I haven't posted here before but I've read heaps of stories. Something happened at work recently that inspired me to share.
A bit of background first; we used to be a locally owned family business. The boss started it in his garage at 19 and eventually became a multimillionaire. Say what you will about millionaires, this guy took care of us.
Medical leave is usually only 80% of our wage, he always topped it up to 100% and made sure any other expenses were covered. Every year he paid for a huge blowout at our sister branch out of his pocket, usually wracking up 50k+ on travel expenses and events. Every qualification was matched with a “gold coin pay rise”, so 1-2 dollars per hour. Every year we had a legit pay review and working hard actually paid off. He rewarded motivated employees and treated everyone with respect.
Then he sold the company for 90 million to an international megacorp based in Australia and it all turned to shit.
My first “pay rise” under this company was 36 cents for the YEAR. That's not per hour, that's my annual increase. I left quickly but came back when they met my wage demands because quite frankly I'm the best guy they've got, until now.
We had our reviews a couple of weeks ago and I was told point blank that I could have been given more but they want to tempt me to stay with the promise of a bigger raise next year. Carrot and stick.
I told them in return that it sounded like a bad joke. I can start a new job in the same role somewhere else for 5 dollars more an hour. My sister works in recruitment and can set me up any interviews I want. I told them that they obviously have no clue how to actually motivate their staff and that it sounded like they've been taking cues from some dirty American manual.
I also told them that until I leave, they're no longer getting 100% out of me. I made it clear that I no longer consider it worth my while to put the effort in. They were surprised but basically said that it was my choice. Since then I've been half-assing everything and it's been great.
I don't think I ever realised how little power employers actually wield in my country. They can't actually punish me for anything. Company policy doesn't supercede the law, so half my contract is full of void clauses. I went through it and scratched out each line that wasn't legal.
I've been taking long breaks, leaving early, using my sick days whenever I please, spending my downtime actually down instead of searching for menial shit to do just to prove I'm still working. Sorry, if you want me to work hard, you're going to have to pay me for hard work. Otherwise you get what you think I'm worth.