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The one-salary experiment, ten years in

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Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#111

Post by cannonedhamster »

war1025 wrote: post #87
readingnews wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying things like "I could make 50k more at blah" seems to be taken so lightly these days. I would party/panic/freak out like I won the lotto if you told me I could make 50k more somewhere else. 50k... do you have any idea what that does to your future earnings? Your 401k/retirement? Hell, even if you live the same as now, sticking 25K in the bank every year is worth a whole heaping spoonful of whatever hell they co…

The Mexican fisherman story [1] is what it comes down to for me. You can work a little, play a little, and generally have a good time with life and get by (Mexican fisherman), or you can start a business, work long hours, build a fleet of boats that makes a ton of money, and then sell it all someday when you retire, at which point you can work a little, play a little, and generally have a good time. (American busines…

The addendum is the Mexican fisherman doesn't have money in the bank if his boat gets destroyed in a freak storm, nor does he have enough to cover the insurance. He's also not taking care of his family or prepared if some oil company drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has a spill that completely destroys his livelihood. In fact the fleet of boats could effectively gain enough money to lobby the local government to set limits on fishing by private boats, setting the per boat fees more than the single fisherman could afford. None of what I've said has no legitimately happened to fishermen. I know it's analogy but the analogy fails on so many levels because it doesn't include preparing for external risks or things you can't control.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#112

Post by Ma8ee »

neogodless wrote: post #78
steven2012 wrote: post #64

Right now I'm struggling with whether or not to leave. I'm currently at a well-known company, and I'm uncharacteristically happy because my WLB is the best it's been in my career. However, I'm getting a bit bored and I also know I could make at least $50,000 a year more if I leave. Hell, even the new engineers joining my company at the same level are making more than I am. But the culture and pay at my company is jus…

I didn't see the WLB acronym in the article. Something like "whole-life benefits?" ETA: Just remembered "work-life balance." Gotcha!

I really wish people could stop using so many acronyms in general. Even though it usually is possible to guess, or in worst case google, the meaning, it always slow me down. I didn’t immediately understand WLB and I don’t remember seeing ETA meaning anything else that Estimated Time of Arrival before.

It just doesn’t take that long to write out the whole words.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#113

Post by user5994461 »

balfirevic wrote: post #109
readingnews wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying things like "I could make 50k more at blah" seems to be taken so lightly these days. I would party/panic/freak out like I won the lotto if you told me I could make 50k more somewhere else. 50k... do you have any idea what that does to your future earnings? Your 401k/retirement? Hell, even if you live the same as now, sticking 25K in the bank every year is worth a whole heaping spoonful of whatever hell they co…

> Where do all of those people come from? Mostly (though not exclusively) from high-paying high-cost of living US metropolitan areas.

London, Switzerland and some of the major Asian cities can also play in this league.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#114

Post by Aeolun »

polpenn wrote: post #86
issa wrote: post #84

I've always found it strange that companies don't give raises to current employees. A team I am on just lost a good engineer to another company offering him a $30k+ raise. He would have stayed if our company had even given him half of that. Instead, they let him go, and how will have to hire someone else, probably at that higher salary. So weird, and seems to happen a lot.

Current company knows his worth. New company doesn’t so your teammate has informational advantage and can negotiate a higher salary.

Possibly, but it’s basically institutional to not give raises that high without a position change.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#115

Post by user5994461 »

ng12 wrote: post #28
mikeash wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the difference between motivation to stay and reluctance to leave?

Think about someone who works at an non-profit NGO versus someone who works an 80 hour week at an investment bank. The NGO worker might only be making $30k/year but he stays because he really cares about his work. The investment banker might hate his job and hate the long hours but stay because of the high salary he'd be unlikely to match elsewhere. The NGO worker has high motivation and low reluctance, the i-banker…

Well, ibanker making 300k and working 9-6 is a thing. Get the best of both worlds.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#116

Post by Aeolun »

zdragnar wrote: post #91
issa wrote: post #84

I've always found it strange that companies don't give raises to current employees. A team I am on just lost a good engineer to another company offering him a $30k+ raise. He would have stayed if our company had even given him half of that. Instead, they let him go, and how will have to hire someone else, probably at that higher salary. So weird, and seems to happen a lot.

I've heard from multiple managers that offering someone money to stay typically buys another 9 months or so of their employment. They'll soon find other reasons to be looking for a job. There are, of course, exceptions; it's just a general rule.

I really, really want my current company to keep giving raises that, if not exactly in line with what I might get if I moved, are at least enough to feel they value me enough to keep me.

Switching companies is a pain, and I just don’t want to keep doing it every 2 years just to keep my career on track.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#117

Post by Aeolun »

ashtonian wrote: post #95
issa wrote: post #84

I've always found it strange that companies don't give raises to current employees. A team I am on just lost a good engineer to another company offering him a $30k+ raise. He would have stayed if our company had even given him half of that. Instead, they let him go, and how will have to hire someone else, probably at that higher salary. So weird, and seems to happen a lot.

I've worked for 5 companies and 3 of them had this behavior. Would get 5/5 on reviews, saved company hundreds of thousands, delivered a flagship multi million dollar in revenue product. Ask for more then 10k and was told to get an offer elsewhere and they would match. Got another job at 30k+ told them to screw off, if I have to apply and go get a job offer to prove my "worth" then I'm just going to go work for anothe…

Honestly, if my company would tell me this it’d become a game to interview and get higher and higher salaries.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#118

Post by ui-explorer12 »

issa wrote: post #84

I've always found it strange that companies don't give raises to current employees. A team I am on just lost a good engineer to another company offering him a $30k+ raise. He would have stayed if our company had even given him half of that. Instead, they let him go, and how will have to hire someone else, probably at that higher salary. So weird, and seems to happen a lot.

The same thing happens when you've been with a mobile/telecom/etc company for a long time. They milk you for every penny they can get and give all the promo pricing to new customers. The pay sales higher commissions for new sign-ups and treat existing loyal clients like garbage.

It really bugs me to have to waste the time to change providers for everything every ~2 years, but I'd feel like an idiot if I left thousands of dollars per year on the table. It's a stupid game, and companies are not immune.

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#119

Post by the_bear »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #7
ACow_Adonis wrote: post #5

As an economist, you'd expect them to have trouble attracting highly skilled people seeking only wages. On the other hand, also as an economist and from my own personal experience, there's a whole host of non-monetary benefits a flexible business can provide (which other businesses and corporates seem to balk at), and there's also the little talked about preference of some people wanting a negative correlation betwee…

All I want is the ability to get compensated for benefits I decline, particularly the company health plan. I've never been able to negotiate this successfully.

I believe that this is not possible in America. I'm a founder and we just started offering health benefits earlier this year. I tried really hard to figure out a way to let employees effectively pay 100% of their premium (either by paying them more if they opt out or just having the company share be 0%). I talked to a number of people, looked into different types of plans (HRAs, etc) and at the end of the day, I couldn't figure out legal way to do what you're suggesting.

I think the closest possible thing to this is for the company to offer to pay 50% of the cheapest plan possible and then let employees opt-in to better plans, add dependents, etc. at their own expense. That way the majority of the expense is "optional" to the employee, but whatever the company pays still isn't.

Note: this only applies to health benefits. We do compensate employees who decline other benefits e.g. a parking pass

Re: The one-salary experiment, ten years in

#120

Post by kzisme »

brianwawok wrote: post #85
issa wrote: post #84

I've always found it strange that companies don't give raises to current employees. A team I am on just lost a good engineer to another company offering him a $30k+ raise. He would have stayed if our company had even given him half of that. Instead, they let him go, and how will have to hire someone else, probably at that higher salary. So weird, and seems to happen a lot.

Companies give raises. Have you or anyone you know never gotten a raise?

2-5% raises are all I've seen pretty much (which is just cost of living).
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