Not sure where to go with this as far as chain of command or anything…
I got my yearly review Wed, talked to the CEO on Thurs and met with HR yesterday. Our rating system is x out of 5 stars. 3's are Perfect, goes above and beyond, nobody gets 5's. It's a dumb system, I know. I got 3.7 accumulative from all my categories, perfect with extra credit. I was awarded… Less than average pay. For the sake of math, we'll use 1-10 as the pay scale. I was hired at 2.5 for my job, extremely low given the profession. I proved myself over the past year to not only be an asset to the company but turned both plants completely around and saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. I even recieved specialized training in robotics, to be the only specialist on site to utilize them.
10 was top tier (it's actually 12 but again utilizing 1-10). I felt with everything I had done and know, I felt settling for the average rate our here was acceptable. They gave me 1.5, bumping me up to 5 and TOLD me 7 was average. I was aware 7 was the average and I felt that was fair, especially since I was coming from 2.5. They told me my performance didn't really matter and they adjusted for market value, saw 7, gave me “half” to get me to 5, STILL underpaying me.
HR sat me down after my talk with the CEO. She went on some prepared speech on the market value, budget, it's fair, half now half later. I told her no offense but I don't think you did it right. She took offense and I asked her what she searched for. She said MAINTENANCE. I said that's wrong, that's a generic title for all encompassing. That casts a broad net and that means I'm being compared to the guy who fixes the ice cream machine at McDonald's. She started back peddling and said she searched for my title. I said again, probably did it wrong because I have a dual title, so therefore smaller net and requires specialized training, therefore her averages were wrong.
She assured me she didn't Google it or use Salary.com. I said I know you didn't, you used THIS program. She gets quiet and asks how I know it. I said because I've been management for 20 years and I got tired of it so now I'm a grunt. I told her I KNEW the average because it'd be irresponsible for me not to. That 2/10 was already low and she got a deal with me. She assured me $1.75 was a “GOOD raise.” I said I could go down the road to Plant X and make $6 more with less than I'm doing here. I was willing to stay for average, she said no. I said you can't find another $1.75 to give me to stay? She said no and insisted the “extra” $2300 for the year was good. I said I spend that a week on equipment, tools and parts. That they sent me to a $5000 school for the robotics cert and I'm the ONLY one who has it here and that should equate to the extra $1.75 to get me to 7/10. She said no.
I said half is insulting, she says, “I don't know why you keep saying HALF, it's actually 33%.” I just stared at her and said, “cuz you told me HALF now, HALF later. My math for Marines is off but I'm pretty sure 33 is less than 50, is that correct?” And she says yes. So I said I met with the CEO upset about half and you tell me it's less than half now. She said yes. I said ok, so you lied to me, she doesn't respond. I ask what happens next year? Do I get 17% to equal 50% or another 33%? She says, “actually we're going to reevaluate the market next year. It could be more or it could be less.”
I said, “wow… Weird that you would admit that to me.” She asks what do I mean? I said, “you just told me HALF (current market value) now HALF later, then told me you lied and gave me 33%. Now you're admitting to me that you're going to ignore your promise to give the other half next year and could potentially give me less. Which I'm pretty sure you briefed the supervisors to tell EVERYONE half now half later as well in their reviews. So you just told me you lied to everyone and have no intention of paying potentially anything next year, is that correct?”
She just stared at me for the longest time and I shit you not, calmly says, “well I can see we won't come to an understanding on your pay. Oh well, it is what it is, better luck next year.”