How does your company handle raises?

[mrodgers]

We just voted last year in a union campaign. My vote was one of 5 contested, me also being the only hourly of the contested votes. That means we voted in a special envelope to be counted after a court decision and if the vote was close. The vote was close, the contested votes were counted all 5 being the same.

That means of the 35 hourly votes, everyone knows how I voted. 6 months later, the 34 people of the production department got a $3 raise. I got nothing. I'm rather bitter about it.

 

[Miffy]

I'm a freelancer, get paid an hourly rate, and work mainly for two large companies. One of them hasn't given a raise in years and I've really scaled back working for them. The other company has been giving raises, usually about $1/hour, pretty much every year--but this year, nothing.

I have no idea what regular employees at this company make but I'm pretty sure the freelance rates are the same for every freelancer, since I know someone else who works for them.

 

[leebee]

I work for a University and we are fully unionized, so we don't have raises tied to merit or anything- just negotiated annual cost of living increases, maybe 3%? Not sure.

When I was an ed tech (paraprofessional) in the public schools, I was a union negotiator the year Maine put in the new laws increasing minimum wage to $9, $10, and $11 an hour over 3 consecutive years. I'm not talking teachers here, I'm talking staff; para-pros, kitchen staff, janitorial and office staff, etc. It was a nightmare trying to adjust the salary bands. It would have been nice to give everyone the same percentage increase, or the same actual dollar amount increase, but of course that kind of money isn't in the school budget. We finally figured out how to do it, but it included creating more salary bands with a greater number of "steps" so that people who had worked there longest weren't 'out-earned' by those who started at a higher minimum wage. Like I said, it was a nightmare. There was only one band/step that got a crappy increase- just the way it all worked out- and I was on that step; I got a 4cent an hour increase. Sucked, but it was in the best interest of the membership. I guess that makes me a great union rep but terrible in self-interest and support.

 

[barkley]

I got a large raise when the company saw what the average starting pay is for similar jobs to mine.

my oldest's employer does an annual look-see at this for some classifications. they like to be competitive and also keep a certain percentage of pay differential between different classifications so it will be interesting since they do have some that start out just a bit above minimum how they will adjust wages for 2023 given that our state's minimum is now tied to inflation and will be increasing by 8.8%.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

3% a year

 

[Mysterian]

In February I got a 3% before they, once again, stopped issuing raises for everyone for the rest of the year. Next year it will be 0%, and that will remain for awhile until they fix their finances.

 

[tvguy]

yeah, i don't think so.

i just went on the CalCareers website which the State lists job classifications, salaries, testing opportunities and open recruiting on-there are currently open and recruiting a WEALTH of classifications that pay WELL BELOW $25 per hour, i pulled up dozens upon dozens across the state. i strongly suspect the guy you know that was making $25 per hour as a disabled individual was in one of many specially funded programs that in actuality paid the person though i find that hourly wage suspect-california still has not entirely phased out sub-minimum wage laws for the disabled. the governor signed sb 639 last year but it's target date isn't until 2025. until then there are still disabled workers earning pennies on the minimum wage dollar.

State salaries are public record and that is the salary that is listed. I don't think that includes any specially funded programs money if any are being used.
Love to see a link to those jobs..

 

[barkley]

State salaries are public record and that is the salary that is listed. I don't think that includes any specially funded programs money if any are being used.
Love to see a link to those jobs..

all public employee salaries are 'transparent' public records in california but the search sites do not indicate the sources of the salaries. a salary can be paid by the government entity through their payroll to an employee all the while the funding source is through a private contract w/a non government agency or another branch of local or federal government.

as i posted above-the site is calcareers. the search engine will show the wide variety of high and low salaried positions. here are a couple of examples of currently open jobs i found paying well under your stated minimum dollar figure salary (i stopped looking after the first 30 or so pages)-

CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANT
Job Control:
321025
Salary Range:
$2786.00 - $3745.00
Work Type/Schedule:
Permanent Fulltime
Department:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Location:
San Diego County
Publish Date:
8/2/2022
Filing Deadline:
Until Filled

Working Title:
Key Data Operator
Job Control:
337842
Salary Range:
$2786.00 - $3964.00
Work Type/Schedule:
Permanent Fulltime
Department:
Department of Motor Vehicles
Location:
Sacramento County
Publish Date:
11/2/2022
Filing Deadline:
11/17/2022


here's a mail room sorting position like the guy you know has-

Working Title:
Mail Operations Office Assistant
Job Control:
338797
Salary Range:
$2786.00 - $3948.00
Work Type/Schedule:
Permanent Fulltime
Department:
Department of Health Care Services
Location:
Sacramento County
Publish Date:
11/4/2022
Filing Deadline:
11/17/2022


"Under supervision of the Business Services Officer I (Supervisor) the Office Assistant is responsible for providing mail distribution and support services to programs within the Department. This position will perform a variety of duties which require the ability to communicate effectively, make quick and accurate evaluations of situations and take effective action."

 

[DebbieB]

I work for a large insurance company, no union. It used to be you were evaluated on your anniversary month, then it was anniversary quarter. Now everyone is evaluated at the beginning of the year. Raises are effective 4/1. There is no set increase or even a guarantee you will get one. There are also performance bonuses which come out around 2/15, only those with an above average performance evaluation get them.

 

[dez1978]

State salaries are public record and that is the salary that is listed. I don't think that includes any specially funded programs money if any are being used.
Love to see a link to those jobs..

He’s correct. There are a ton of positions listed WELL under $25/hr.

 

[tvguy]

all public employee salaries are 'transparent' public records in california but the search sites do not indicate the sources of the salaries. a salary can be paid by the government entity through their payroll to an employee all the while the funding source is through a private contract w/a non government agency or another branch of local or federal government.

as i posted above-the site is calcareers. the search engine will show the wide variety of high and low salaried positions. here are a couple of examples of currently open jobs i found paying well under your stated minimum dollar figure salary (i stopped looking after the first 30 or so pages)-

CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANT
Job Control:
321025
Salary Range:
$2786.00 - $3745.00
Work Type/Schedule:
Permanent Fulltime
Department:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Location:
San Diego County
Publish Date:
8/2/2022
Filing Deadline:
Until Filled

Working Title:
Key Data Operator
Job Control:
337842
Salary Range:
$2786.00 - $3964.00
Work Type/Schedule:
Permanent Fulltime
Department:
Department of Motor Vehicles
Location:
Sacramento County
Publish Date:
11/2/2022
Filing Deadline:
11/17/2022


here's a mail room sorting position like the guy you know has-

Working Title:
Mail Operations Office Assistant
Job Control:
338797
Salary Range:
$2786.00 - $3948.00
Work Type/Schedule:
Permanent Fulltime
Department:
Department of Health Care Services
Location:
Sacramento County
Publish Date:
11/4/2022
Filing Deadline:
11/17/2022


"Under supervision of the Business Services Officer I (Supervisor) the Office Assistant is responsible for providing mail distribution and support services to programs within the Department. This position will perform a variety of duties which require the ability to communicate effectively, make quick and accurate evaluations of situations and take effective action."

Wonder how many people actually hire in at that rate? Like I said checking the actually listings of people in those jobs at at the top end.

 

[tvguy]

He’s correct. There are a ton of positions listed WELL under $25/hr.

List, but I sure can't find people in the database actually making that.

 

[dez1978]

List, but I sure can't find people in the database actually making that.

Possibly. But it proves that $25/hr is not in fact the minimum wage for state employees as you stated

 

[dez1978]

List, but I sure can't find people in the database actually making that.

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Office Assistant (Typing)&y=2021&a=state-of-california

So $25/hr, assuming you work 40 hrs a week all year= $48k/year. Here is a list of just one type of clerical position and lots of them make well under that. In fact most of them do if you only look at total pay. Not pay plus benefits. And when we talk about pay per hour idk anyone who includes what their benefits are worth in that

 

[tvguy]

Possibly. But it proves that $25/hr is not in fact the minimum wage for state employees as you stated

Stated minimum, correct. Reality no.

 

[barkley]

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Office Assistant (Typing)&y=2021&a=state-of-california

So $25/hr, assuming you work 40 hrs a week all year= $48k/year. Here is a list of just one type of clerical position and lots of them make well under that. In fact most of them do if you only look at total pay. Not pay plus benefits. And when we talk about pay per hour idk anyone who includes what their benefits are worth in that

no, they don't include their benefits (separate category-and it's kept separate for purposes of pension calculations as well). the other category on the transparent site that shows earnings are not salary either-they are singularly occurring payments- largely travel stipends, 'bonuses' (few if any classifications receive these), 'longevity pay' (again not a common payout for most), and cash outs of vacation accruals. these may be paid out on a separate check or bundled into a regular paycheck-but their inclusion is not considered for any calculation or benefit to be a part of the staff members 'salary' .

 

[sky13]

The starting pay for a previous job was an open secret (as batches of people would start at the same starting level and at the same starting pay). At one point they raised the starting pay, and gave everyone else a raise at the same time to ensure that those who were more senior didn't lose out because they started at a lower starting pay.

 

[Hook326]

We are working on raising our base pay (which is ridiculously low compared to other agencies doing similar work) which means everyone already at our agency gets a raise when we do that. In July, since we hadn’t had raises in almost 3 years, we were able to do raises and tiered them 10%, 7.5% and 5% based on longevity. The 5% was for people there under a year and became the new base pay. We think we can do raises again in January and at this point, I consider everyone “caught up” and raises will be the same percent (maybe 3%) for everyone and a new base pay will be made. And I think we’ll still be 8-10% below where we should be. We are very fortunate that we have good benefits, PTO, and flexibility that keep good people around even with the pay.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

To put it simply: They're ignoring it. My 2022 raise was 4.3% and I was in the top rating category on my annual review.

The current management team is awful and tried to screw us on our bonuses last year so who knows how it compares to entry level. It's a salaried white collar position so I wouldn't expect any "fairness" from them.

 

[dez1978]

Stated minimum, correct. Reality no.

I posted a link with the reality tho. And most of them are under 25/hr