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Comment by SamSkjord | Hacker News Reader

My current employer is all too quick to say how well the company is doing, I bought up COLA with a director and was told 'we were all the in the same boat'

Sure we are, and that's why I'm jumping ship

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I remember a long time ago, my manager sort of implied I was up for a promotion this cycle, and that same day there was an announcement about revenue being at an all time high. Then the promotion cycle came up, and I was passed over, and reason given to me was that they need to make budget cuts.

I'm a little surprised I did not quit at that point, and I do have some regrets on how I acted after the fact, but it really annoyed me that we just tolerate companies bragging about how much money they make, but then playing the victim whenever we point out that maybe that maybe that should be reflected in our wages.

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FWIW, I do not think the manager was trying to mislead me. I think he was almost as blindsided as I was. I think it's a little bullshit that the executives making the unpopular decisions hide between middlemen so they can use the "don't shoot the messenger!" approach.

Revenue isn't profit, of course. Can definitely be in a situation where a company increases revenue but costs escalate faster and budget cuts are needed.

Yeah, that might be true, but it didn't look like they were cutting budgets anywhere else, and we never got an announcement that profits were down or below expectations. Entirely possible they just didn't want to announce that so brazenly though.

I bought up COLA with a director and was told 'we were all the in the same boat'

I hate that attitude from higher ups. An employee looking at inflation and wondering if they'll need to heat their home less or much less food is not in the same boat as a higher up manager who might have to buy a new Mercedes every other year instead of every year. It might be the same problem for everyone, but it absolutely doesn't have the same impact.

That is the correct think to do.

Remember, never be loyal to your company because a company CANNOT be loyal to you. (You can be loyal to a good boss though.)

Jumping ship makes sense for each individual. I think the question is whether it makes sense for someone at the top of the org who can change this.

I've read that Henry Ford raised wages to lower turnover. Quoted text is from a Forbes article, I haven't dug for the original source.

> At the time, workers could count on about $2.25 per day, for which they worked nine-hour shifts. It was pretty good money in those days, but the toll was too much for many to bear. Ford's turnover rate was very high. In 1913, Ford hired more than 52,000 men to keep a workforce of only 14,000. New workers required a costly break-in period, making matters worse for the company. Also, some men simply walked away from the line to quit and look for a job elsewhere. Then the line stopped and production of cars halted. The increased cost and delayed production kept Ford from selling his cars at the low price he wanted. Drastic measures were necessary if he was to keep up this production.

[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/03/04/the-stor...

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