So we were sitting in a conference room chatting. I'm working on a couple of projects with one of our production team leaders and the Plant Manager checks up on us from time to time.
The other day, he was hanging out in here, we were just randomly talking.
My buddy (the team leader I'm working with) asks Senior Manager, “What's up with /u/Gotitaila26's job title? Shouldn't we be changing that?”.
For context… I am a material handler. My job title is that. That's forklift driver.
I don't drive a forklift anymore. My managers have put me in the admin office for the past 1.5 years with my own office and shit. I work on all kinds of things.. Efficiency reports, any math stuff (like figuring out how many people we can fit in a storm shelter), Power BI stuff for business intelligence reports and production status, etc.
The only thing is… After 1.5 years, my job title is still “Material Handler” and I'm making $39K annually, approximately, and I'm an hourly associate.
So what would be the reason for my Plant Manager to ask me that question about how much a different employer would have to pay me to get me to bail on my current company?
First he said, “Would $60K make you leave?” and I said probably not… Not worth it. I have a good gig here. I get to use the skills I have, I get to learn new things and push myself daily. I love my job and all of my managers, so a $21K raise wouldn't suffice to make me leave.
Then he said, “What about $80K?” and I paused for a moment. I said, “Well, man, yeah… I would have to leave for that much. I have a kid to take care of, so I'd have to take it”.
He didn't really say anything else about it and after a few minutes he just left.
What is the reason for my Plant Manager saying this? I feel like it might be one of two things…
Either A) he was asking so he would know whether or not they were at risk of losing me…
Or B) trying to come up with a number that would make me happy enough to never leave. He considers me extremely valuable, irreplaceable, so that's why I thought about this.
He also, and this is kind of irrelevant to the topic of the post, but he also said to me, “you aren't planning on leaving us, are you?” and I said “No, of course not.”…
Then he said, “would you tell me if you were?”
And I said, “Yeah, I would definitely tell you, I would tell you 2 weeks prior” and he just kind of laughed a bit and rolled his eyes and sort of went “ohh c'mon man”, you know?
Can someone help me try to understand it?