With more than 20 direct reports per manager, it will be interesting to see how many merit increases are actually awarded this year. I suspect a lot of people won’t be thrilled.
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@vb idk man lol... my manager was awesome. 4% was low for me but I'm banking on a 3% raise this year since our new "manager/director" took over last May...
@ew where do I sign for a 4% increase? Out of role promotion I haven't seen anything near 4 % since Emc
Your manager should know what you do to give a merit increase/ promotion.. in the last year I changed manager 3 times and spoke with the current one 1 times in 5 month plus 1 team meeting where he was present..
I'm even surprised if he knew I'm part of his team without looking at the team member in my work or teams...
@hq no problem, it's all based on % of bucket of money.
how this supposed to work if manager got folks in many countries with big difference in wages :D
In my past lives, product groups that performed the highest (ie…revenue) got the highest raises and bonuses. Product groups with the lowest got nothing. Bonus was not based upon overall company performance. It was based upon the product groups who brought in the highest revenue and volume. With that said, management should focus increases and bonuses on the groups who are producing the highest revenue, not those that have been in the red for years. It may seem unfair, but certainly lit a fire under the butts of underperforming product groups. Ironically, the highest performing groups were always the ones staffed lean. Why? Because the lower performing had resources thrown at them, thinking bodies would turn it around.
@ew You used the word "logic" in there. There is no logic in the company, only making rich people richer at all costs.
@ew Your maths don’t math bro.
I half way feel like this may be beneficial to a lot of people, actually. I have NO idea how much money a manager get's for increases for a team of say, 12... but pretend it's 50k. A single i6 > i7 promotion would utilize half of that "bucket" which means everyone else get's a much lower raise, right?
Now that every Director has at minimum 20 reports, pretend they they get a raise "bucket" of idk, 100 - 120k? A single i6 to i7 promotion would use like 20k-30k of that at most; leaving 90k left over for the remaining 19 people. Assuming the remining money is spread evenly amongst the other 19 people, that's a 4.7% raise for EVERYONE, which is pretty gd good IMPO. HECK, even if NOBODY is promoted and they have a 100k to use for increases, that's still a 5% raise assuming it's spread evenly.
Logically speaking, I'd assume that the larger the team, the more money that manager is given to use for increases; however they choose to do so.
Sadly, I'm likely being overly optimistic but this is what I hope happens lol
this will be your last merit review, you can count on it.
I suspect that the rise budget per manager stays £ for £ the same whilst the headcount increased.
Merit raises were removed from account managers in my segment. All ISR 1/2/3/4 make the designated amount for the position.
I know this because my merit raise from 2022 was removed.
I disagree with the characterization that internal account-management compensation has only recently come under pressure. In my experience, seat-based inside roles have been steadily compressed for years through quota inflation, diluted credit models, and OTEs that increasingly lag the external market. Framing this as a future risk driven primarily by AI automation misses a longer-running structural trend in how these positions have been valued and paid.
In the current 2025–2026 market, internal account management salaries at major tech firms like Dell remain relatively stable in base terms, though total earnings are under pressure due to shifting commission structures and AI-driven automation.
Will Salaries Drop?
While base salaries are rarely cut for existing employees, your total take-home pay may effectively drop or stagnate due to three key factors:
"Commission Dilution" via Automation: As Dell rolls out its "One Dell Way" platform in May 2026, automation is expected to handle more "repetitive" sales tasks. Companies often respond to such efficiency gains by increasing sales quotas or reducing the commission percentage per deal, making it harder to hit the same OTE.
Market Stagnation: Broader tech industry trends for 2026 show that while specialist AI roles are seeing 4–8% pay jumps, general account management roles are projected to see modest increases of 3.0–3.5%, which barely keeps pace with current 2.7% inflation.
Entry-Level Pressure: Hiring for junior and internal sales roles is "flattening". In Ireland, the average wage for general account managers actually decreased by nearly 10% over the last year as companies shifted focus toward higher-seniority AI specialists.
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Performance vs. Pay in 2026
Despite the pressure on internal roles, Dell's overall revenue is projected to jump 17% to $111.7 billion in fiscal 2026. This suggests that while base pay for standard "seat-based" sales may struggle, reps who pivot to selling AI infrastructure and PowerEdge servers are likely to see their earning potential protected or increased
ya, none here last year either. Full bonus, not merit.
I haven’t had a merit raise in 4 years. I keep hoping for 3%