Raises?
Raises?
(OP)
So, just a quick poll, How mny got raises this year, in this economic climate?
My company is not doing any raises for anyone, including me, of course? This goes for the people working for me.
Some are hapy to just have a job at this point, others want to see an increase that the profit (loss) does not seem to be able to support.
So, how about you?
My company is not doing any raises for anyone, including me, of course? This goes for the people working for me.
Some are hapy to just have a job at this point, others want to see an increase that the profit (loss) does not seem to be able to support.
So, how about you?





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I've even gotten my PE since my last raise.
Rumor is that they are waiting for the Union contract to be settled before the salery folk get their raise. Contract is up at the end of July. I work in the steel industry as an Electrical Engineer.
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Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
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4% for me.
V
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"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the be
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Believe it if you need it or leave it if you dare. - Robert Hunter
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Inflation, which is based on the Consumer Price Index, is around 4%/year now based on fuel costs (used to be about 3%/year). You should point this out to your boss and ask them what percentage of a raise is based on a cost of living adjustment and what percentage of a raise is based on merit.
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Business is good...... at least here :)
Wayne
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- Steve
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What kind of bonuses does everyone else get? I've gotten a little better than 1k for the first two years. That was pretty cool at first (I'd never gotten a bonus before), but it really doesn't seem like much now. I guess I shouldn't complain...... it IS better than nothing, I'm just wondering what others get.
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last job, about nothing, no matter how good the results were. There was one year that was better than the rest, but all of my bonuses there put together don't add up to a quarter of a single-year bonus at the current job.
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If you "heard" it on the internet, it's guilty until proven innocent. - DCS
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We used to have one site and one bonus based on company profits (by definition, the profit made by that one site). The formula was simple and open.
When we branched out and opened offices overseas, the overseas sites were loss-making to start with, by design. So they got no bonuses. So the management concocted some kind of bonus scheme based on performance against targets, with global and local elements. It had no direct link to profit.
This new scheme became a farce. The amount was arbitrarily decided each year. Then it became clear that not only had the method for choosing the size of the cake changed, the method for slicing it up had changed too. Managers got twice what regular employees got and directors got five times. So when we last got a serious bonus (7% of salary), my manager got 14% and his boss got 35%.
Then senior management decided this whole bonus charade was bad for morale and decided to stop the scheme for regular employees. Managers and directors would still be eligible for bonuses, but only if they met "really hard" targets. The targets were/are never published; the bonuses are secret.
What a morale boost for the rest of us!
- Steve
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I hear the typical raise around hear is 6% to 10%.
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The Mid year was for taking on addtional workload of a co-worker who left and was not replaced.
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I guess you probably worked for the company during its "bonus lottery" period.
- Steve
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I thought I had it good until I heard some of you guys and your Bonuses/Raises ;)
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- company profit / loss in the last year is a key factor
- expected profit / loss in the coming year
- company liquidity, ie: is it a closely held company with lots of cash, publicly owned and do the officers have control of the stock?
- your level of experience
- your past performance
- your current income level as compared to your peers
- your level of responsability
- greediness of your bosses
- others?
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Hg
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Interesting, cos all the research i did shows that my pay is below average. Let's see what they'll say next..
Also, i noticed that everyone in our department got a lower score, compared to last year's evaluation.. Now they have a good reason to to raise us!
I started last year in Feb, and haven't see a single cent of raise yet...
Process - Piping
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Of course that extra week vacation probably cost me a couple grand, but at least I wasn't in the office.
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TTFN
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- Steve
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(only 2 years in, woooooh)
RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
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I probably should figure out at what price oil/gas would have to be to maximize my profit.
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I would like to know which part of the country they are giving raises?
regards,
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I'm outside of Philadelphia.
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i'm working for this A&E firm since 1.5 year. Main industry we're providing: semiconductors and photovoltaic. Got my EIT licence this year. Prior to this job, i worked 8 years. Degree BS in mech eng. I make 60k and am located in the Bay Area. All the payscale.com and asme.com salary surveys tell me i'm on the far left side of the Bell curve.... No raise whatsovere so far, even with good evaluations. This month is when they typically adjust our salary re: inflation. Inflation last year was, i believe, 4%. So if i don't get a 4% raise on my next paycheck, i'm gonna be cranky!
Process - Piping
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I'm pretty sure most of this was due to taking on extra responsibility and the fact I was not yet at 'mid level' for my job level according to Radford.
Basically as I understand it we're all assigned Radford job titles. Our pay is then compared to the average for those titles. Company goal is not to be paying above mid range. So people already at mid range with no promotion prospects got small or no raises. People at the bottom got larger and combined with extra responsibility I got high single figures.
Industry is semiconductor/scientific research equipment, Santa Barbara. Overal the company, especially one of the divisions at my site, is struggling a little. However they already had lay-offs and massively increased health benefits so they didn't feel they could not give pay raises too.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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TTFN
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That said we do have a technical as well as management track so there is some chance for promotion without becoming full time management. Although in practice there are far more VPs in the management structure than 'Fellows' in the technical structure. In fact I think the only Fellow left several months ago and we still have probably 10+ VPs!
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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I dont know what this years raise will be, last year was 6%. But the CEO has advised all the staff that there is a downturn in oil and gas, with less money available to pay staff with, so it wont be as much as that.
They also seem to be extending the period between reviews, its at fourteen months now.
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The world would like to have a talk with your CEO and his moronic statement. If that's the best reason he could come up with to not give you a raise, he's either an idiot or he thinks you guys are. Either way, I'd have to think twice about continuing to work there.
Seriously? A downturn in oil and gas?
FULL
OF
CRAP
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- Steve
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TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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I remember our CEO telling us earlier this year that the company made a xx millions $$ profit last year, but that money is used to pay the salaries.. Total BS, imo. Salaries are paid by the client, when they pay for our services!
More than half of the people left the company this year. I'm starting to see why...
Process - Piping
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Talk about yer fine motivational techniques.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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My father who works in the same field refused to tell me the raise he got but he did clear a +60k bonus for the year. Not too shabby, then again he is the GM. At least it is something to look forward to.
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htt
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I think the comments were made to maximise profit at the expense of staff. I could be wrong but if that is the way it turns out then it is very short sighted on the managements part.
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I'm so not motivated to work today!!
Process - Piping
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TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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No employer will try getting away with no cost-of-living adjustments..
Process - Piping
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Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP
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<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>
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Peter Stockhausen
Pollak Switching Products
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But that's just salary. I also get a bonus that you wouldn't believe if I were at liberty to tell you...Let's just say that I've had an upper decile salary for 9/10 of the past decade. And I richly deserve it, given how much money I personally make for my employer.
Have I ever told you how much I love my job?! And I'm not just talking about the pay...
My employer believes in shared pain for shared gain. Base salary sucks, but the bonus system is very, very generous- if the company remains profitable. It's in everyone's (direct, financial) interest to keep the customers satisfied AND the operation profitable...amazing the corporate harmony, cooperation, innovation etc. that this generates.
Some really dumb new folks negotiate a higher starting salary in return for less bonus, leaving more for the rest of us. But no shared pain equals no share of the gain- they get theirs up front every month, whether we're profitable or not. They don't take more than a year or so to change their tune generally. Even dumb folks smarten up eventually!
If we were a public company we'd never get away with paying ourselves so well- when the business is profitable. Fortunately the employees are also the share-holders, and the non-employee share-holders know which side their bread is buttered on and don't mess with the system.
We do some oil and gas business, but we also do business for the people that use oil and gas to make products. Their business has completely dried up, but the oil/gas folks are spending like drunken sailors and we're happy to take our share. During the long run-up in oil prices, the oil consumers' business dried up quicker than the oil- producers spending grew. Fortunately we kept everybody- and everybody took it in the teeth on the salary- or else we'd have been totally unprepared to sieze this market boom.
The Dilbert guy has it nailed: my favorite strip has the pointy-haired boss saying, "It's our policy to hire only the best technical professionals". Dilbert replies, "And is not also our policy to pay the industry AVERAGE?". The boss replies, "That's the way we like 'em: bright, but clueless"...
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I'm currently about 4 weeks away from starting with my new employer because the enjoyment-of-job / compensation / quality-of-life equation has become so imbalanced over the past few years. It's worth the extra 12 miles each way just to enjoy going to work again. I am sure it will work out at my new employer - otherwise I wouldn't be going - but even if things were to go sour in the recession that is supposedly looming there is such a desperate shortage of professional engineers in the UK's heavy electrical sector that I'm not too worried. Lately I seem to get at least a couple of phone calls each day from utility and O&G recruiters!
----------------------------------
If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
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I also work for an E&C company in Houston serving the Oil and Gas business. I've been getting double digit raises for the past couple of years. The market here in Houston has become fiercely competitive as companies are actively recruiting to staff all the work that's build up. Of course, back in the dark days around 2001, raises were small and widely spaced and we were all just hoping to survive the bottom.
I recently heard rumors that new grad mechanical engineers in Texas are asking $90,000 to start. That's a little higher than I expected, but not much. I thought they were "only" looking at $75,000 or so these days.
Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas
"All the world is a Spring"
All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.
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Somebody here had a tagline about reciting the oilman's prayer, which was dead on:
"Dear Lord, please give us another oil boom. I promise not to p*ss it away this time!"
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1) I'm getting paid very poorly for an entry level electrical engineer ($20/hr).
2) I've quickly realized that I'm essentially spinning my wheels financially on my current pay.
3) My company is eliminating overtime rates for contract employees (this will be interesting, though, as I'm one of maybe 2 or 3 people out of 70+ that know this is going to happen).
My company has been doing very well (natural gas) and I've worked on some high-level projects so I'm hoping for something significant. Considering that I'm a contract employee (and therefore get almost no benefits) I really should be getting something like a 50% raise to make up for how badly I'm getting shafted right now, but realistically I'll be very surprised if I even get as much as a 20% raise.
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Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
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Peter Stockhausen
Pollak Switching Products
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I'm seriously considering looking for something else if I don't get a decent raise, I just wish it didn't have to come to that. It was hard enough just getting this entry level engineering job, it's not going to be much easier with just one year of experience.
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I almost wanted to ask who is your employer, if I can, because I am also in a Houston company serving oil & gas industries.
I guess I have waited too long on this thread to share my situation. I have been on this job for 3 years with B reviews all three years, but only got 4% increase once. So I am earning a lot less than what I started with even with tremendously increased responsibilies. Note, our company is making record high profit every year.
Regarding to starting salary for new grad students. My impression is about 65K for master and 75 for Ph.D. 90K is really high for me to believe.
I do love what I am doing, but also periodically when I think about my financial compensatio, I am so so so ready to leave.
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Really if I have no visa concern, I would have been gone a long time ago even though I got no offer on hand. But because of visa, I have to have a work to be legal in US.
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but, seeing as how I still have a job in this homebuilding economy, I am actually grateful!
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The Union got a raise. So all the salaried folks got theirs, retroactive from normal raise time. Should I be pissed at a 2.5% raise in a year that I got my PE? The PE was something that my managers wanted me to get. I think I'm making about 15K less than my potential. That makes me not want to work here.
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So yeah, I'd be upset. If your sector is affected by the current economic down turn that may be a partial reason but at the end of the day if you aint happy, vote with your feet.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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The minute that hit my desk I would be on the web looking for somewhere else!
Your skills and productivity increase with experience so your salary should also (in real terms).
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I work in South Louisiana and most of the work we do is related to oil and gas.
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Yes, I'm one of the few unionized engineers.
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In retail it cost far more than it was worth. In the UK my Dads post office union is kind of lame. However, my wifes union, while not fantastic is very cheap so good value all in all.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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Syl.
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KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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Some wisdom there, but it didn't mention many of the 72 or so advantages of a big pay packet.
Back to personal raises; I just got 7.5%, but no bonus this year.
This is on the back of a 13% increase in charge-out fees and very healthy profits, so I'm not particularly impressed. I'm on the look-out for other opportunities but the market is not large in a provincial city.
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As to the OP, or at least the bonus part:
I also got a small (by the time the IRS took their cut, very small) financial reward a few weeks back for doing a sizeable CAD data transfer for a major new product, working extra hours in the evenings/nights doing it so as not to disrupt Engineers working on it in the day.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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Interesting link. I'd agree with 1 & 5 as real problems. 3 may be a problem, but all you would have to do is not disclose/fib about your salary and it wouldn't be an issue.
2 and 4 are idiotic.
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KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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#4 is silly. If the max is $200k, how is being stuck at $200k for 5 years worse than starting at $150k and working your way up to $200k over the next 5 years? Is the warm fuzzy feeling of "growth" worth the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars?
#5 isn't a backfire. If you're the type who will never be happy with your salary, you'll be no less unhappy with a larger salary than you were with a smaller salary.
I agree that #1 is a big backfire. But is it worth keeping one's salary deliberately low to avoid being a target? If the market is that dicey, maybe it's time to look into a change of career.
#3...as someone else said, the people hiring you don't necessarily have the right to your prior salary info, and if you won't take a pay cut, that's your problem. Goes back to #4--are you worse off working at $90k for a while and then having to go to $80k, or having been at $80k all along, just to avoid the icky feeling of "pay cut"?
Oh, please. He's not making more than everyone else in intangibles; he *already* made more than everyone else in the past in very tangible tangibles, or else he couldn't afford to be an executive on a hobby basis. I doubt that hypothetical executive is living in a yurt on public land, subsisting on nuts and berries.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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Anyway this has veered a bit off topic, so appologies to the OP.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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I should have said in #2 that this issue is why rich people and corporations make large donations to charities as tax writeoffs. It can be worth it for someone on the cusp of two brackets.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
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KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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On further thought you are right about point 5. I just read the first line and thought: "yeah, I agree with that". But just because it's true that money doesn't = happiness, that doesn't mean you're worse off than if you made less.
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People knowingly pay too much tax and then take short term high interest loans, secured by their refunded tax. Only in America...
- Steve
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What Sector, What geographic location, what size company, how long with the company, what degree, other relevant details such as EIT/FE/PE/CEng what was the rating from the review...
Once you've started a new thread I suggest you 'redflag' your above post and this one.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
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