Thread: Employment and raises in this economy....

I wonder if some people here might share their current experiences with either employment, mainly about getting raises.

My husband has been employed with his employer for 6 years now, and had quickly worked his way up in responsibility to being his areas supervisor. He oversees two people, but all of the incoming freight (receiving) in a wholesale warehouse. The business owner looks to him to be sure all manner of very important stuff is received and taken directly to him, including his personal wine deliveries.

The business involves fabric, mainly quilting fabrics and other supplies, which has not suffered a whole lot during this financial crisis, just a little in the very beginning. Now business is doing a nice steady pace.

Last year there were no raises, and the owner promised no one would be laid off, just no raises (he employs a little over 50 in the warehouse, but more in the offices). These people work hard overall, minus a few flaky people.

Today they started the review process for everyone. They were told they were all getting 2 & 1/2 percent of their pay as a raise.......The average worker is making about $11.00 hourly, this amounts to about 27 cent raise.

My husband was due a decent raise for his increased responsibilities and stress, he was offered 50 cents more an hour, he is now making $14.00 an hour.

So tell me, is this a common problem right now, even in businesses that are doing ok? I wondered if the employers are maybe taking advantage of the job market and simply saving some money knowing people have few options, so how would they fight it by leaving?....

Personally I am really insulted for him and for us, his family who does not really have any time with him (gone by 530 am for commute, home by 530 pm, eat and he is out for the night). My feeling is that when the job market gets better, he needs to look elsewhere.

Is it this frustrating everywhere right now? Even secure, prosperous businesses doing this to their employees?

This is common. I am a state employee and contrary to the common myth, I have gone three years without cost of living raises, once in 2004 and two more years just now. We do not get paid more (unless we are execs who are declared exempt from the classified system) and our benefits are less than in large corporations. When the economy started going down around the end of 2008, it was almost as if every boss in the nation got a secret memo: "It's ok to be a rat, the employees can't do anythng about it." And so they did. I have seen a sharp uptick in bad boss behavior across the board. I can point to several shocking incidents in my own division. When and if things pick up, you are going to see so many people jump ship, it will be like a track meet after the starter pistol goes off.

To my good fortune, I work in a business that is fairly recession proof - healthcare. However, my husband who is a printer has been affected. He lost all overtime, the company is only concerned with the bottom line. They laid off people and then call their current employees to come in nights and weekends because they're short-staffed. As a result, no one answers their phone during their off hours. We've started talking about early retirement for him since soon it will no longer be profitable to work, with all the new taxes and fees from the government.

Employers are getting away with all kinds of abuses due to this economic climate. And we have unbridled immigration, both legal and illegal to thank for it.

Want to hear something really despicable? Listen to this:

One of the school districts in my area is still negotiating the teacher's contract; they have been working without one for a short while. The problem is that the teachers are demanding a 6% increase in salary and don't want to contribute so much as a dime for their generous health care policy. Keep in mind that teachers in this area are ridiculously well compensated, with most earning well over $75,000.00 per year, not including benefits. Now here is the despicable part:

They were told that if they could find a way to cut back the expense of the support staff and facilitators, they could have their 6% raise and free health care. Do you know these rat bastards are getting proposals from temporary staffing companies, and may very well succeed? They have no qualms destroying the lives of these poor souls who just want to make a living and take care of their families. They don't have a second thought about the havoc they will wreak on them when they find themselves unemployed and without health care benefits.

I know this is a bit off track. But in answer to your inquiry AmericanElizabeth, I think that in this economic climate people are being abused in all kinds of ways, not the least of which is abysmal compensation for time and labor. And it is not always coming from the employer. We are being pitted against each other in all kinds of ways, and it’s going to get even uglier as this gets worse. Hang on to your hats folks, and whatever we do let’s stick together.

We have had all sorts of ideas of starting our own business, but with the economy and how tough it is now to get a loan for such things, it would seem waiting is the game we have to play.

After my rant here, I found a site that shows how much the base pay for jobs are in our area, and then what the typical compensation package should be. He is not even in the 10th percentile for his position, the base pay for the bottom of the rung is almost $37,000.00, with a good benefits package, he does not even have what they showed for that.

Other than two years of the time he has been there has there been any kind of substantial raise, $1.00 hourly each time. Woohoo..... Most other times is has been .50 cents, and those were years he was just the grunt. Now he is supervisor, a lot of stress, plus still doing the grunt part of the job too, and still only .50 cent raise.

He also said his two people are going to be livid, I hardly blame his other guy, the young woman who is the receiver has trouble making it there a full week (so I could understand less of a raise). I personally think his employer is cheap and has been cheap all along, we just were not seeing it till now.