There are early signs that the culture is heading towards profit-first at the expense of its people, which is being felt in a several ways: Pay increases have significantly lagged behind inflation for years (despite two raises, I'm paid $7000 less today than I was 2 years ago when you account for inflation - BOY am I feeling it, and I'm not alone) New people are being hired in at higher salaries than the experienced team members they are joining Any attempt to negotiate salary is shut down immediately. Managers are powerless to support their people when it comes to fair pay; HR has total control over new hiring and salaries The process of industry benchmarking to determine fair wages does not appear to be conducted in the light of required responsibilities and skills. The focus seems to be on basic job title. This leads many employees to be benchmarked against lower skill positions compared to their actual duties, and paid less than they're worth. Employee performance assessments by department are required to conform to a bell curve, where most employees must be rated as average, but a percentage *must* be rated below or far below average, and a few must be rated as above or far above. Managers are routinely forced to downgrade the high ratings they gave to deserving employees in order to conform their department to the bell curve. It's insulting both to employees and the science of statistics, and it keeps merit-based raises low. It honestly makes me consider intentionally hiring some low-performers that will be rated low, so I can preserve the ability to rate my rock stars accordingly and try to get them what they deserve. Performance-based bonuses are limited to certain classes of employee As a result of all this, amongst most people I talk to within and without my department, morale is presently at an all-time low - and I've been here more than a decade. The general feeling is - why work hard, why be "intrapreneurial," when no matter how hard we work, we're rated middle of the road and can only watch as inflation eats up our stagnant wages.
