I’m a middle manager, I’m burnt out, my team is burnt out, and we’re all just trying to look for something that makes all of this effort worth it.
I was hopeful that we’d be given a budget that would allow us to pay our teams a little better. Like many companies out there, we beat all expectations in profits and should be more than capable of giving out another few hundred dollars per person in terms of salary (not a one time bonus, since that does nothing long-term).
So here I am about to conduct performance reviews, and I’m going to have to tell my top rated employees that despite how well they performed, even after pulling money away from other people’s increases, they’re still going to fall under inflation for this year, and ultimately make less this next year.
Being on this side, I finally see why middle management is so terrible. Even when you’re a “good manager”, you’re often held to rules that ultimately make you seem disconnected and unconcerned with the team. Automated systems that don’t authorize pay increases above a certain percentage, or that prevent you from paying someone more if they’re at the cap for their position (and have been for the last 5 years, with no opportunities for promotion to anything else).
Rules for thee and not for me is very real. It’s fucked.