A tale from the UK, of incompetent middle managers and… What's the phrase for the manager of a middle manager who is still themselves several layers from the top of the food chain???
Anyway started with a company in June of 2020. As April 2021 rolls around we get no pay rises but I do get a bonus of approximately 18% for the 6 months I was eligible in 2020.
Fast forward a year and a switch from the best people manager I had to the worst people manager I've ever had. (Think going from someone who wants to be a manager to a Dev who wants more money so has to be a manager).
April 2022 rolls around and after delivering a massive database upgrade project and basically becoming a defacto led Dev in the team, I'm “rewarded” with a 13% bonus. You see in our finance system my 18% bonus for the 6 months I worked in 2020 is simply logged as 9% for all of 2020. So lazy sleazy boss thought he was giving my a nice 4% extra for all my hard work.
The problem lazy dumb Dev boss has, is my bonus eligibility is up to 25% and after receiving my 18% the year before, I was expecting us to function under a meritocracy and not some dirty logic of “here is a little bit more than last time, but nowhere near your potential”.
The boss, and the bosses boss both knew they had fucked up. But determined kicking the can down the road with promises to fix it over time.
Unfortunately for them they coupled this cock up with a lazy 3% pay rise, during a time of high inflation and record profitability for the company.
So here we are 6-8 weeks later, and they now have the fun task of trying to find a senior Dev to replace me, which in this market will likely cost them another 10% on what they paid me.
As for me, I'm off to work for a profitable start up, for more money, more opportunities and more time off.
Fuck the golden hand cuffs, if you aren't going to reward people based on merit, I'm out of here!