I work a government job. Among the many pros and cons of working for the government is that we are all on a standardized pay scale. I have not decided if this is a definite pro or definite con, as there are a couple arguments in each direction. Either way, one of the results of being on a standardized scale is that we move between pay grades (i.e. we get promotions) on a regular basis, and we know when they’re coming. You don’t get a raise because your work is good or bad; you get a raise because you have been working X number of years. (This is one of the cons, but that’s beside the point.)
I am due for my next (time-based) promotion in mid-August. They calculate the jump based on a mildly convoluted formula, but it’s not that hard to figure out, and so I knew what kind of raise was coming my way in a couple months. I was quite looking forward to it, because it was a big raise. To be completely forthcoming: it was an increase of $10,000/year.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday a bunch of employees at my level (i.e. engineers that have been here ~3 years or less) got a totally shady email from someone in HR. “Your pay table is changing,” it basically says. We are moving from the engineer’s pay table to the Houston locality pay table. Because of the afore-mentioned slightly convoluted system, my current salary will not change, but my promotion will change. To the tune of being slashed in half. My raise under the new system will be $5000/year.
Of course part of me feels pretty silly for complaining at all. I make a good salary now, and any raise just makes it even better. I am fully aware that I am very well-compensated for doing my job, and that I make more than millions of Americans (not to mention people worldwide) will ever make.
And there is nothing illegal or even technically wrong about the change; I have not received the promotion yet, therefore I have no right to say that it should be more than it is. I will get a raise in mid-August either way.
But the other part of me is thinking: isn’t this just a little sketchy? The email was a short, one-paragraph deal, sent from an unknown HR person without even a subject line. It references some law passed by Congress last year and tells us that our pay table has already changed because it took effect on May 1. It’s like they are trying to slip this in under the radar, after the fact, and hoping that no one notices that it affects their future promotion potential basically for the rest of their government career.
I think my biggest issue with it, though, is that this change only affects the exact group of employees that NASA is trying so hard to retain: young engineers. Shooting themselves in the foot? I think so.
I’d be pissed, Sarah. Though you are more or less rich as a Houstonian.
not to rain on your rant, but the nsf is not raising stipends next year AT ALL.
not to mention that your cut in half raise is 20% of my stipend.
sigh, the whoas of a grad student. and i shouldn’t complain becuase many many grad students pay to go to school, instead of getting paid. though i produce much more in econmoic value than they do at this point.
I don’t think any of us are complaining about how much we’re getting paid at this stage of our career. The problem is 1. They’ve attempted to fly under the radar 2. Our pay system (for better or worse) is based on the premise of equal pay for equal years of experience, and after this change, people that took there jobs a few months before Sarah and I started ours will end up being paid FOR THE REST OF THEIR CAREER about $5000 more than we will. That’s no small change.
Yeah, I totally get that despite my complaints, I am REALLY lucky because my salary, even if I *never* got another raise in my entire life, is still in something like the top 15% of Americans (maybe even higher).
My complaint is less to do with the money involved and more to do with the method behind the madness. I think it’s sketchy that they’re “sneaking” it in, and I think it’s bad to “screw” the very employees that they are so concerned about keeping.
well, have you tried talking to someone about it?
Write a memo to the head of your division, to the head of NASA pointing out the unfairness that some people’s raises get cut, while other’s don’t.
i was just pointing out that across the government spectrum, money is being cut, therefore they didn’t exactly sneak it in, they just didn’t publicize it. Welcome to the government.
Its funny, though, the payroll act they cite (NASA Workforce Flexibility Act) is supposed to improve NASA’s ability to compensate engineers…
I’ve been trying to get ahold of my HR rep for two days now. (Phone tag sucks.) I’m also going to talk to my three immediate levels of management. I doubt there’s anything they can do, but they should be aware.
NSF went up massively (like 30%) between 2003 and 2004, and in my opinion is very generous. Getting paid to go to school, in my opinion, is a huge privelege.
The work that I do is worth way more in both in time and contribution to society than what I get paid.
Like I said earlier, I’m not complaining, but this isn’t just sitting around studying enriching my brain. I just said the thing about my stipend just to show that government spending was tight.
NSF only went up becuase DOD is much much higher and still is.
You should definitely complain. Mostly because of the reclassification itself. Why should you suddenly be reclassified? Yes the money is the motivation, but it is the reclassification itself that really makes me mad. What right have you as HR to reclassify me, as if I suddenly lost my credentials… Don’t let this drop.