Bad but expected
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Same thing was announced at my place just before Christmas.... :-( still, could be worse. Smokie, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules. www.geticeberg.com
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Same thing was announced at my place just before Christmas.... :-( still, could be worse. Smokie, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules. www.geticeberg.com
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Have you tried saying no? You might be surprised that you can walk away from a situation like that with a raise.
Need software developed? Offering C# development all over the United States, ERL GLOBAL, Inc is the only call you will have to make.
If you don't ask questions the answers won't stand in your way.
Most of this sig is for Google, not ego.Spot on. It seems many people in this industry are unable or too frightened to negotiate or think laterally in good times let alone difficult times.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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No. Work load and hours will be the same. This is the cut for every one including bosses who in fact took 15% cut.
TOMZ_KV
Wow. Seems like the only winner in this is the company.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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In a company I used to work for, the salary cuts were announced about 3 weeks before the layoffs commenced. They used a sliding scale: senior execs took the biggest whack, and office admin types the least -- I think mine about about 25% or something like that. Severance was 1 week pay per year of service. But, the severance packages were calculated using the "new and improved" salaries! :wtf: Not saying it's going to happen where you are, but as others have noted, keep your ear to the ground and get that resume up to date! Hope your situation turns out alright... -matt
Matt Newby President, Matt Newby Enterprises, Inc. matt@mattnewby.com
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Wow. Seems like the only winner in this is the company.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Really, seems like staying in business helps all those employed by the company. Furthermore, how do you know the company isn't running in the red even with the pay cuts?
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
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Really, seems like staying in business helps all those employed by the company. Furthermore, how do you know the company isn't running in the red even with the pay cuts?
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
Joe Woodbury wrote:
Really, seems like staying in business helps all those employed by the company.
In very simplified terms, I view employment as an agreement to kick ass doing work in return for a pre-agreed compensation. Even more simplified, I am trading my time, skills, experience and, knowledge for money. A move like this regardless of the motivation imo devalues everything that I bring to the table unless they offer something in return. Looking at this from the 1000 ft away basically the OP has been told that he is going to get paid less and if he doesn't like then too bad. Not what I would call a fair exchange. I am assuming here that they weren't allowed any input on this decision
Joe Woodbury wrote:
Furthermore, how do you know the company isn't running in the red even with the pay cuts?
I wouldn't care unless I was a significant share holder, board member or, owner. If that is the case, then why even stay with the company; this may just be a prelude to the doors being padlocked one morning.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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Joe Woodbury wrote:
Really, seems like staying in business helps all those employed by the company.
In very simplified terms, I view employment as an agreement to kick ass doing work in return for a pre-agreed compensation. Even more simplified, I am trading my time, skills, experience and, knowledge for money. A move like this regardless of the motivation imo devalues everything that I bring to the table unless they offer something in return. Looking at this from the 1000 ft away basically the OP has been told that he is going to get paid less and if he doesn't like then too bad. Not what I would call a fair exchange. I am assuming here that they weren't allowed any input on this decision
Joe Woodbury wrote:
Furthermore, how do you know the company isn't running in the red even with the pay cuts?
I wouldn't care unless I was a significant share holder, board member or, owner. If that is the case, then why even stay with the company; this may just be a prelude to the doors being padlocked one morning.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
unless they offer something in return.
Yeah, continued employment and benefits.
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
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Chris Austin wrote:
unless they offer something in return.
Yeah, continued employment and benefits.
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
Joe Woodbury wrote:
Yeah, continued employment and benefits.
You are ignoring the very point you made to me. There is no way of knowing if the company will still be around in 1 year, 6 months or, even 1 week. Unless there is some promise to pay the back salary and benefits or added ownership in the company I just don't see the point in becoming a sharecropper.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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Joe Woodbury wrote:
Yeah, continued employment and benefits.
You are ignoring the very point you made to me. There is no way of knowing if the company will still be around in 1 year, 6 months or, even 1 week. Unless there is some promise to pay the back salary and benefits or added ownership in the company I just don't see the point in becoming a sharecropper.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
If your company gives you a 10% raise, are you expected to pay it back?
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
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If your company gives you a 10% raise, are you expected to pay it back?
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
I think you are comparing apples to oranges here but here is my answer.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
If your company gives you a 10% raise, are you expected to pay it back?
No. I am expected to up my game and/or become a more important part of the organization or, perhaps they have given me a raise to keep me around or, as has happened to me in the past, they realized that they were paying below their competitors. Either way, it's a two sided affair.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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Better 10% than 100%!
------------------------------------ "Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good." Dr Samuel Johnson
Yeah, well I got a 10% pay cut followed 2 months later with a 100% pay-cut. They closed their doors. 15 years with them and no severence! :mad:
Kelly Herald Software Developer
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Wow. You should get every other Friday of then. 10% pay cut should go along with a 10% cut in hours that you work. Keep your resume updated and keep your eyes open for another position...
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
I wish it worked like that. My last job I got a 50% pay cut, but was expected to do 100% of the work and 100% of the hours. X| I was out of there shortly afterward (to a much better job, thankfully).:)
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated.
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I think you are comparing apples to oranges here but here is my answer.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
If your company gives you a 10% raise, are you expected to pay it back?
No. I am expected to up my game and/or become a more important part of the organization or, perhaps they have given me a raise to keep me around or, as has happened to me in the past, they realized that they were paying below their competitors. Either way, it's a two sided affair.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Your skills, experience, blah blah blah ARE of less value to the company at this time, so really they are just adjusting your overpaid salary to meet your current value. a) they likely don't have as much work coming in and thus there is less added-value work to go around b) salaries are going down across the board as more and more professionals are unemployed - simple supply/demand dynamics at work here. Your skills are simply worth less right now. With that said, if the company you worked for was in a tough position, would you suggest they a) layoff 10% of their workforce, or b) give a 10% pay cut across the board until things get better (if they get better)? As stated before, continued employment and benefits is what you are getting in return. It doesn't matter that you don't know how much longer they will be around...it really makes no difference. If they are going to go out of business, they will surely go out of business a lot faster if there is no pay cut, so what good does that do you?
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Your skills, experience, blah blah blah ARE of less value to the company at this time, so really they are just adjusting your overpaid salary to meet your current value. a) they likely don't have as much work coming in and thus there is less added-value work to go around b) salaries are going down across the board as more and more professionals are unemployed - simple supply/demand dynamics at work here. Your skills are simply worth less right now. With that said, if the company you worked for was in a tough position, would you suggest they a) layoff 10% of their workforce, or b) give a 10% pay cut across the board until things get better (if they get better)? As stated before, continued employment and benefits is what you are getting in return. It doesn't matter that you don't know how much longer they will be around...it really makes no difference. If they are going to go out of business, they will surely go out of business a lot faster if there is no pay cut, so what good does that do you?
Mike Marynowski wrote:
Your skills, experience, blah blah blah ARE of less value to the company at this time, so really they are just adjusting your overpaid salary to meet your current value.
You simply don't know that until you force them to show their hand. I was in a similar situation in 1997 in the middle of the SE Asian finical crisis that was hitting semiconductor equipment manufacturers like my employer pretty hard. There was a general fear of layoffs and furloughs. During my review I was told that there would be no raises even though my work was exemplarily. So, I sucked it up and refused to accept and sign my review, telling them that if they valued my work they would give me a raise or I was prepared to give them 30 days notice right then and there; and I meant it. In the end, I got what I wanted and the company ended up giving me another raise in eight more months.
Mike Marynowski wrote:
With that said, if the company you worked for was in a tough position, would you suggest they a) layoff 10% of their workforce, or b) give a 10% pay cut across the board until things get better (if they get better)?
I would offer different options. Pay cuts and reduced work load. Or, in leu of a the lost pay, giving the employees ownership and/or profit sharing if and when things get better.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --?
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Mike Marynowski wrote:
Your skills, experience, blah blah blah ARE of less value to the company at this time, so really they are just adjusting your overpaid salary to meet your current value.
You simply don't know that until you force them to show their hand. I was in a similar situation in 1997 in the middle of the SE Asian finical crisis that was hitting semiconductor equipment manufacturers like my employer pretty hard. There was a general fear of layoffs and furloughs. During my review I was told that there would be no raises even though my work was exemplarily. So, I sucked it up and refused to accept and sign my review, telling them that if they valued my work they would give me a raise or I was prepared to give them 30 days notice right then and there; and I meant it. In the end, I got what I wanted and the company ended up giving me another raise in eight more months.
Mike Marynowski wrote:
With that said, if the company you worked for was in a tough position, would you suggest they a) layoff 10% of their workforce, or b) give a 10% pay cut across the board until things get better (if they get better)?
I would offer different options. Pay cuts and reduced work load. Or, in leu of a the lost pay, giving the employees ownership and/or profit sharing if and when things get better.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --?
I agree with most of what you are saying, however not everyone can demand the same salary / a raise and actually get it. If you are performing exemplarily work then you might be in a position to make these demands - the average developer (or even above average) won't be...the average developer is easily replacable. I will agree that pay cuts and reduced work load is fair, as are the other options you presented, if the problem is simply a lack of work coming in. However, if a significant portion of the problem is that the market value for the services the company and you provide, then that simply isn't realistic. The best way to demonstrate a point is to take it to the extreme - if the economy completely crashes and burns and top programmers are now making an average of $30,000 a year, do you really think a company will continue to pay you your $80,000 salary? Or course not...and the fact of the matter is that software development talent is now readily available for a lower cost than before, because of the number of unemployed people. If another company is paying their developers the new standard of $30 per hour and you are paying yours $50 per hour, who is going to win a bid? It doesn't matter how much you cut hours, there is X hours of work to be done, and you are paying employees X dollars per hour. Of course, the "right" way of going about "fixing" this situation (from a business perspective) is to lay off the lowest perfoming 10% of your workforce instead of cutting everyone's salary. I really don't know what I would actually do if I had to make that decision for my own employees, but luckily I don't have that problem. EDIT: clarified things a bit