#meritincrease

2.75% average raises will happen this month. KM will wait to see how many quit then offer early retirement to some to try and keep the budget balanced.

Lee Raymond’s Famous Quotes on Employee Performance at ExxonMobil

Lee Raymond, CEO of ExxonMobil from 1999 to 2005, was known for his strong emphasis on merit-based systems, hard work, and the role of competition in driving performance. While he did not publish a single “employee performance” manifesto, several of his public statements reflect his philosophy on how people should be rewarded and motivated in business.

Key quotes related to performance and merit:

“The market system requires that people be committed and willing to work hard. Inherent with that is what I call a merit system, which I think gives people the greatest opportunity.”

This statement underscores his belief that performance should be tied to effort and results, with merit being the primary driver of advancement and rewards.

“The main professional responsibility of a person in business is business. He or she must be successful in economic terms, but always within an ethical framework.”

Raymond stressed that business success—measured by performance and profitability—is the core duty, with ethics as a guiding constraint weheartquotes.com.

“It is important to remember that all business has an impact on the lives of real people.”
This reflects his view that performance should be evaluated not just on numbers, but also on its tangible effects on people and communities weheartquotes.com.

“Ethical conduct is something that becomes inherent in an organization over a long period of time.”

While not directly about performance metrics, this implies that a culture of integrity supports sustainable, high-performing organizations weheartquotes.com.

Overall philosophy:

Raymond’s approach to employee performance was rooted in a meritocratic, results-oriented mindset. He believed that hard work, competition, and measurable success were the keys to both personal advancement and organizational success, while maintaining ethical standards as a foundation.

If you need a concise summary for a presentation or discussion, you could frame it as:

“At ExxonMobil, we reward those who are committed, willing to work hard, and deliver results—within an ethical framework. Merit, not favoritism, should be the standard for performance.”

As we go into the annual review process, HR is always quick to point out that the employee evaluations have no direct correlation to the amount that an employee might get as a "merit" increase. I have two issues with this:

1. When increases come around every year, the vast majority of employees get a "merit" increases in the 1-3% range. This is essentially a cost of living adjustment. In fact that amount is usually less than inflation, so most of us are getting paid less every year (relatively speaking).

2. If an employee is rated as "developing" they are ineligible for a "merit" increase. Managers are pressured to identify approx. 5-10% of their team who fall into the "developing" category. These employees don't even get a cost of living adjustment, which is, for all intents and purposes, a pay cut because of forced ranking of team members.

HR points out to managers that its ok to label someone as "developing" if they've been in the role for <1 year, so a lot of managers put their newer employees in that category. But based on your hire date, that might mean you may go 18+ months before getting any sort of cost of living adjustment. For managers without any new team members (which are most of them after all the WFRs), they can find themselves stuck tagging a few people who may get a rating they don't deserve and its corresponding pay-cut because of the stack ranking.

Because this has been brought up, HR says they're evaluating the policy on "developing" employees not being eligible for increases, but that opens a can of worms if they do.

More and more, it feels like yet another underhanded way of getting people to quit so the company can continue to fly under any government regulations for lay-offs that exceed a certain threshold number of affected workers. In this case, the idea is that you get lower performing people to leave, however, I'd argue that in some teams, there simply aren't people who are truly "developing" and thus get pushed out because of this manipulative process.

I sincerely hope that this is still just a holdover from the previous regime's culture that will be corrected by the new executive leadership team, but I'm not holding my breath.

Heard that it’s going away and that an email is going out next month with detail. Anyone hear anything else?

Any word on merit increases for this round of year-end reviews?

How are the 55yo and under thinking they should stay until the end? You have lost out on merit increases, 401K matching and a future, are you staying just for vacation? Just curious as to how Xerox are retaining this group.
I realize some of the younger ones are just trying to build experience for a resume, and some nepatism is helping a few families. But the others?

At the risk of the endless comments of, 'There is no merit', 'get back to work', etc. etc.

Does anyone know when merit will be announced this year? Two years ago was for June 1, last year I think it was end of June....any insight?

$4.19/gallon and it was $3.30/gallon last year. Will they increase our merit this year to drive to office and follow the RTO policy?

I've got nothing. Maybe that's the real issue here.

3 jokers - KC, KP and DP - held a 30 min listening session and the way some questions were handled makes it look like they do not have any creds to be in that place. Especially KC's response to why the merit increase multiplier was low this year. Hilarious.

Was told there was some activity yesterday on this not sure how many folks received it, nothing for me as usual its just pathetic and depressing. Just want to know how many got it here

Belated 2026 thread.
How did everyone fare?

We are all curious to know if financially is it worth staying on board especially in light of bonuses being eliminated, cut in 401k, poor to no merit increases? Do you really believe this will improve? Any real insight? Please share!!!

Is the rewards budget broken up into separate Promotion and Merit budgets? Was told the Promotion budget is zero for our group this cycle.

It seems like the people who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time remain blissfully employed at OpenText.

I received a great review and an above average merit increase. I was laid off.

I was the only person on my team who could do half of our tasks. I rarely missed work and was in the midst of a major project that was ahead schedule.

I saw many other high performers let go.

Even though being laid off su-ks, I am happy to be off the sinking ship.

Oh by the way, directors and above new was getting axed in January, if not sooner.

They’ll say it’s better than nothing 2% across the board No incentive to go above and beyond Bonus should be good though Guess they just didn’t want any permanent base increases

2 years since the last review anyone actually got the raise that Jenny Ragged-one sent the email saying its getting paid this month?

Or was the email more fake news?

Why, why, why doesn’t this company never give a COLA raise. They know these simple merit increases do nothing and barely cover the difference costs of insurance not to mention all the prescriptions they don’t cover that you have to pay out of pocket for. Then they expect stretch goals and go above and beyond but never give anyone exceeds.

Inspirational stuff from the 2026 Proxy Statement. Bill’s total compensation jumped from $22M to over $29M (32%) this year. Meanwhile, in the cubicles, we’re out here debating if our 1.5% merit raise covers the gas for the new 5-day RTO mandate. Truly a masterclass in 'Leading the Way.' Thanks for the motivation, Bill!

https://pex.broadridge.com/getdocument.asp?doc=4CC6BB74616CC807E06317289D0A6255&type=edgar#3547022_1074842_1074924

It’s already mid March, did anyone hear about the year end bonuses and merit increase? Are we having this year?

Have you all got your notifications?

Hi,

Back in 2024, I wrote @OP+1tugivWq where I shared information on PIP changes at Google (as opposed to Alphabet). I felt it was appropriate to write an update for 2026.

First, let me be clear: This past GRAD results season appears to have been a massacre. In 2026, you got your bonus if you were still employed on March 1, 2026. Anecdotally, it seems February 2026 saw a surge of Googlers abruptly leave the company.

This is a continued trend from earlier. At one point, Google used to be more tolerant of employees who plausibly just had a poor performance review period. It is becoming more and more obvious that such tolerance is a thing of the past.

Okay, so you manage to get an S rating. In early March, you learn what your merit increase, bonus and equity refresh are. Based on pay comparison results and personally speaking with colleagues, it seems that the changes described in @OP+1jts0j95y (and kudos to that OP!) have been implemented: T got fantastic raises, O got good raises, S far smaller raises. Depending on where your old salary is in relation to the 2026 salary band for your level, your raise likely didn't beat inflation, if you got a raise at all. Yes, Virginia, there are definitely reports of Googlers who received $0 in base salary increases.

One thing I am trying to wrap my head around is the actual new PIP process. For those who went through it, can you reply with what you were offered? Were you even offered a chance to take a PIP? Did you get 60 days of garden leave? Can anyone say that my belief that those PIPed in 2026 didn't get a bonus is wrong?

SG, the WFH champion, is moving onto Wal Mart. Is it because something will be coming down soon? Bonuses usually coming at the end of March...is that not happening? Merit increase this year? How about the engagement survey that usually surfaces in April/May. Will that be put on hold? More layoffs? OR was she just able to take an opportunity with a better company that offers a fully remote role?

How is it that a bargaining unit in New Jersey gets 5% a year for 3 years (plus a sign-on bonus of 1% each year for a total of 18%) ???
I got a lousy 2.5% ! Most people got 2 - 3%.
Obviously the New Jersey crime syndicate is alive and well in that union.

Anyone got merit this year? I got 7%, maybe I am at lower end.

Does anyone know what the bonus were funded at?
And the merit increase percent?

so, I got totally 4.5%, and I got 1.5% beyond structural raise of 3%.
below average?

Is 3.5% the average salary increase this year? And how much AEG did the lucky ones get?

I heard people are being told about their bonuses, merit increases and promotions in March and it will take effect in July. Is that true? Please share any information you have or your experience if you got this update.

So I guess this is my first taste of corporate life. Getting no merit increase because of a promotion.

Schwab really does know how to take care of their employees.

I just got my P4P statement as a JG 14, and the salary range for range minimum, market reference point and range maximum are exactly the same 3 numbers to the dollar between my P4P statements dated 2025 and 2026. Did they freeze the salary ranges or am I just special? I have spent my whole career chasing the midpoint as it crept up and now I am barely and finally above the midpoint due to a generous 2% merit increase.

How did everyone fare? I got a 2.7% merit increase and 105% bonus. High band 4

Leadership is clearly not up to the task to turn this company around. Stock got a bump but regressed, NA volumes aren't working even with PPA investment and acquisitions, and we're getting the shaft with low team score and merit raises. At what point do we collectively say we aren't going to work to execute shoddy decisions that cost us money?

How did everyone do? I received 3% merit and 90% of AIP.

I know it's early in the week, but has anyone found out what their AIP and merit is yet? Was hoping that manager would communicate today.

Is the company effectively “quiet firing” its U.S. and Northern Ireland employees so they can just put more engineers and customer serivce people in India? Top performers are receiving only 1.5–3% merit increases, denied PTO, benefits appear to be shrinking, leadership feedback feels limited and unconstructive, and training and skills development programs seem to be declining in quality. Unless someone has specialized AI expertise, it can feel like the goal is to push people out or pressure them into working longer hours than they’re paid for. Meanwhile, TW continues to repeat phrases like “we’re all in this together,” like we are still in the heart of COVID. This environment feels even more challenging than during the pandemic. Customer service is in the toliet with AI and all the Indian offshoring. Hire 4x the middle managment to get in the way of being productive at work. I'm just glad I have other options other than this blue toilet. However, I know that everyone is not as fortunate esp in the Orange Tu-d's America. Be the CEO of your own career bc this place does not value you.

got exemplary :)

Bonus payouts and merit increases were small this year. Idk about you all.