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OP Here, more clarity I couldn’t fit in 500 characters:
Offer was 70k base salary with a 5k signing bonus from the company, $2,500 90-day bonus from the recruiter, and 4k salary bump when I get my license.
At hiring told them I was looking for a salary closer to 80k and was concerned I’d be making less in 2024 than 2023 based on the structure of what they offered me. To which they replied with telling me about their 5% end of year bonus and 3-4% yearly raise structure I would be receiving which, in combination with my licensure raise, would put me very nearly at $80,000 for 2024. I also questioned them about their 401k structure and if they were able to still provide the match of 1 for 1 up to 5%. They assured me that the only time they haven’t been able to do that was in 2008. Overall, they made me feel the company was profitable, that they wanted me on the team, wanted to compensate me fairly, and that I wouldn’t have to fight for raises.
I accepted the 70k offer as I felt the company seemed great and very excited to have me. I like the schedule flexibility, half day Fridays, lots of employee engagement, and a hybrid schedule.
A month in they have a meeting to tell the whole company that they are still having profitability issues (news to me!) and they think bringing people back to the office a minimum of 3 days a week will help with that. I met with my PM and mentioned that I told them I could only do 2 days (we agreed upon this before I even took an interview), they make an accommodation for me based on how far away I live.
Year-end bonus was 0.7% of my salary ($500) rather than the 5% ($3500) they had advertised to me during hiring. When I asked about it, they noted their profitability issues again and said that the bonus was also pro-rated as I had only been there 3 months.
2024 salary increase is only 1.5% ($1050) compared to the 3-4% ($2100-$2800) I was expecting in order to meet that $80k threshold for 2024. They are also slightly reducing their 401k match.
A lot of projects were put on hold and a lot of people are coming up light on work. There have been 2-3 weeks of me not having any work to do at all. They are aware of it and tell me I shouldn’t be worried about their ability to keep employing me. Also worth noting that they hired two people after me and I feel like I could be managing all their job responsibilities along with my own. At my past firm I was working in a Project Manager role and here I feel like I’ve been downgraded to drawing support. When I mentioned this, they cited the fact that I haven’t been there long and they have to build trust. While the people hired after me are already going out to job sites multiple times per week. Something I told them I most wanted to do.
I have passed 1 of the 2 exams I have left for my licensure since starting at the company and final will be passed by March. Also received a great 90-day review, with one reviewer telling me they’d never seen that high of a score after just 90 days
In my experience, I’ve never received a full bonus or raise when the hire date was less than 75% of the first year. And at my last job I later received between 5%-10% yearly raises rather than the office standard 3%-5%. But not the first year. My “bonus” at both my last and current job for the first year (hired in September at both) I received a $100 gift card.
Raises and bonuses are built to reward a full year of work, and adjust compensation for a full year of professional development.
Unfortunately this is EXACTLY the situation I'm in. And I am hitting said two year mark in a few months here, I tried to wait them out and see if more time spent with them would end up paying out. I'll cut to the chase and spare you the dissapointing details: it hasn't. I honestly would recommend that you don't waste any more time. As the Maya Angelou quote goes, "When someone is showing you who they really are, believe them the first time".
Well, I asked them if the salary increase was negotiable and they had a 45-minute conversation with me about how much marketing they did last year, outlining why last year wasn’t profitable, how they knew in the first 6 months that profit was light and that it got even worse in the last two months with projects going on hold. They told me I need to focus on being the best employee I can be and going above and beyond so that they will be able to easily recognize me for even higher bonus/raises moving forward. They also talked about how they are forecasting that 2025 will be more profitable. I asked about how I could take on a Project Manager role and what timeline they saw that happening in. They want to get me involved in PM tasks and agreed that taking on PM work would mean an increase in salary but acted like even if I started doing PM tasks tomorrow the increase in salary wouldn’t come until the beginning of next year. I also asked if they address the AIA salary calculator when determining salaries and they said yes but they don’t use those numbers as a basis because they are “skewed”. They did confirm that they will honor the $4000 raise upon licensure. But reviewing the AIA salary calculator it seems like that raise should be closer to $10,000. I am torn because I like it here, but I also need/want more salary.
Wow, what a thread! If these people can’t make money paying such salaries then they shouldn’t be in business.
They made a promise to lure you in. These are never in writing. They’ve told you your performance is not the issue, not having enough sales is.
Only thing for them to do is lower their overhead, car leases, real estate, their own salaries. You are not part of their business risk.
And if you are, then you should also be Sharing the reward.