Our Q1 earnings call opened with its usual corporate shine: revenue up, efficiency up, and the stock price climbing like it had somewhere far better to be. But when the discussion turned to employee merit increases, the mood darkened faster than a server outage on payroll day.
Executives praised their “disciplined approach to compensation,” which employees on TheLayoff.com immediately translated as: “Your raise will be so small it can be expressed in decimal places.”
Associates reported merit bumps between 0.00% and 1.00%, the kind of increase that doesn’t meaningfully change anyone’s paycheck—or mood.
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee’s compensation disclosures told a very different story—one written in double digit percentages. As one commenter put it: “Our single digit raises must be the secret engine powering the double-digit growth in the stock price… and the even bigger growth in the CEO’s bonus.”
Consider RV’s 2025 total annual compensation of $83.5 million USD is roughly equivalent to the annual earnings of about 17,000 average workers in Pune, India. Interestingly, according to company sources, BNY India operations currently employ 7,000+ people across Pune and Chennai.
The CFO’s package drew similar reactions: “My raise couldn’t cover a tank of gas. His could fund all the lost tolls for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Employees joked that BNY had perfected a new economic model: Shrink employee raises + Inflate margins = Celebrate the ‘efficiency gains’ with ginormous executive compensation packages.
By the end of the call, the stock was soaring, the executives were glowing, and associates were refreshing TheLayoff.com to see who got “realigned” next in the daily crusade for cost-efficient chaos.
A flawless quarter. KPI’s say one thing while non-digital human associates say something very differently.