| "Is it possible your manager was surprised by your PTO, or did you plan well in advance and remind them beforehand? Did you communicate the extra hours you were putting in before and during the time you were doing it?" Yeah, they knew. I sent emails to the team and others that I worked with to let them know, filled out the team calendar, and turn on my OOO notifications. All the expected behaviors. Yeah, I'll never move up and make more money. I'd love to make more, but it won't ever happen. I did like working as a tech lead, but I'm not going to do it without the pay that comes with it. I disagree about it being shortsighted to bring up the raise issue. I would be fine with a 7% raise as long as it didn't mean more hours. If we dont stand up for fair compensation practices then only the people in power will really benefit. Just look at the percent change in CEO vs employee pay. It seems a lot of that change is because employees aren't standing up for fair compensation. Like at year end this year, if you don't get at least a 5% raise/ COLA then the company is effectively paying less next year due to inflation. Many people who are not adept at finance will look at a 5% raise and be ecstatic since COLA for the past decade has be about 2-3%. I agree that conversations will not help on these subjects. You mentioned about this being a bad manager. I have had a couple of bad managers. Some of them may not have been bad themselves, but most of the authority happens at the department head level, so they might not have had a choice. I can't really leave either since most of my experience was in obscure tech (Neoxam and FileNet). I've always done the things that they like to see for engagement (except one department that seemed to want 10 hour days; more hours = more engaged). I mostly did things like system improvements, action communities, knowledge sharing sessions, etc because I actually liked them. But in the end it never makes a difference. |
It might be good to really discuss your value too, which is half of the “deal” you’re compensated for. Even if your manager doesn’t know it, you’re not really being compensated for your hours, you’re being compensated for your knowledge and skills, in combination with your willingness to apply them toward your company’s goals. What I’m getting at is that the company may be happy to offer raises if it sees value, and it may take some communication and negotiation on your part for them to see that value, it’s unlikely to happen on it’s own. The company, and especially bad managers, have a vested interest in framing your job as easily replaceable.