Merit Increases

They max ours at 3% now, and have for several years, but they seldom actually even give 3%. I've gotten 2.5% the past several years.

Prior to that, the max for 5% and I was consistently getting that 5%. They used the economy and recessions shite to lower the max.


Thanks Obama!

I consider 3% to be a COLA, not merit. With that said, I haven't had a merit increase since 2008. My salary is not bad, but it hasn't moved either for a while.

And I always laugh at people who say merit increases for government workers must be nice because they don't do it in the private sector. And oh yeah, haven't had one in 3 years.

I got a whopping 2.3%. I'm was one of if not the highest productivity wise and did the most overall that I have ever done. My previous raises were 3.0% (partial due to being new employee), 6.4% & 2.5% (6 mth raise due to new raise schedule). Then I took a "promotion" to a different department and went from hourly to salary, but a 15% pay cut. Losing the pay sucks, but quality of life has gone up tremendously.

I feel you. I've been with my current employer for 3 years and the MAX has been 2% since I started. It's even lower than that if you're in the bonus pool.

First year I got 1.8%. Second year I was in the bonus pool and got 0.6%.

This year I got 5%. I asked my boss who he had to kill and he just smiled. I didn't even think 5 was possible here.

I have been with my company for 7 years. After the first year, corporate rewrote all job descriptions and pay ranges. I was and still am over the max for my made-up salary range. Therefrore, I an red-lined with no possibility of raises. That sucks, but bonuses have increased every year, so I'm ok with it.

Will you remind me of someone who dreams up word problems for standardized test questions. Or an old machine tail gunner in WWII videos.

Either you simply don't provide enough information for other folks to objectively discuss, or you're thinking through the facts of your post so fast in your head as you type that we're only seeing every 4th or 5th thought about the issue, like a tracer bullet.

Did your wife miss raises for an extended period? Were her job duties or expectations recently expanded? Did management realize so many people in similar positions were leaving for more money and they're trying to stem the tide?

I've gotten atypical raises for all of those reasons in the last 7 years or so. Beyond that, if I recall, you may work on commissions in a sales environment. A pay increase of a similar percentage in your rips/commissions may make a dramatic increase in your take home that far surpasses your wife's. I know moving the needle 10 basis points in the mortage biz meant thousands on a monthly basis for me, and that adds up to huge bumps in year over year income totals.

But compare that to a 10-15% raise in an hourly-or even low level salaried-employees take home pay, and the latter example compared to mine barely moves the needle by comparison.

Bottom line: Not enough background info in baseline income, pay rates and salary types to agree or disagree with what you're conveying in the OP, Brah.

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And I always laugh at people who say merit increases for government workers must be nice because they don't do it in the private sector. And oh yeah, haven't had one in 3 years.

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You didn't get the 4% bump a few months back? Before that I hadn't had a raise in 3 years (not including promotions).

my last raise was in 2010, and it was less than a 1% raise. It was sorta pathetic, and I told my boss thanks but why don't you pool this up and give it to someone who is a star and underpaid. But instead they gave almost everyone less than a 1 percent raise.

We are seeing their stinginess in raises manifest itself as people are fleeing. On our team of 125 or so, we have had 3 people quit in a month and I think there are 2-3 that will quit shortly. and they area all going to our competitors.