Headline should say “Wouldn’t” give us a pay rise.
The obligatory this happened a long time ago.
As I’d been on the team the longest, I was volunteered to be the spokesman.
Our basic salary was shite. About £14k p/a but boosted by bonuses, which were set to just above attainable.
Between us, around ten people, we were bringing in over £1.5m every year to the company coffers. This was early 2000’s.
At least two of the team would have been better off financially by claiming benefits and not working. That’s how bad it was.
Meeting was held between myself, my direct boss, and a director.
I laid out what myself and the team had been discussing. They tried to go down the route of “you should not be discussing salaries amongst each other”.
That was swiftly shut down by pointing out that legally we can talk about them. Especially when some are on more money for doing the same job.
Got to the nitty gritty and explained that we are looking for a £2000 rise across the team, which would just keep us afloat. This is a multi billion pound turnover company, with multi million pound profits, so that amount would not have even dented anything.
There was a very emphatic no. This wasn’t going to happen.
We argued back and forth but they were adamant there’d be no rises.
Fair enough.
I told them that I’d be immediately looking for a better paid job.
The meeting ended with handshakes all around.
I eventually got another job which paid twice my salary, no need for bonuses, and half the hours I was currently doing.
I accepted that job immediately and arranged another meeting with my direct boss, and took my newly signed contract with me.
He looked stunned and told me that that was more than he was making, and he was doing at least 100 hours a week. (Married, at the time, guy with a family).
I took up my new employment and I enjoyed it. Eventually earning around £60k a year for a 35 hour week.
As a result I was able to retire a good few years earlier than expected. (AVC’s and a very good company pension fund).
Within the first six months of my new job I was phoned three times asking me to go back. They could not get anyone in my location at the salary they paid me and my colleagues.
The answer, when they called, was always the same. “Are you kidding?” And “how much is the salary now?” They increased the salary but not high enough that they were getting serious applications.
The rest of the team all left within 18 months to far better paying jobs, including three who went self employed taking a huge chunk of the business with them.
Those three now have teams working for them, and pay them liveable salaries.
The worst thing was, if they’d have given us the £2000 pay rise, we would have stayed. It was an enjoyable job but the wages were awful.
The moral of the story is look after your staff and they will look after you.