[locao]

Maybe I'm a bit childish, but I feel neglected when I am asked to sign an work anniversary card for a colleague and next week my manager doesn't even acknowledge my work anniversary. It happened for the last 4 years and, yes, it affects my productivity in the day.

[throw__away7391]

Some time ago I had my 10 year anniversary forgotten once in a company (where I had written almost the entire codebase for their core product myself) and I did feel slighted. I had felt invested in the company, to me this day was a big deal and my company was completely unaware. It felt like a disorienting mismatch of unreciprocated commitment and made me feel a bit sick in the pit of my stomach. I started looking for a new job the next day.

[donatj]

My company gave out nice plaques for ten year anniversaries. As my anniversary neared I frankly got really excited to receive mine.

My manager started a couple months before myself, and a colleague started a couple months later. We still work together all our anniversaries in a line.

My manager got his plaque and showed it off. I patiently awaited mine.

When my 10 year anniversary came around we were in the middle of being acquired. It seemingly got lost in the fuss. My anniversary came and went. Zero acknowledgement beyond an automated email and some points towards the company store. No plaque.

When my colleague's 10 year anniversary came around a few months later and he got an even nicer plaque than my manager AND a small celebration...

I'm not one to usually express anger or disappointment, but I got salty and maybe said some things I shouldn't have. I'm frankly still salty and it's five years later.

I feel a little childish but I just wanted a plaque. I waited ten years for my plaque. My wife had offered to make me one.

My fifteen year anniversary is coming in a few months. We'll see if anything comes of it.

The little things are more important than they seem.

[bobmcnamara]

Oof.

I was the second person to not get a plaque after they stopped the 10-years at work. Instead I got an email.

I knew one of the last people to get one, so was expecting mine two weeks later.

And I knew Sarah, who started a week before me, and had printed out her 10-year email and a picture of the clock. I found mine at a thrift store. When I left I set it on her desk on the way out. Hope she liked it.

[callc]

Sounds like you are extremely valuable in the product you built.

In your experience it’s not just the manager direct report relationship that’s adversarial, it’s you against the whole company for the mismatched value they place in you.

You should use that as leverage. This comes with an mindset of looking out for yourself and not any loyalty to the company (I really wish that we could all find companies loyal and nice to their employees, in reality they are few and far between).

Something along the lines of “Hey I built our product. We’re making X in profit. I deserve Y in comp. I’ll give you a week to decide. If you reject I quit and build my own product or join another company.” Obviously add some fluff to reduce harshness.

[throw__away7391]

The basic problem there was that salespeople were viewed as the ones who actually made things happen, engineering and building the actual product was just an inconvenient necessity.

[trympet]

Does your company have a culture of recognizing work anniversaries? To me it feels very arbitrary. Maybe I’m jaded by big tech.