As the title indicates, my current employer notified me today that “I've plateaued” and that I'm not adding enough value to pay for my employment. As such he says he needs to reduce my pay from $30/hr to $25/hr. I've been really enjoying this job and putting in what I thought to be an above average effort. I'm learning new skills and working on some great projects, but this really caught me off guard today and feels very wrong. I'm hoping someone here can provide some guidance on how to maintain my current pay while I look for other opportunities.
Some additional background info:
I started working as a CNC mill machinist, on May 22, 2023, for a small (less than 10 people) machine shop company in NH. This company is a job shop. We make the job to the print, almost no questions asked. We are a well equipped shop that can handle most reasonably sized jobs; about 8 CNC enabled machines and 2 manual machines.
I was hired with experience in programming a HAAS VF2 and a HAAS UMC 720 using HSMWorks CAM software. The company currently has me stationed working either of our two CNC Hurco mills without the probe. These machines have the capability of being programmed, “conversationally”. Meaning, the machine has its own built-in programming capabilities. So, the CAM software is built into the user interface on the machine. I have never worked with a Hurco machine before or have programmed “conversationally” before. I told them this information before I was hired. So it was understood that there would likely be a learning curve. New machine. New language. New company protocols. I shadowed the foreman for the first few days. Going step by step through the process of how to complete a job.
Eventually, I was tasked with my own parts to manufacture. Per management direction, I worked closely with the foreman to confirm all my questions prior to running jobs to minimize scrap while also trying to be as efficient as reasonably expected with my level of experience. I didn't really have any leeway to execute jobs on my own, but understanding the cost of poor quality I understood it might be that way for a while. I was just focused on learning specifically how the foreman wanted me to complete the job. To be completely transparent I have scrapped a few parts, but it's been a small fraction of what's been manufactured to spec. I also don't have the ability to quantify the cost because I have no visibility to the financial side of the business.
All that being said, the foreman is very overworked. He helps everyone else in the shop as well as running his own projects. It becomes difficult to work fluidly through a job if the foreman is not around. This does have the consequence of cutting into the time it normally takes to complete a job.
Ultimately, I don't understand how he can just reduce my pay because I've “plateaued”. I was too caught off guard to ask for specific examples at the time, but I want to follow up. The only example he said was “you scrapped some parts on the last job and it's costing the company too much money”. There have been no prior performance reviews indicating poor workmanship either. I reviewed the employee handbook and there's nothing in there that I'm violating. My 90 day probationary period isn't up for another 2 weeks and I'm not sure what to do. The company is small enough so there's no HR rep.
I haven't missed a single day of work and have been on time every day. Is this just a scheme to save him money if I stay or get me to quit before the probationary period so he doesn't have to pay unemployment?