On Wednesday, we had a company meeting. To say that the days leading up to this meeting were tense is an understatement. The building was unusually quiet as if everyone was just keeping their heads down and trying to exist under the radar. The week prior was exceedingly difficult because there were a couple of people in the building that were planning for the worst and this made the scene even more depressing than usual, and since joy left the building years ago things are often depressing anyway.
But – Wednesday came, mercifully enough, and the CEO gave us some relatively good news. This was the meeting where he would be discussing the compensation analysis that had been done during the 1st quarter. Our reviews were all reset to the first of the year, but our compensation is no longer tied to our reviews, so many of us are beyond the point at which we would have normally received raises. One annoying realization was the fact that compensation increases were also now to be reset to 1 April. So – for anyone that would have received their raise in the first quarter of the year is leaving up to 3 months of increase on the table. We are all so afraid to lose our jobs, though, that nobody mentioned that in the meeting.
Before the CEO got into the data part of the presentation he made an interesting (and annoying) remark. He talked about the other benefits that we have been given since the parent company took over, mentioning the 401K plan, he stated that because the match went up from 1.5 to 3 percent if we take advantage of that we have “already given [ourselves] a 1.5% raise for the year.” Yeah, okay, sure. But what about the fact that the health insurance cost went up by more than 25%? We actually end up with less, if you really want to talk about benefits. But he doesn’t – he just used that one point to make it easier to discuss the rest of the compensation analysis, which was actually not that specific or difficult a conversation. I’m sure that when we speak to our supervisors and see the REAL numbers the conversations will become tenser (and quite possibly intense) depending on the level they decide to undercut us.
I realize that the above comment may seem overly dramatic, but 5 years of history at this place of business has given me a pretty good understanding of how things end up. Thinking positive is a great plan, but the plan is often thwarted. At this point, my plan is to continue to work hard, as I always have, but to not rest on the current ‘good’ news that we received in our company meeting. We still have to get past our individual compensation reviews and see if the news is actually good, but beyond that, I refuse to rest on anything positive at this place of business. I will continue to update my resume and stay active on LinkedIn. I will continue to apply for 3-5 library jobs per week to ensure a future career outside of the tech world. These are all positive steps that I can take and they require me to not rest on the possible future state of the company. They require me to not get comfortable with the current state of things and to always be directed toward my future. One of the ways in which I have made myself slightly uncomfortable and keep the reminding myself to move forward is to clean out my office. I have taken home a few personal items each week so that, when the day comes, I can just throw what is left in 2 bags and get the hell out. I am looking forward to that day, may it be soon. Until then – stay vigilant around your careers!
Not a robot, yet,
Chantale
