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Comment by ryanmercer | Hacker News Reader

>When people start quitting, the simple economics of it may lead to an increase for you.

>so now would probably be a good time to ask for a raise

That's not how things work in the "real" world. That might be the case at a tech company, or a startup, but companies like mine have set-in-stone, extremely rigid, pay scales. They don't just go "oh hey, here have more money" and if you go "I want a raise" they go "too bad, that's not how this company works, your pay is determined upon your job, your market, and your merit increases". Everyone makes roughly the same give or take a couple of percent.

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Understood. I wouldn't generalize this as "the real world" though. If you've been in the same place for 13 years, you probably don't have a ton of experience in "the real world", and because of that, you think where you work is the norm.

There are tons of non-tech companies that don't have rigid pay scales. Almost any small company (under 100 employees maybe) might have targets, but they don't have defined 'pay bands'.

I read in another comment that you're doing data entry (that wasn't what I expected you did). Data entry is probably considered a bit of a commodity, as companies are probably confident they can typically find someone to quickly learn how to do it and be effective. So there wouldn't be much room to negotiate a higher salary when they know they can easily replace you. But if they truly need the work done, and they are losing people and unable to replace them, eventually you'll see salaries go up. It's simple economics at work.

Which is why you have to leave. There are plenty of companies desperate to hire right now. Most of them are not willing to increase pay to get people. They are living in yesterdays world and haven’t caught up yet. Don’t work for them. Keep applying until you find someone who pays better. The best part is that people who pay you better also tend to treat you better too.

My employer had rigid pay, but they worked around it to hire me and then gave me a "market adjustment" when a few other guys quit.

We both knew some of the other guys converting from contractor to FTE had negotiated a higher salary because they didn't have any family commitments. They probably sensed I was unhappy; but didn't realize I was sticking around until my 6 week paternity leave was come and gone. Now I might stay another couple years, assuming they continue to value me.

If you still get the exact same pay as you did in 2008 than you can definately talk to your employer.

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