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Merit Raises
Jan. 26th, 2006 06:27 pmI just heard a rumor that at my workplace, the bigwigs all got 6% raises and everyone else got 3% raises last year. I can confirm one data point: I am not a bigwig, and I was slated to get a 3% raise before I got my titled changed instead.
I heard another rumor that in another part of my workplace, supervisors were instructed not to give any of their employees perfect evaluations, because people are not perfect. As a result, they all got raises of less than 3%, and their bigwigs all got raises of 6 or 7% (I forget which).
I've heard of two other areas at my workplace where no one ever gets raises except the bigwigs.
I have the kind of workplace where some areas have more money than others, and the richer areas can afford inflated job titles and larger raises. But apparently even the richer areas don't always let the money trickle down.
I've heard of another place that specified in company documentation that people with certain scores on their evaluations were entitled to certain raises. One year when the company was having financial troubles, supervisors were instructed that no one was allowed to get above a certain score on their evaluations because the company couldn't afford it.
I once worked at a place where only 3 people were allowed to get a raise (out of about 30). So they disqualified everyone who had been hired or gotten a promotion within the last year and made everyone else be interviewed by a committee to decide who gets the raises. All this trouble was for a raise of 3%. Meanwhile, the head of this area got a substantial raise (20% I think), because she had been promised this in her interview. Just half her raise could have funded raises for everyone else.
I used to not understand why teacher organizations were against merit raises. Now I think I'm starting to understand.
I heard another rumor that in another part of my workplace, supervisors were instructed not to give any of their employees perfect evaluations, because people are not perfect. As a result, they all got raises of less than 3%, and their bigwigs all got raises of 6 or 7% (I forget which).
I've heard of two other areas at my workplace where no one ever gets raises except the bigwigs.
I have the kind of workplace where some areas have more money than others, and the richer areas can afford inflated job titles and larger raises. But apparently even the richer areas don't always let the money trickle down.
I've heard of another place that specified in company documentation that people with certain scores on their evaluations were entitled to certain raises. One year when the company was having financial troubles, supervisors were instructed that no one was allowed to get above a certain score on their evaluations because the company couldn't afford it.
I once worked at a place where only 3 people were allowed to get a raise (out of about 30). So they disqualified everyone who had been hired or gotten a promotion within the last year and made everyone else be interviewed by a committee to decide who gets the raises. All this trouble was for a raise of 3%. Meanwhile, the head of this area got a substantial raise (20% I think), because she had been promised this in her interview. Just half her raise could have funded raises for everyone else.
I used to not understand why teacher organizations were against merit raises. Now I think I'm starting to understand.