Bottom line: I’m starting to have some uneasiness about work.
After I wrote about when people do or don’t deserve raises last week, I started thinking. Is it normal for a company to have a pay freeze indefinitely? As in, “We can’t say when this will be lifted. It’s dependent on a few things… hopefully they’ll be resolved soon.”
At the beginning of this week, I met with my boss, two pages of typed notes in my hand. I made a list of all the concerns on my mind, especially after the reviews where at least one of my employees expressed major dissatisfaction. Not just money was an issue; we’re also beginning to experience newer, higher volumes that we’re not especially equipped to handle. I told him about the reviews, about the recent hiccups. Then I tried to present a couple possible solutions.
I asked when the freeze would be lifted, and he could not give a specific time. Since I’ve never worked anywhere that did something like this before, I don’t know how to respond. Is this normal? I asked if it would be within the year. He didn’t give me a concrete answer.
I’m wondering a few things now: Will we still be in a freeze in June, when I hit my one-year anniversary? Does this mean none of my employees can get any kinds of raises, no matter what their work is like? Why are we able to hire, but not increase pay? Am I being schmoozed over? Should I be reacting differently?
That raise I campaigned for, the one for my stellar employee, is still going through. But HR scolded by boss for allowing it. We cannot, under any circumstances, give any other pay increases until the raise is lifted. And no one knows when that will be.
So tell me: Knowing what you know, what would you do here? Should I be looking for another job?
After I wrote about when people do or don’t deserve raises last week, I started thinking. Is it normal for a company to have a pay freeze indefinitely? As in, “We can’t say when this will be lifted. It’s dependent on a few things… hopefully they’ll be resolved soon.”
At the beginning of this week, I met with my boss, two pages of typed notes in my hand. I made a list of all the concerns on my mind, especially after the reviews where at least one of my employees expressed major dissatisfaction. Not just money was an issue; we’re also beginning to experience newer, higher volumes that we’re not especially equipped to handle. I told him about the reviews, about the recent hiccups. Then I tried to present a couple possible solutions.
I asked when the freeze would be lifted, and he could not give a specific time. Since I’ve never worked anywhere that did something like this before, I don’t know how to respond. Is this normal? I asked if it would be within the year. He didn’t give me a concrete answer.
I’m wondering a few things now: Will we still be in a freeze in June, when I hit my one-year anniversary? Does this mean none of my employees can get any kinds of raises, no matter what their work is like? Why are we able to hire, but not increase pay? Am I being schmoozed over? Should I be reacting differently?
That raise I campaigned for, the one for my stellar employee, is still going through. But HR scolded by boss for allowing it. We cannot, under any circumstances, give any other pay increases until the raise is lifted. And no one knows when that will be.
So tell me: Knowing what you know, what would you do here? Should I be looking for another job?
Networks
10 March 2008 at 7:13 am
Now, before I start, this is obviously my own situation and you shouldn’t take it to mean that this is definitely going to happen to you.
I have been working for a company for 2 years (this is in the media/publishing sector), and the only raise I’ve ever seen was when I walked out for 2 months to take another job, then came back to a position that was a promotion, and so saw a $5k bump. Since then (i’ve been in this position for over a year), I haven’t gotten a raise and we’ve been told that we shouldn’t expect one, although there have been some promises that “eventually” we’d be getting performance reviews which would lead to retroactive raises.
The history of this particular business is not good — the previous owners (a publicly traded company!) promised raises that never materialized, and when they were promised, they were only 2% (i was told, i wasn’t there at the time).
So, that’s one horror story. Right now, we’re in a wage freeze, a hiring freeze, and I’ve survived a couple rounds of buyouts and downsizing-by-attrition. So we’ll see what happens!
No matter what, always keep your resume fresh and try to make your presence consistently known and felt, just in case the wage freeze stops unbeknownst to you and you’re up for any type of raise/promotion.