I’m 28 now. I’ve been employed for 6 years now in corporate America. For the first 3 years I worked extremely hard thinking it would help me climb the ladder. Instead, I got 3% annual raises and told “good job, now can you do these additional tasks for no extra pay? Could you also work Saturday to wrap up the project before the quarter ends?” Once those questions were asked, I made multiple lateral moves since then, and increased my salary significantly.
I’m at a point now where those questions are starting to be asked again, so I’m looking to move yet again. Employers think because they have a talented, capable worker, they can run him into the ground. It happens all the time. They don’t see us as human, just a machine to be exploited as much as possible.
I try to do the bare minimum at work for the most part now, even though my boss is starting to expect more from everyone without any pay increase. It’s funny, because I got a 6% raise this past year even though I didn’t do anything special and the business just performed okay, whereas in previous years when I went “above and beyond” I only got a 3% raise. It’s so backwards. I’m currently saving and investing at an obscenely aggressive rate so I can hopefully get out of this rat race as soon as possible.