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Employers will say anything they need to to retain an employee without having to give them a raise. A lot of convos from management are lip service. The only time I take it serious is when I have a chance to really negotiate during my yearly review.
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So true! It’s often just talk from management. I agree, the yearly review is the best time to negotiate. Do you have any tips for those chats?
Workplace conversations are often just small talk, and you can't read too much into them. Part of being a manager is trying to maintain a positive attitude. Especially around the holidays things tend to be upbeat and positive. None of it may mean much when it comes to knowing if next year's raises will amount to anything beyond the usual low single digits.
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Absolutely! Small talk can be misleading. It’s nice to keep things positive, especially during the holidays, but it’s tough when raises are just minimal.
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Oh man, this is the classic December limbo vibe, isn’t it? Everything feels like it’s wrapped in holiday tinsel and vague “we’ll circle back after the break” energy. I’ve been noticing the exact same thing at my workplace. The sudden “how are you doing?” check-ins from managers who barely spoke to me all fall, random mentions of “big things coming in 2026,” and lots of “let’s definitely reconnect in January.” Honestly? 90% of it is just noise.
Leadership is slammed wrapping up budgets, dealing with end-of-year chaos, and mentally already on vacation. They toss out those feel-good lines to keep everyone calm and prevent a mass exodus over the holidays, but it rarely translates to actual movement on salary stuff before the new fiscal year (or whenever their official review cycle hits).The only conversations that usually matter this time of year are the ones where someone explicitly says something like “I’ve put in a request for your market adjustment” or “HR approved X for the team effective January.” Anything short of that; polite check-ins, “we value you,” “lots to discuss in the new year” is basically a stalling tactic. It buys them time while they finalize whatever (usually modest) increases they’ve already decided on.
My rule of thumb now: if it’s December 26 and they haven’t already told you a concrete number or timeline, don’t get your hopes up for anything big until actual budget conversations happen in Q1. Save your energy, enjoy the downtime if you can, and prep your ammo (market data, accomplishments list, etc.) for when things actually start moving again in January/February.
Have you had any of those “let’s reconnect in the new year” chats yet? Did anything in them feel like it had real teeth, or was it all just warm holiday fuzzies?
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Spot on! Those vague check ins rarely lead to anything substantial. I haven’t had any of those "reconnect" chats yet, but I’m not expecting much. Your plan to gather data for January sounds wise!