14 months ago the company I worked at was purchased and it was a whole shit show. I posted in the "epic FU money stories" thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/epic-fu-money-stories/1750/It turns out they were lying and have yet to give out bonuses or raises after 14 months. I did get an out of cycle raise because it was written into my offer letter, but I was told to keep it on the down low because no one else in the office has gotten a raise. I got an initial $13k bump with my revised offer letter, and then a $6k raise about 8 months later. I get the feeling from corporate that they are resentful they've had to give me so much in raises, even though the $19k was just enough to make up the lack of bonus and ridiculous health care costs, so I was actually taking home about the same as before the purchase (for the 8 months before the raise I was actually taking home less).
The "unlimited vacation" schtick is a total scam. It's unlimited in the sense that it's not a tangible number and they don't have to track it and keep it as a liability on the books, but it's very much limited and I've actually been able to take less vacation in the last year that did before the acquisition (where I had 4 weeks with the previous company). It's unlimited as long as you get your work done, but also here is an unmanageable and perpetually huge work load. Everyone is a number in a spread sheet and corporate doesn't give a fuck about you or your personal life, it's all about the numbers in the sheet and making that number grow ever bigger. Seems like taking the long view would be beneficial, but they are ridiculously short sighted about everything, which leads to experienced people leaving (I am #4 out of 13 to leave since the acquisition, and there are several more right behind me).
So I updated my resume and put myself out there, and started to get contacted by a lot of recruiters. I accepted a position in the environmental department with a $14k raise and 3 weeks of vacation (benefits are better as well). When I put in my resignation all of a sudden corporate got very generous and was able to match my current offer, but by that point I had already been through the interview rigmarole, the negotiation, accepted the offer, and done the physical and drug test, and back ground check, discussed the idea with my wife and several close friends, and mentally prepped myself for the move. I obviously didn't accept their counter offer, if anything it pissed me off that they were only willing to pay my market rate after I'd resigned and not at any other point in the past year even though everyone has been telling them they are running this company like bullshit. When I got the first offer from them (14 months ago) they tried to convince me that was fair market rate for my education and work experience, and yet 14 months later they are practically begging me to stay with a counter offer that is $33k higher. What a wild ride in 14 months to increase my value to the company like that!
My commute is changing from 6 miles to 10 miles each way, and this commute won't be bike friendly which is a bummer. I'm really going to miss my bike commute.
I'm excited to be starting a new position, but also terrified at the same time. I've been at my current company for 12 years now. I've never really failed at anything, but I am nervous I won't do well (even though I have a ton of experience in this field and have proven myself dozens of times over), or that I won't like the job at all and it will totally suck. My last day of work is wednesday, and I start the new job on Monday. My stomach has been in knots for the last month. I know I should be happy that I'm moving up, and the response from everyone about the news has been a universal "that's great! that's great for your career! this is such a good move for you!" (with the exception of my immediate managers, where I got the impression they were bad mouthing the move in an attempt to convince me to stay).
