Are you happy with your pay increase?

[Gandalf]

I was reading a Yahoo piece yesterday about workers and discontent with wages. I cannot remember any of the specific details, but it seems that a lot of workers in the UK are not receiving any pay increase this year and those that are are getting around 2% which is less than inflation (my figure could well be a tad off).

I guess corporations have been tightening purse strings in the West for a good while now (30 years or so), but the disease has spread worldwide in the wake of the financial crisis. At my wife's company pay is frozen and I am a bit disenchanted with my 2.8% increase. It's frustrating for me as I have always been able to negotiate my own contracts, but in my current sector I am on a pay scale in line with everyone else.

So, my poser of the New Year...are you happy with your pay increase (or lack of increase)?

[Gandalf]

People in the UK might think 'Git, 2.8%? What is he complaining about?'. These things are all relative though as inflation here is far higher than in the U.K. Food price inflation is well into double digits. Mind you the U.K. has price rise craziness like public transportation. U.K. rail prices are just silly.

[Gandalf]

This thread hasn't been very popular. I was hoping to get a few rants from angry people who are working too hard and not getting paid enough for it. I guess corporate increases are as bad as the article suggested.

[Gandalf]

One thing that made me give up on the UK was the uselessness of it all. Every year you would get your pay increase of 1.67% and of course forming a union was prohibited and shareholder profit was the primary motivation of the corporation. There is no incentive to work hard in such an environment. This year is a little like that for me. Still, I'm doing the same work as last year, so prep time is considerably reduced.

[killersheep]

Private sector employees in the US don't get pay increases after menial initial raises. The model has moved towards profit sharing (if affordable) or commission to better protect the companies from weak market strain. Furthermore, work is trending towards a much more temporary, part time situation.

For me personally, I have received 3 raises in the 8 years in my current job.
1st one was 20%, 2nd was 50%, 3rd was 11%

Each raise took weeks of negotiating and spreadsheets showing my productivity (ironic right?), the key thing is raises are not based on tenure, they are based on how much money I make for the owner and how much he would lose if I left. The 50% raise was negotiated by showing him an offer made to me by another company.

[Gandalf]

Yes, job security is far lower in developed nations than it was in the past and in the West the emphasis on cost cutting (wages, lay offs, longer hours/harder work) and maximizing shareholder value is the priority. Then you also factor in the global economy and I think workers as a whole are suffering. It is interesting how executive pay never seems to stagnate.

An increase of 81% over 8 years is very good. In 9 years I have doubled my income and along the way halved my working hours and maximized my time off, so to then go back to increases of a couple of percent like in my UK days is a bit of a downer.

I miss the freedom of my freelancing days, but I couldn't get the time off that I now have. A case of taking the rough with the smooth.

[Master]

No pay increase in 3 years should get one this year and I work in the public sector.