1.3% increase - Am i being taken advantage of?

they can do that and you can do nothing.... for the first hour of each day.... 12.5% pay increase.

A couple of firms I've worked for have hit with circa 20% rate cuts for freelancers... didn't take long for a fair few to leave for better rates... but the companies keep on going ok so we were obviously no great loss lol.

 

Well, if you no one works hard anymore, they might get made redundant. Frankly it'll serve them right as well, just because of a 2.4 % deficit from the last year. The economy is struggling and so everyone at home is. Frankly the system is broken and it isn't fair, but that's life. I could sit and moan about it all day long if I wanted to. But instead I'm doing something about it, maybe everyone else should as well.

 

Paying back the government? You do realise the government has already made a tidy sum on the RBS shares it bought because their value has increased, not to mention the fact that the government has 12% interest shares regardless of their initial value?

Buying into the banks has, as it happens, been rather good for the UK government so far.

Not to mention future competitiveness of the UK banking industry being a requirement for continued UK recovery and the necessity to pay huge bonuses to bankers which earn lots of money for banks and the fact that they're paying 50% tax on these bonuses which takes money from private organisations and puts it into UK Plc. etc. basic economics etc.

But keep on saying inaccurate banker-hate-inducing stuff like you say, everyone else is, and we all seem to be having a jolly good time hating the banking industry.

 

@specofdust

I think the banks did ok mainly because interest rates were dropped to 0.5% and they didn't reduce the rates they charged the customer which meant they could restore their balance sheets....

however this was at the expense of printing a tonne of cash and a fall in the value of the pound... and an increase in inflation ripping everyone off

and then there is the kicker

because of inflation taking off interest rates will have to rise and the bad debts will rocket dropping them all in it again.

 

I can't stand people who expect pay rises.

 

Well I do blame them. Who's "fault" this all is, is a separate argument. In a capitalist system, you get paid what your boss says. Public sector is, by and large, always more secure than the private and yet public sector employees seem to know how to moan better. Fascinating...

 

@julianmartin "I can't stand people who expect pay rises."
Perhaps so - but as previously stated its a cut in real terms which no one likes as he's being told his work is of less value than last year.

That might indeed be true... it is also true that with fewer jobs in the market then the extra a company pays its staff to keep them can be reduced.

@okenobi - thats because of 2 reasons... 1 they have unions 2 they have a monopoly of certain services.

 

I know WHY it is. Doesn't make it constructive or helpful to the rest of us in any way.

 

you are lucky you got a pay rise. my dad hasn't given out any pay rises this year because this company broke even he didn't make any profit so why should he? if the people who are working for him want pay rises they have to work hard to get the company to make some profit. no profit no pay rise. good incentive to the people who work for him.

 

Just be thankful you get a raise. I haven't gotten a raise and I probably never will at the company I'm at.

My dad is a service manager at another business and he hasn't seen a raise in over 4 years.

 

Thanks everybody.

From reading all the replies i've gathered that i should at least be thankful that i got anything. I am. Really. But one thing that bothers me is that some of us got nothing last year and were led to believe that this year we would get something much better. I say "led to believe", when i should really say "basically promised".

Today i found out that certain higher ups got massive increases, while the rest of us sat with 1-3% increases.

 

I can't stand people who make blanket statements to put themselves on a high horse.

Ever hear stories about buying a bottle of Coke for a nickel (or applicable coin)? Good luck doing that today. Cost of living goes up, people expect their pay to rise to compensate for it so that they can afford the same standard of living as they did the year prior. It's about spending power, not just dollar/pound/whathaveyou amounts.

 

See this is what i'm talking about. You get a job with a salary, and you're fine with it. Two years later the inflation rate has risen and you are no longer happy with your earnings/can't afford life anymore. Employers should at least beat the inflation rate. Otherwise you'll have employees coming and going like nobody's business= more money spent on training new people. If they had paid the employee a little bit more, they wouldn't have to.

Am i right or misunderstanding something?

 

Take it thats for sure.

Usually a call into the office these days can mean a pay cut or redundancy.

I as a skilled person still was out of work for 8 months recently and it sure wasnt fun living on an income of £0.00

So 1.3% whilst low, is still something, if your on a good wage then 1.3% could be ok, on my wage it would be very very very low.

No they do not have to give an inflationary rise, although typically (when times were better) it was normal to get minimum of inflationary rise.

At the moment employees will not come and go as employers know its their market at the moment.

Pay rises should be given based on what you deserve, not on the fact that you feel it should be compulsory, which i agree with this and what others have said.

 

I thought it was normal to expect pay rises in line with inflation? Do you really expect to be earning the same in 2020 as you do now? It's not about people being greedy, it's about people who are already struggling to make ends meet trying to keep their heads above water.

To be honest, it's probably attitudes like yours to happily take whatever they are given that justifies companies' decisions to increase pay at a rate well below inflation, or even freeze pay.

 

whilst i wouldnt hate anyone for wanting a payrise, its not always easy.

If your boss puts his prices up to cover inflation, then its not unfair to expect a payrise, but many bosses cant put their prices up as it would result in the loss of business, in my case for example.

However i still got a 3% rise, so i am happy enough.

I was earning more 10 years ago than i am now, but im just glad im back in work, aslong as i can pay my bills , everything else is a luxury really, i took so much for granted before, now i appreciate things more, now im on minimum wage.

I find it odd that they didnt tell you what your pay rise was going to be, long time before you got your next wage?
Maybe they needed some time to make a run for it, when you saw what you got?

i think if i told my boss i wasnt happy with a 1.3% payrise, hed have no probs in saying theres the door then, smc is correct, it is giving the employers attitude to get away with low rises in some cases.

 

To help highlight your point consider anyone you know who's had the same job for ten or more years, then consider the compounded effects of inflation over the duration of that person's employment. A safe "average" of 1.5% inflation per year amounts to about $16 for every $100. It doesn't take long for inflation to make a large difference in costs of products and services, employers need to compensate for this.

Another troubling thought, an increase not covering the year to year cost of living rise effectively permanently drops a person's salary, in terms of spending power. Year 1 you make $10 an hour and Product X costs $10. Year 2 cost of living goes up 2% but you don't get an increase, but Product X now costs $10.20. Year 3 comes along and cost of living is again 2% and you get a 2% raise! But that is applied to your Year 1 level pay. You're still missing a 2% and always will be. You now make $10.20 but Product X is now $10.40. You'll always be at least $0.20 behind Product X unless your employer gives you a raise above the year's increase in cost of living.

 

hand me a rope.

nah, oh well, looks like im never gonna be a millionaire then, yep its 2% or whatever on every product you buy etc, so really cost of living is much higher as you stated.

You need to come round and explain this to my boss, im sure i can buy you a beer if you persuade him.

All my bosses ive had keep telling me how hard up they are, so i prob wont ever know?

 

I've just got a £5.40 rise and a Mon-Fri-9-5 job!

 

Nice one matt,

£5.40 an hour?

a year?

a minute

please specify, however all your doing is winding up the thread starter really.... oooops.