Can a £1000 pay rise ever be acceptable?

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I asked my bosses for a pay rise and, after much talking behind closed doors, they offered me a £1000 raise!

Surely this kind of tokenism is meant either as a joke or an insult. Do you think they are taking the piss? How should I respond?

What's the current rate of inflation anyway??!!

― Roger, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Per year, week or day?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

When I took this job, I tried to haggle for a higher starting salary. I said, "I'm not sure about $X.50 an hour." They said, "Ohhhkay ... Hmmm, well what about $X.55?"

I took the job anyway.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Per year, that's like a dollar an hour. Not much, but some places are cheap like that. If it's in place of any annual raise, then that's not so great but if it's in addition that raise, then it's not bad, I guess. Also, it depends what your starting salary point is.

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

A year, sadly...

I mean, I don't want to be ungrateful, but that's bog all to show for a year of hard work.

― Roger, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

In my old job, I got a £300 pay rise per annum. But at least I had a job. Stop your whinging and be thankful they didn't sack you for being an ungrateful bastard and hire someone who would have done the job for less money.

(er, xpost)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

isn't capitalism great?????

― MY FAVOURITE LIGHTER IS CHEESEBURGER (trigonalmayhem), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

yea, fuck them

― LSD ARISTOCAT (ex machina), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I get a 1% raise every six months or something. It's fucking pathetic.

― Huk-L, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

not if you earn £1,000,000 per year.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

What is the typical annual raise? Anywhere? Where would one get these figures?

― TOMBOT, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

i think we get 3% a year here. not the greatest and this being this NHS it's pretty much not negotiable

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

that was xpost

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that the usual cost of living raise is 2-4%.

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Merit based raises are obviously going to fluctuate much more than that.

― American Apparel and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

the 'merit' based raise here last year was about 3.5%
some folks got nothing.

― TOMBOT, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

It is acceptable if you accept it.

Conversely, there are a zillion ways to approach this one. You could pout, stomp up and down the hallways, and slam doors until they offer you more. Or you could explain to them exactly why you are worth a much larger raise. Or you could start slacking at work even more than you normally do as a self-granted compensation.

Since you don't mention any particular leverage you have, or any big accomplishments at work, or any reason whatever why you ought to have a larger raise - or even what your base salary range might be - well, it's hard to consider this question in light of the facts in hand.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Tombot I seem to have the idea from other threads you work for a fed contractor in D.C., yes? So do I. The highest merit-based annual raises at my place were 5% in 2004. This is more than the feds got, I think (didn't they get 3.5% or something? 4%?)

I am a big fan of the merit based thing. That suck-ass fed employees get the same annual raise as the rare kick-ass fed employee is ridiculous.

― quincie, Friday, 14 January 2005 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

We now get a percentage on the sales which means about a 1000 pounds per month more. YAY. But this also means that next month will be a major dud as sales are VERY low in January (and February). Damn! :-)

― stevie nixed (stevie nixed), Friday, 14 January 2005 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree. Anybody who thinks socialism has an ounce of merit ought to work in the federal government for a while, to see how much fun it is to deal with personnel who can't be fired and get paid the same no matter what, day in, day out.

The one year I was in the military that we got 4.5%, that was the biggest raise anybody had seen in a long time, that's all I remember.

They're pretty hush-hush about pay increase rates around here but I think 3.62% was the companywide merit increase. The way we do that shit's completely fucking ridiculous, though. Evals are done in January, shipped out in Feb, and pay increases as a result of those evals take effect in - guess!- fucking October. I wish I could do what HR and management do everytime I had no explanation for some stupid reason I do my job in a completely nonsensical and unhelpful fashion "it would be an accounting headache, we can't change it."

― TOMBOT, Friday, 14 January 2005 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you serious? That is lunacy! We do evals in advance of the anniversary of the hire date and the raises take effect on the anniversary. If you've done a great job, you get a bigger percentage raise than someone who has done a mediocre job. If you suck, you don't get any raise and go on probation. Raises aren't tied to the company's sales--they're worked out to be competitive with what other area companies are doing.

This is one thing I have to say for this company. They have their performance evaluation/annual raise shit together.

― quincie, Friday, 14 January 2005 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Needless to say, I got 5.02% this year because I ROCK!!!

― quincie, Friday, 14 January 2005 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

When I worked at Ole Miss, one year the dept. got 3%, but the director had the authority to make merit based adjustments. My night shift counterpart, a disgusting swine, got 0.5% and I got 5.5%. That was a happy year.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 14 January 2005 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

i just got 20% after having been there over a year and asking nicely (also explaining i was struggling a bit which was true) and them only basing my starting salary on my cautiously low interview quote anyway. this plus unexpectedly hefty tax rebate in the same week. it never rains...

― Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 14 January 2005 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The most amazing thing is that if you get a "mid-cycle increase" e.g. "HEY WHERE THE FUCK IS MY RAISE YOU PROMISED" then that gets TAKEN OUT of your merit raise in October. So if your boss agrees, say, that you deserve a 2.5% increase in June, and the companywide merit raise for October is 5%, when October comes around and you get the "merit" raise for being good IT'S ONLY 2.5%, BECAUSE IT FACTORS IN THE PRIOR RAISE AS PART OF YOUR TOTAL ANNUAL ALLOTTED INCREASE.

This company's HR policies, as a whole, are really kind of an amazing hock of shit. OTOH, I'm due for another raise in Feb which should be decently sized and they're paying for my MS from GWU.

― TOMBOT, Friday, 14 January 2005 22:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I got around 12% last year, but I think part of that was a matter of me being towards the lower end of the market pay scale.

― Moran and Jeanne-Claude (deangulberry), Friday, 14 January 2005 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Way to go, steve!!

― TOMBOT, Friday, 14 January 2005 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

If you earn less than about £35k, Roger, then £1k is a reasonable inflation-related payrise (if you earn £20k, then it's more than double inflation. Go you!). Stop whining unless you've been promised more, been promoted during the year, or if others have been favoured above you.

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 14 January 2005 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)

haha "pay rise" haha (cries)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 15 January 2005 10:07 (twenty years ago)

"Pay" is a step up for me. "Rise" will be an entirely new concept.

(actually, that's a gross exaggeration if not a Big Fat Lie, because at my last job I received a 20% payrise after being there a year - a whole extra £1 per hour.)

― caitlin (caitlin), Saturday, 15 January 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

Yes, but £1 per hour x 35 hours per week x 52 weeks per year = more than £1,000. What is it with people? Your job pays craply, you knew that when you started, if you don't like it, leave.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 15 January 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

Well, yes, I agree: if you're on pay that low to start with, then an extra £1000 *does* make a big difference. On my current pay, it still would. Basically, I agree with what Markelby said above.

― caitlin (caitlin), Saturday, 15 January 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

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