Seriously? The time to handle this was months ago.
How often do I have this exact feeling?
Even if a current employer eventually offers terms I'm willing to accept, it would irritate me that they only expressed willingness to change the terms of my employment after I threaten to leave or announce that I'm leaving.
If they think that strategy works for them, great, but I don't have to enable or encourage it.
I agree-- if I was that valuable of an employee, then perhaps they should've offered that before I quit. :P
I disagree. You guys are taking it too personal. Before you quit, you came to work everyday at the agreed upon rate. It's not the employer's fault if you negotiated a poor pay package upfront. There is an unspoken agreement everyday you go into the office that you are OK working for the agreed upon rate. You need to be willing to walk away (quit) to get that rate changed and show that you aren't OK working for the current rate.
See what BlueHouse just posted.
I realize that "it's not personal, it's business", but it kind of is. When you consider you are trading your time for money.
The company tries to get the best people for the least amount of money.
Yes, I negotiated this rate. Four years ago. I did not:
negotiate a rate to not change in four year
agree to get more work and responsibility thrown at me due to layoffs, at the same rate as four years ago
agree to hire four newer senior engineers at "going rate" (aka $12k to 30k a year more than I make)
agree to train, or just flat out do the work of, the two higher paid engineers because they are ineffective and/or lazy
The fact of the matter is, if a company is willing to hire "new blood" at market rate, they REALLY need to be careful about keeping current employees underpaid compared to market rate. In the case of my company:
3/4 hires were "senior" to me in age/ experience, although once you get to over 20 years, it doesn't matter so much - it's more individual areas of expertise
4/4 were paid more than me
2/4 were fabulous and worth any penny. One worked for me. I did not care that she made more than me. Both of the 2 came in, figured things out, and got shit done.
The other two were unable or unwilling to do their jobs. One of them, quite literally, would disappear for hours to walk on the beach. I ended up doing his job. The other one shared an office with me and another guy, and asked us how to do his job half the day. Really dude, you make $30k more than me, I can train you on our computer system but I am NOT doing you job for you.
The company has decided what the job is worth, they should pay it. Many many people here have tried to negotiate better terms in light of the lack of raises. The answer has always be "no", unless they choose to leave, then suddenly it's "name your price". By then, for the majority of people, it's too late. Then we are left with a big hole. The replacement person both costs more AND has to come up to speed. Hiring and training takes MONTHS.