation will almost never give you a raise if you don't ask. In their interest is to pay as little as possible and they also need to be careful - if they pay too much, you may amass capital and leave to start your own business. So these things need to be balanced.

You have to be prepared to quit. Here in the UK the most effective way to get a raise is to actually find a new employer and ask 15-25% more than at one's current place.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#14

Post by silveroriole »

> I am deeply hurt and disappointed with way corporate works. I feel cheated.

I feel this every day and I’ve been working for over a decade. Work has so little to do with getting things done and being rewarded.

Ask your manager who to talk to about getting a pay rise. Hopefully it won’t be your direct manager because they might get paid less than what you’re asking for. Come prepared with a list of responsibilities that are above your current pay grade. Don’t bring up fairness. Ask for a rise a few k above what you think you can actually get. Ask your coworkers their salary if you’re brave. Be aware that management will probably fob you off and tell you the pay rise is impossible and you don’t deserve it, you’ll come away feeling devalued and stupid, but they’ll probably grant it anyway. Don’t expect regular pay reviews to come to you (my managers have looked flabbergasted when I said it should be the main point of the appraisal/review process), make sure you’re bringing up pay regularly yourself.

e: also, once you get the raise, slack off a bit. It’s not like they can reduce your pay.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#15

Post by stavros »

You've been doing it wrong: I practice shrinkflation principles, and work one less minute every month. That way, I effectively get a 2% raise at the end of every year.

If the company isn't satisfied with my performance, they can give me a raise to work more again.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#16

Post by varispeed »

> I work extra hard and spend overtime to run this team.

This is a big no! Please don't do that. You are not a charity and this is not your company.

If you want to continue to do that, at very least write down the extra hours you work so that you can calculate your real wage and maybe if you see how much less you actually earn when you do that, then it may compel you to stop.

When my friend accounted for all the "all-nighters" and evenings, she realised that she was actually paid slightly over the minimum wage. It's wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#17

Post by koenvdb »

onion2k wrote: post #11
koenvdb wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is such an annoying attitude from companies. Just show your appreciation towards your employees and give them a raise once in a while. Without the employee having to ask the employer. I get that money needs to be made, but that will stop fairly quickly if you don't keep your employees happy. Of course you will hear the standard management talk "but then, how are we supposed to know that you want a ra…

I get that money needs to be made, that will stop fairly quickly if you don't keep your employees happy The author of this post says they're working super hard , productivity is up, the company is making money, and they're not complaining. All of the signals that the company is getting are very positive that this person is having fun, enjoying their work, and they're happy with their salary.

Yes and I'm saying that it doesn't hurt to just give them a pay raise after x amount of time, even if it's just a few percentages.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#18

Post by germandiago »

You are taking the wrong strategy. Work to learn, side-project and build something. Do not expect a company to give you more and more unless they want to retain you and you are not replaceable.

It is hard, but it is like this. Unless you become irreplaceable you are not going to have an easy path to salary increases.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#19

Post by amiga1200 »

Quite simply, you’re not valued. Good managers know about the risk of churn, bad ones don’t care. I’ve found familiarity breeds contempt (of remuneration) which can be impossible to overcome. Start applying for jobs with the % increase you’re looking for.

Re: Ask HN: Why corporate culture never increment your salary?

#20

Post by lm28469 »

They'll pay you as low as they can get away with, just like they charge customers as much as they can get away with.

Companies only offer salary increase to people they absolutely want to keep, if you're just a cog in the machine they can afford you to quit and get another cog

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