Payraise.. how much do you expect? how much did you get?

[Nasher]

Companies should understand that the carrot is better than the stick approach when it comes to motivation.

I personally feel that this is one of the issues of the UK public selector. They tend to keep the wrong staff, who will just underperform and get the same payraises as others, as why do more? you may get promoted if/when a higher position becomes available but that maybe sometime never and the staff do perform well get fed up and leave for more money.

TBH most people have realised there is no point in doing more than bare minimum now. You don't get rewarded for it so why bother. I'd rather go home and put my feet up than do unpaid overtime...

When I first started working the company I was with at the time paid quite big bonuses. A few years later and with a new CEO they reduced it to a pathetic amount. So people just stopped giving a crap about their performance. Why would they, they're there to get paid not as a favour.

 

[jaybee]

People are motivated by money. You should never feel guilty for admitting that. I remember when I went to one of those BS customer service group sessions at work where a company came in to help us all self improve and get "the most out of coming to work" kind of thing. Going around the room people were asked to list a few things that motivated them to come to work. This was not a test, and it was a third party doing the course. Despite this, everyone went into self protect mode and nobody would list money or their renumeration package as a motivator, like it was taboo.

Why shouldn't your base salary just reflect your responsibilities? Why need bonuses at all?

It's quite difficult to actually legally sack someone that is not performing well, especially after they have worked at the company for 2 years. If you are not motivating your staff to perform, they will do the bare minimum and drift along not delivering change/improvements/high output/good service etc. You ideally want staff to be happy and performing well. This helps breed an environment of high performance as it rubs off on everyone else typically. Additional financial incentive is quite powerful as people will chase that and are highly motivated by it.

 

[danlightbulb]

TBH most people have realised there is no point in doing more than bare minimum now. You don't get rewarded for it so why bother. I'd rather go home and put my feet up than do unpaid overtime...

When I first started working the company I was with at the time paid quite big bonuses. A few years later and with a new CEO they reduced it to a pathetic amount. So people just stopped giving a crap about their performance. Why would they, they're there to get paid not as a favour.

It's interesting that a salary alone isn't sufficient to do that though isn't it? Almost like people see their salary as a base entitlement not itself being something you earn by performing well.

A bonus sort of makes your base salary an appearance fee which you get regardless, and then the bonus is actually what you're paid to do the work.

 

[Nasher]

It's interesting that a salary alone isn't sufficient to do that though isn't it? Almost like people see their salary as a base entitlement not itself being something you earn by performing well.

A bonus sort of makes your base salary an appearance fee which you get regardless, and then the bonus is actually what you're paid to do the work.

The salary is for the skill and experience of the person, the hours and what the contract is asking for. If they want more than that, they need to pay for it.

I can't hire a plumber to fit a tap, but when they show up I also expect them to fit a sink for the price we agreed.

A lot of employers expect above and beyond but that rarely seems to go both ways.

 

[jaybee]

The main issue I have had with individual bonuses over the years at places I have worked (IT roles), is that there has never been clear definitions as to what will be sufficient to receive any particular amount. So then you have to get to the end of the financial year to know whether it was worth busting your butt for, only for sometimes the manager to state that their hands are tied due to no money in the pot, or HR influences, or frankly them not recognising your efforts fully.

At one place I worked at, you had to basically write a mini statement selling yourself and justifying yourself in a kind of "application" form for additional compensation, sponsored by your boss. Then I've also worked at places that just gave a simple rating number and if you were high enough rated, you got a larger percentage. So more common sense type stuff. It helps having a good boss.

 

[danlightbulb]

The salary is for the skill and experience of the person, the hours and what the contract is asking for. If they want more than that, they need to pay for it.

I can't hire a plumber to fit a tap, but when they show up I also expect them to fit a sink for the price we agreed.

If you hired a plumber on a hours basis, you'd expect a reasonable level of activity to fill those hours you paid for wouldn't you. If you paid for 4 hours and the tap only took 1, you'd not be happy with getting nothing productive for the other 3 hours.

We tend to employ tradespeople on fixed price obviously, precisely to avoid this issue. But most of our salaried jobs we are paid for a number of hours and I would think there is expectation that those hours are filled to a certain level (not 100%).

 

[Nasher]

The main issue I have had with individual bonuses over the years at places I have worked (IT roles), is that there has never been clear definitions as to what will be sufficient to receive any particular amount. So then you have to get to the end of the financial year to know whether it was worth busting your butt for, only for sometimes the manager to state that their hands are tied due to no money in the pot, or HR influences, or frankly them not recognising your efforts fully.

At one place I worked at, you had to basically write a mini statement selling yourself and justifying yourself in a kind of "application" form for additional compensation, sponsored by your boss. Then I've also worked at places that just gave a simple rating number and if you were high enough rated, you got a larger percentage. So more common sense type stuff. It helps having a good boss.

We had performance reviews every 6 months, but after bonuses went it became simply a waste of time. Thankfully chatGPT came along

A job I had years ago I just used to give myself top marks for everything, because for some reason we had to write our review ourselves (lazy management I guess). They'd always moan about that, but the answer they got was if I'm scoring myself why wouldn't put top marks lol

 

[leoncuprar]

Just got 2%... Really not very happy about it...it's been a very busy and stressful 8 months, scored higher than average on my appraisal, but they said that was all they could do because I'm already at the top of my salary band....
Well, that's not my fault and I feel like I'm being penalised, when I know others were getting 3.9%

 

[jaybee]

all they could do because I'm already at the top of my salary band....

Heard that one before.
You'll probably find that salary band is higher if you left and went elsewhere though if you've been there a while. Then suddenly they have to find more money to recruit someone at current market rate and realise it would have been cheaper to just give you a decent rise, retaining already good staff that are trained and versed in the company. This is the way of most companies. They will call your bluff because most people cba to move jobs.

 

[swillsy]

Companies should understand that the carrot is better than the stick approach when it comes to motivation.

I 100% agree with this btw - if I had a bonus I wouldn't be on Overclockers however the implementation of this is hard for all job types and relies on good managers

 

[fez]

Just got 2%... Really not very happy about it...it's been a very busy and stressful 8 months, scored higher than average on my appraisal, but they said that was all they could do because I'm already at the top of my salary band....
Well, that's not my fault and I feel like I'm being penalised, when I know others were getting 3.9%

Yeah, its complete ********. Private companies can pay you whatever they like. This is what companies say to avoid paying you more.

Years ago my company got bought out with the promise than no staff would be let go. Shockingly about 2 months later a bunch of us were let go. In the video chat the woman doing the redundancies was explaining our packages and tried to play the "we can only pay statutory redundancy" which I made sure to clarify that they could pay whatever they wanted. They didn't have to pay any more. Was a lot of hand wringing and "oh poor us, we really don't want to have to do this and its really hard for us". **** off, you are getting rid of us and paying as little as the law says you have to.

 

[Nasher]

Heard that one before.
You'll probably find that salary band is higher if you left and went elsewhere though if you've been there a while. Then suddenly they have to find more money to recruit someone at current market rate and realise it would have been cheaper to just give you a decent rise, retaining already good staff that are trained and versed in the company. This is the way of most companies. They will call your bluff because most people cba to move jobs.

Happened to someone I know with his previous job. They refused to give him a pay rise, then advertised for a second person paying 5k higher lol. He left.

Apparently it costs a lot to recruit someone now. You'd think they would make an effort to keep staff.

 

[fez]

Companies should understand that the carrot is better than the stick approach when it comes to motivation.

Companies are stupid. They, like most people work mainly on vibes and stupidity. You could show them all the studies in the world that explain how to keep staff happy, healthy and productive and they will still ignore it all because they think they know better.

Unfortunately we are currently in a employers market right now in most sectors and if there is one thing you can guarantee employers will do when they have the power, its abuse it and dump the **** on the workers.

 

[slinxy]

I 100% agree with this btw - if I had a bonus I wouldn't be on Overclockers however the implementation of this is hard for all job types and relies on good managers

I get a 4 figure bonus, it's possible for me to get a 6 figure one but that would mean not being on OCUKs, working all the hours that I'm supposed to and breaking my back to get stuff done.
I think it's fair for the amount of "performance" I put in and so does my work place else they won't pay me my salary and bonus.

Swings and round abouts.. I've spent last sunday sitting in a hot tub thinking about a defect that I have to resolve instead of getting drunk and sitting in the hot hub.

 

[Efour]

I got mine a bit above the expected recommended union suggested rate which is nice, boss said she acknowledges me as part of the 1337 crew etc.

It's små potatis* but its 1000kr more
*Small potatoes, cheap not much

One day might earn adult wages.

 

[krooton]

Aren't bonuses also used as a way to bump up pay without being locked into said pay?

Like, if I get made redundant, I get a week's pay per year of service based on my current salary. By having a 7% annual bonus if I hit my targets, that extra money for me is a one-off payment for them, rather than an adjusted base rate things like redundancy pay would be based off of.

 

[BUDFORCE]

People are motivated by money. You should never feel guilty for admitting that. I remember when I went to one of those BS customer service group sessions at work where a company came in to help us all self improve and get "the most out of coming to work" kind of thing. Going around the room people were asked to list a few things that motivated them to come to work. This was not a test, and it was a third party doing the course. Despite this, everyone went into self protect mode and nobody would list money or their renumeration package as a motivator, like it was taboo.

Not everyone.

I'd much rather the easy life if I'm honest.

As long as you have enough to survive I'd rather have the free time.

I often find earning more has a bit of a snowball affect, more expensive car, more expensive servicing etc.

Don't get me wrong if they offer you pay rises and bonuses I won't say no, but I never chase the carrot.

 

[Nasher]

Aren't bonuses also used as a way to bump up pay without being locked into said pay?

Like, if I get made redundant, I get a week's pay per year of service based on my current salary. By having a 7% annual bonus if I hit my targets, that extra money for me is a one-off payment for them, rather than an adjusted base rate things like redundancy pay would be based off of.

Yep, it's not pensioned either.

 

[slinxy]

Aren't bonuses also used as a way to bump up pay without being locked into said pay?

Like, if I get made redundant, I get a week's pay per year of service based on my current salary. By having a 7% annual bonus if I hit my targets, that extra money for me is a one-off payment for them, rather than an adjusted base rate things like redundancy pay would be based off of.

Depends on the company, where bonuses/commission is factor in to the contract, then it should be factored into the redundancy pay.

Yep, it's not pensioned either.

We have the option to put part or the whole of the bonus into our pensions, we also get the companies tax and NI relief, if we do.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Yep, it's not pensioned either.

We have the option to put part or the whole of the bonus into our pensions, we also get the companies tax and NI relief, if we do.

Same.