Matter of fact, when you do get a raise you need to ask yourself if it's truly a raise. Inflation decreases the purchasing power of your salary, so if you get a raise you might be getting what was your initial salary.
this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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You did a fantastic job, blew all your metrics out of the park. You were herr 6/7 days a week for the whole year and did the work of 3 people. We couldnt be more proud of you. So I went to bat for you, really fought like hell, and managed to get your raise increased from 3% to 5&!!!
Inflation was 8+%
Just remember that I stuck my neck out for you. We've got a lot work coming in and I'll need you to pick up some of the slack. Who knows, maybe this time next year you could be a team leader and switch over to salary. It opens a lot of opportunities.
Oh shit, I didn't know you were on my last performance review call.
Holy shit are you my boss because that exact conversation happened to me last year!
In Belgium we have mandatory wage increases to combat inflation.
Companies aren't allowed to call them raises because that isn't what they are.
Last year after Covid, we had an increase of 11-12%. Which was very nice.
Honestly this should be the norm everywhere.
Why not just freeze prices then? I guess because you still have to purchase goods from abroad that wouldn't freeze prices? Inflation sucks and I hate it.
I hate inflation too, but I understand why it's necessary. Imagine if rich people had an even easier time hoarding their wealth.
Although now that think of it, maybe at this point we really don't need to create positive feedback loops for economic growth anymore.
"Quiet firing"
I have resting bitch face so I just constantly look stressed all day when in reality I'm just watching Youtube videos after my hour of work is finished.
I'm lucky to have had a great job going on seven years, but the decade prior to that I was in an awful place, but this meme speaks to me because I did just that. I had a boss who didn't want to lose me, so he got my interview for an internal move (that would have been a promotion) pulled.
That's a pretty monumentally shitty thing to do, so after that, I did the absolute bare minimum. It was a lot of fun when I put in my two weeks.
The gall of some managers. They're going to lose that person anyway - might as well be on good terms where the potential of working together in the future is still a possibility.
It was one of the few times I've nearly lost it in the office. And the manager who did it was shit at his job, hence why he had to go to such measures to keep people around.
My father was very high-achieving in business, so when he gave me the following piece of advice, it was truly unexpected. He told me, "if you can get away with only putting in maybe 85% and still get things done, maybe only give 85%."
I expected some holier than thou "you must give it your all," but he taught me to coast when I can do so and still meet expectations.
I have found the same to be great for work life balance!
All of a sudden all projects are much harder and require your utmost focus.
So you put on headphones and watch a show.
Still wasting your time tho.. so the system wins while you're getting older
Get better hobbies. Career trajectory is far from everything.
The best hobbies don't help, if you work 40+ hours and you're too tired after work to do anything. Work 32 hours or less if you can (I know it's a privilege) and enjoy life for the rest, cause it's short.
This. This is exactly it. I could earn a bit more money working 40 hours, but I decided to do a 4 day work week with only 32 hours and my health has increased drastically.
What's funny about this, is that I'm also a coder and I used a lot of my spare time and regained power to learn new tools, frameworks and programming languages outside of work. Ultimately, these will result in higher paid jobs. Can't do that when you're constantly tired.
Get your rise by changing the company.
Alternatively, form a union so you can have a stable life with raises written into contract
2, 3 or maybe 5% raise vs. 10 - 15% on job change.
The other side has no loyality either.
If you want annual 10% raises, get elected to the bargaining committee and fight for it. A union is only as strong as it's member's will to fight.
What do you do if your unions has no elections?
UFCW is corrupt.
There aren't any elections in the UFCW? In that case, I'd look for a more democratic union and campaign to hold a 3 way election when it's time for a new contract.
Not in my local anyway.
First, do you mean your workplace, or your local? Locals for sure are supposed to have elections, and workplaces are supposed to elect their stewards. Stewards are the ones bargaining the contract and representing workers, they're also supposed to be bringing contracts to a vote. Bring it up with your local (above your workplace) first and talk to the president to find out where things are going wrong. Then if necessary go to your district before taking the drastic measure I mentioned. UFCW is supposed to be much more democratic than what you're describing from what I can find, so there might be something wrong flying under the radar.
Alternately, they can hold elections and still make them corrupt by holding them at the most inconvenient times for everyone except the people they want. "Our election is a voice vote, the week before Thanksgiving, at 2PM in a conference room in town 50 miles away" sorta stuff.
That's exactly what they did for the contract ratification and the strike vote, the only two votes they've ever communicated to us about.
They have four stores in a 120km radius across three different towns all going to one conference center, where voting is only open for a few hours during regular work times. Nobody is allowed to take time off work to go vote, not to mention that everyone is paid so poorly most don't have car and therefore no way to get there. There's a token short bus that goes between the towns, twice a day on weekdays only.
The only two votes they actually communicated about were clearly designed to reduce voter turnout.
UFCW is corrupt.
Oh you must be one of those lucky ~30% of the workforce who get to work in offices and actually have negotiating power in interviews.
What's your plan for raises for grocery workers who don't get luxury of wage negotiation no matter what?
I mean, what are you working for? To have something to do or to make money? If your work isn't worth your time, there surely are other possibilities?
Ah, so it's the "get a better job" take, is it?
If every grocery worker in town gets a better job, who is going to stock the shelves? When the stores close because they have no staff, where are YOU going to get you groceries from?
You NEED grocery workers. The economy NEEDS grocery workers. So they deserve to be paid well.
Every year baby
Better every 2-4 on average. Companies don't like too fickle candidates. Except if you're top of the créme.
I can go digging through my old research to find a citation, but for Western labour markets this has been proven to be true. Generally speaking who move between employers every few years generally earn more than people who remain at the same employer for long periods of time. This does not apply to individuals who occupy incredibly neich professions, like if fewer than 100 people total in an entire country are capable of doing that job.
This has become truer every year as benefits are cut (or costs raised), pensions are removed, and unions are eliminated.
Yearly "raises" barely (or sometimes don't) cover increases in cost of living. Unless you're getting something else out of it (such as experience), you're better off switching companies (especially if you move positions and the company leverages you as a resource for that old position).
shrinkflation! :P
And even while working less, you are still working more than said boss
I'm not working anymore- I'm helping my daughter with a state online school which requires a parent to be a full time 'learning coach'- but in my last job, I spent as much time as I could on Reddit. Then Lemmy. Now she doesn't want me to sit with her during her video lessons, so I have a similar amount of time to kill and post on Lemmy.
One day I'll have more to do and you people will be rid of me.
One day I’ll have more to do and you people will be rid of me.
And that day will be a sad one.
Last year I started working less for even more money. Another company wanted to poach me, so my boss had to make me an offer. Went down to a 32 hour work week with Fridays off while also getting a significant raise, so I stayed at the company. He didn't like it, but there wasn't much of a choice because we're severely understaffed.
Let's see if I can do this again this year. Not working less hours (32h is fine), but getting an even better offer.
Probably he might fire you after getting trained staffed. This is very old strategy. Hold onto a employee till a cheaper replacement. Enjoy while it last start searching for better company
This is definitely how the first CEO role was created.