Employers breaking promises....
Employers breaking promises....
Author
Discussion

stackmonkey

Original Poster:

5,084 posts

280 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
Just once, it would be nice to work for an employer who makes a promise regarding upcoming training, interim and final pay rises and then actually KEEPS it!
Yet another one who promises one thing and then later says 'well no we can't do that; never mind, we can offer you something nowhere near as good, with a lower pay potential, a lower interim pay, and oh, you won't get that lower pay rise until 2-3 months after you were promised the higher one.
My bosses know the financial implications of the delay and reduction to me and I am really not happy!!

furious

Now available for sale (AGAIN!) with ad to follow later; 1995 Chimaera 5.0 Taraka, 53k miles, FSH etc....

Also available: Business Development Manager.wink

Don

28,378 posts

315 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
stackmonkey said:
Also available: Business Development Manager.wink
Now that's the spirit. Loyalty is a two way street. They don't show you any? They haven't earned any from you...

Deva Link

26,934 posts

276 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
My last company was like this - it was quite bizzare, no-one in the whole company did any proper work for about 10yrs.

rich1231

17,340 posts

291 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
stackmonkey said:
Just once, it would be nice to work for an employer who makes a promise regarding upcoming training, interim and final pay rises and then actually KEEPS it!
Yet another one who promises one thing and then later says 'well no we can't do that; never mind, we can offer you something nowhere near as good, with a lower pay potential, a lower interim pay, and oh, you won't get that lower pay rise until 2-3 months after you were promised the higher one.
My bosses know the financial implications of the delay and reduction to me and I am really not happy!!

furious

Now available for sale (AGAIN!) with ad to follow later; 1995 Chimaera 5.0 Taraka, 53k miles, FSH etc....

Also available: Business Development Manager.wink
Are you that whingy and whiney in the office? If so can you blame then?

shadowninja

80,149 posts

313 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
Deva Link said:
My last company was like this - it was quite bizzare, no-one in the whole company did any proper work for about 10yrs.
Any jobs going? thumbup

Deva Link

26,934 posts

276 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
shadowninja said:
Deva Link said:
My last company was like this - it was quite bizzare, no-one in the whole company did any proper work for about 10yrs.
Any jobs going? thumbup
errr...no. It basically spiralled down to nothing 2 yrs ago. Unsurprisingly.

We rode the dot.com boom up, then were sold for a stupid price to an American corporation who promised the world and delivered nothing. So the workforce delivered nothing in return, but all the time we were being paid dot.com boom salaries, expenses, cars etc.

My only regret is that I didn't think it would drag on for anything like 10 years and I didn't do things like take on a much bigger mortgage etc that in hindsight I could comfortably have done.

ukvoyager.info

2,782 posts

253 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
I know many people throughout my career who feel really hard done by in their job. 99% of them were useless, never took any responsability and blamed everything on everyone else. They were also masters in DJE.

I can only assume you are in the 1%wink

Golfman

5,638 posts

277 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
ukvoyager.info said:
I know many people throughout my career who feel really hard done by in their job. 99% of them were useless, never took any responsability and blamed everything on everyone else. They were also masters in DJE.

I can only assume you are in the 1%wink
Agree with that point! Good people dont need to ask for bonuses etc as employers naturally want to keep the good staff!

Don

28,378 posts

315 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
Golfman said:
ukvoyager.info said:
I know many people throughout my career who feel really hard done by in their job. 99% of them were useless, never took any responsability and blamed everything on everyone else. They were also masters in DJE.

I can only assume you are in the 1%wink
Agree with that point! Good people dont need to ask for bonuses etc as employers naturally want to keep the good staff!
My comment about Loyalty being a two way street applies again. As an employer - if you get shown loyalty and dedication you'll be in the mood come pay rise time. If not? Well...it will be a different story.

I, for my sins, am our HR Director and have seen it both ways...

M400 NBL

3,552 posts

243 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
It is possible to get everything that is promised.....but it usually involves brown nosing and/or working 12 hours a day. If you do neither, don't expect too much. I've given up working my backside off. I finish at 5pm prompt. The reason. My boss has been promoted twice since I started working there, mainly because i've taken on most of his old responsibilities.

But I like the job enough not to leave. The grass isn't always greener elsewhere.


stackmonkey

Original Poster:

5,084 posts

280 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
I haven't winged about it all to the bosses.
Out of 3 sales staff I'm the only one currently meeting targets and have beaten them by 75% for the last 2 months.
they have introduced a new bonus scheme that may help, but that isn't the point.. a broken promise is a broken promise.

Edited by stackmonkey on Saturday 28th June 20:06

M400 NBL

3,552 posts

243 months

Friday 27th June 2008
quotequote all
rich1231 said:
stackmonkey said:
Just once, it would be nice to work for an employer who makes a promise regarding upcoming training, interim and final pay rises and then actually KEEPS it!
Yet another one who promises one thing and then later says 'well no we can't do that; never mind, we can offer you something nowhere near as good, with a lower pay potential, a lower interim pay, and oh, you won't get that lower pay rise until 2-3 months after you were promised the higher one.
My bosses know the financial implications of the delay and reduction to me and I am really not happy!!

furious

Now available for sale (AGAIN!) with ad to follow later; 1995 Chimaera 5.0 Taraka, 53k miles, FSH etc....

Also available: Business Development Manager.wink
Are you that whingy and whiney in the office? If so can you blame then?
Considering he's been pi$$ed about so much, I think he has good reason to complain. Are you a boss or a brown nose hehe

skwdenyer

18,707 posts

271 months

Sunday 29th June 2008
quotequote all
stackmonkey said:
I haven't winged about it all to the bosses.
Out of 3 sales staff I'm the only one currently meeting targets and have beaten them by 75% for the last 2 months.
they have introduced a new bonus scheme that may help, but that isn't the point.. a broken promise is a broken promise.

Edited by stackmonkey on Saturday 28th June 20:06
Few businesses should be making absolute promises of jobs in 6/12/whatever months time. It is just daft, as business can change so quickly (as we've just seen).

That said, if you're a business development manager, presumably you know how to negotiate? So why are these "promises" not written down in contractual form?

Finally, if you keep having a string of firms failing to keep what you believe to be their promises, what is the common thread? I'm not saying you're to blame, I'm asking what you think is the common thread, i.e. are you asking too much of them at the start (so they feel the need to promise to get/keep you), or could you make better choices with, say, more research before joining?

Something does seem to be out of kilter here.

VX Foxy

3,962 posts

274 months

Thursday 3rd July 2008
quotequote all
Golfman said:
Good people dont need to ask for bonuses etc as employers naturally want to keep the good staff!
What a load of bks!

M400 NBL

3,552 posts

243 months

Friday 4th July 2008
quotequote all
VX Foxy said:
Golfman said:
Good people dont need to ask for bonuses etc as employers naturally want to keep the good staff!
What a load of bks!
Exactly. A member of staff, where I used to work, usually took 2 or 3 months off a year sick (paid),so he was rewarded with a payrise for reducing his sick days.

At that point I hadn't had a day off sick in more that 5 years and I got just got a rise to match inflation.

There are exceptions where the good workers will be rewarded,but most bosses will be working to a budget which normally sees everyone get the same pay rise regardless of performance.

Golfman

5,638 posts

277 months

Friday 4th July 2008
quotequote all
VX Foxy said:
Golfman said:
Good people dont need to ask for bonuses etc as employers naturally want to keep the good staff!
What a load of bks!
How many people do you employ?

VX Foxy

3,962 posts

274 months

Friday 4th July 2008
quotequote all
Golfman said:
How many people do you employ?
Sorry, I don't understand the relevance of the question...

Edited by VX Foxy on Friday 4th July 10:50

StevieBee

15,436 posts

286 months

Friday 4th July 2008
quotequote all
skwdenyer said:
stackmonkey said:
I haven't winged about it all to the bosses.
Out of 3 sales staff I'm the only one currently meeting targets and have beaten them by 75% for the last 2 months.
they have introduced a new bonus scheme that may help, but that isn't the point.. a broken promise is a broken promise.

Edited by stackmonkey on Saturday 28th June 20:06
Few businesses should be making absolute promises of jobs in 6/12/whatever months time. It is just daft, as business can change so quickly (as we've just seen).

That said, if you're a business development manager, presumably you know how to negotiate? So why are these "promises" not written down in contractual form?

Finally, if you keep having a string of firms failing to keep what you believe to be their promises, what is the common thread? I'm not saying you're to blame, I'm asking what you think is the common thread, i.e. are you asking too much of them at the start (so they feel the need to promise to get/keep you), or could you make better choices with, say, more research before joining?

Something does seem to be out of kilter here.
Absolutely!

I would suspect that they were not “promises” as in..”join us and we promise” to pay you more in 12 months time”, more like, “if you achieve X we’ll do Y” but at the point of joining, you’re seeing everything through rosey glasses.


skwdenyer

18,707 posts

271 months

Friday 4th July 2008
quotequote all
StevieBee said:
Absolutely!

I would suspect that they were not “promises” as in..”join us and we promise” to pay you more in 12 months time”, more like, “if you achieve X we’ll do Y” but at the point of joining, you’re seeing everything through rosey glasses.
Actually, if the OP is desirable enough an employee, they could easily be verbal promises but those, as ever, are not worth the paper they're not written on, as it were...

deadslow

8,795 posts

254 months

Friday 4th July 2008
quotequote all
Had a similar experience to OP, but it worked out rather nicely in the end.

Was working for large (global) accountancy practice and reporting directly to one of the partners. Annual appraisal time, and I'm told that my next year's bonus will double if I meet XYZ targets. Targets duly met, bonus letters handed out on Friday afternoon after the partners have all run off to hide, and guess what? That's right, bonus was well short, and the partner could not remember our earlier discussion. The guy may have genuinely forgotten as he was borderline incompetent, but I had spent a year working my nuts off on the basis of our agreement. My imagination does not have figments, I replied.

I let it be known I'm looking for a move, and get a 40% pay rise to go to a rival firm. Great.

Meanwhile my boss' hands off management style results in a case going very badly pear shaped and he sticks the donkey's tail on one of my pals who is sacked. Employment Tribunal beckons and the lawyers for my old firm contact me to ask if I will make a statement re case management/office practices and comment on the case in question. Anything to help, I say.

I gave a full account of the way the section had been run, and my old boss was subsequently quietly asked to look for a move. My pal got a cracking settlement and came to work for me. My old boss works down some dingy backstreet now. Good