Frank question: Is a 2% raise a joke?
23 replies (most recent on top)
Just think of the compensation system as being the opposite of Lake Wobegone (where all the children were above average), where everyone is below average. I used to say (up until five years or so ago) that the really good people moved on from Honeywell on their own accord and the really bad ones were caught by the infrequent RIFs. Those who remained were either lifers (like myself) or varying degrees of average. Now no one is safe.
I've gotten over 2% on every merit to date, including when I was a 5 block. Most of the people complaining probably don't add too much value to their department. If there is someone performing better than you, they more than likely get the upper block over you. It's not complicated. You're not special. All of us are replaceable.
The alleged merit system at HI is a joke. On the one hand you are rating people against their goals, and individual contributions for the year ( except for my dept. the block ratings were generally set my March and locked intone by mid year) did they meet or exceed their goals, did they work the extra hours of OVERTIME with being asked or pestered, did they really exceed exceptions for the difficult goals given to them. If so they received a high block rating. and on the other hand you find out there are to many people in any given dept or organization that have met the same criteria for receiving a upper block rating... so what the solution.... call it normal performance and push those people down to a upper 5 block rating and reduce their merit increase.
They call this "Raising the bar" but it really is just screwing the employee with a bait and switch, that ultimately leads the employee becoming dis-incentivized, bitter and posting on this forum.. LOL
To the other poster that suggested the a merit hold back is justified to address other injustices of people being below the pay schedule. Well that is creative thinking as the system is ultimately designed to ensure everyone is falling behind the pay schedule. The 2% does not keep pace with market survey of engineering pay, coupled with a hold back and favoritism in granting a greater than 2% pay raise, only a handful of people will maintain market parity. The vast majority will fall behind and will be aged out the pay scale. and as a kicker I have actually seen not being in the pay scale as a reason to nominate someone for a RIF...as well because they did not try hard enough.
As a Sr. Manager there have been many occasions where my performance ratings of employees were downgraded by those at or above Director level. It is always difficult to tell an upper elbow employee that they are a just a 5 block.... All because someone that has never met them says so.
Sorry, I rescind my previous post and agree that hold backs are bad, Apologies to all.
@3fbi: You've probably misunderstood the purpose of this site. You come here to whine and spread hate and gossip, not to advocate the corporate!
The process of holding back some at the lower levels is not uncommon nor necessarily bad. If the pool was flowed down to each manager, there will be some with high performers who only get the average and some with exceptionally average who get the same. Managers with fewer people are at a disadvantage to rewarding good results to those managers who have a large team. If we believe in pay for performance then we cannot say that everyone should get the same raise, which is the pool percentage. I had times when after I submitted my team's increases based on 9-block, my director came back and increased some on my team with the hold back money. This is done to reward really high performers or help address other discrepancies. For example, two people in same job and same performance, with similar years of service. One is getting paid way below the market rate and the other is above. The hold back dollars are used to fix things we would all consider unfair. I am not currently a manager but was one here for many years. I am definitely not an HR troll. It is just that we don't have to look for a bogeyman under every rock.
When you set your expectations at 0% and your effort reflects that, 2% is a pretty good deal!
I routinely gave back 15 to 20% of the raise pool I was given. Rather I should say I was forbidden from giving the recommended raises the system was calling for based on block rating. I usually found out after I allocated the funds. My director and HR rep went through and changed the Merit increase of mine and my peer managers. Giving him more money for pay raise and MIP for his cronies in clearwater. Notice I did not say Merit increase, none of those jokers did anything but bow down and agree with everything the directed said.
There were some VP's who told their managers to keep the raise dollars for their teams below pool, so they could give money back, be a team player and help the budget. Not kidding.
Is 2% the new raise for the top 10%?
You are lucky. 0% for myself and many others Band3 and up.
In Aerospace, some would celebrate 2%!
Two Percent?! How about 0% EVERY F—ING YEAR EVEN THOUGH YOU BUSTED YOUR A– OFF ALL YEAR LONG AGAIN AND AGAIN BUT STILL COULDN’T KEEP A CERTAIN PROGRAM MANAGER HAPPY AND WORK FAST ENOUGH WHILE BEING PULLED IN A MILLION F—ING DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT ONCE IN PLYMOUTH DUE TO YOUR SEVERELY UNDER STAFF TEST GROUP!!! And there is YET ANOTHER RIF in the works to top that off.....
Wait until you're over 50 if you're still there and you'll celebrate a 2% raise.
What are you talking about, last two years I got almost 10% raise each time. Oh, I see, I'm not in US ... so you better keep your mouth shut, we need you Americans to keep your raises low, so the ours are higher!
Leadership these days works to put the most money in their pockets. They do not make decisions based on what is best for the whole company, they do not care about the company. Only care about trying to enrich themselves. This doesn't bode well for long term health of the company. HON is right on the same path as GE; or maybe IBM
What is the rate in PR? I know one thing, PR is getting half the 401K match we getting, When I pointed it out to JE on yammer I got hammered with a PIP .
1wbo:
I totally agree with your comment. However, i would like to make an adjustment to your “1/3” the price... Being in project management, I get to see the ridiculous engineering hourly rates that they hold against our projects. Here’s a ball park from what I can remember:
US: $150/hr
India: $27/hr
Czech Republic: $45
Canada: $93
I really question the $150/hr. Who determines them? I smell a rat, and feel like it is artificially inflated. I bet the US rate is somehow tied directly to Aero leadership bonus and compensation.
There would be an uproar if we clipped their compensation to 2%!
2% it’s never enough to cover inflation. My reviews always go something like very good work sir - you get a “D”. ?? :-(. They just want me to quit so that they can go get some guy from India to do it for 1/3 the price. I’ve been working with these guys for 15 years now there’s so many now from India I have learned they are not good at all. They just rush into any assignment that they are given. they never question, they claim they understand what they are working on - but they don’t. they get everybody under the sun to help them do their work. I’m surprised we are not paying Google a fee for supporting the technical guys.
In my last decade with HON, the average was usually one-half to one percent below inflation, so in real dollar terms you could count on losing ground every year. And that was the pool; to get anything more, someone else would have to get less.
2% if you're lucky
It’s a f—ing joke