Why are Bosses Like This?

If you are sure you could do his job better, then apply for job similar to his in another company, or at least apply for more senior jobs in the same line as you are doing now.

Vote with your feet.

The theory is, if you take on more responsibility the authority and rewards will come to you...this rarely hapens without changing job (you may have to 'massage' your CV a little to move to a higher position).

Good luck Del

Oh BTW...not all bosses are arsees...just a reasonable percent

That's a tough one!

Recently i did the 'legwork' to save some material wasteage, ~ US $300: event.

Because i was not 'authorised' to work on this project @ that moment, his "punishment" to me was to ignore my effort & continiue with the loss.

News Flash: The job just came up; the 'wasted stock' summed up to enough to complete the job, but were too short to use. Lovely computer systems.

Plan was accepted as originally proposed; 2 weeks extra delay for pride.

Don't sound like a test to me. Sounds like a poor boss. Got pulled on the carpet and butt reamed for his mess up. Now taking it out on his subordinates.

If in fact you have not had an increase in salary after 4 years I would be looking for a new job. Some employers will only increase wages when confronted with the possible lost of a good employee.

If you have to look for a new job to get a raise take the new job. You will just have to look again the next time you feel you deserve a raise.

Some times you have to ask for the raise.

You get your information together and present to him what you have accomplished and ask for a raise.

If you're not asking they might be assuming that you are happy with what you are getting already.

But, you have to ask for the money.

I went for a long time never asking for a raise. It was my opinion they would give me the raises as what is fair. That wasn't happening and I saw people with less time where I am and less responsibility getting paid more money.

They were asking for the money and waiting for it to come around out of the goodness of the company's heart.

You have to go ask for the money. If they value your performance they will give you one.

If you have become an essential member of the company and they don't give you a raise, then apply elsewhere until you find another job and then give your two weeks notice. This will sometime stimulate them to offer you more money to keep you.

It is more costly to train someone new, then it is to just give you a raise and they know that already.

Much of the time they don't offer the raise because they get the impression that you think you need them and the job more then the money itself.

I could ask "why are employees like you"?

Your boss is a typical example of "The Peter Principle" in that a great employee that is promoted beyond their capability. Your job should be to "do your best" and "do exactly would you are told" If you are good at your job and your boss is a poor leader he should be relieved in short order and if you shine you may have a chance to fail too.

Ask your boss what you can do to make their job easier, if they know you care it will matter.

If they think you don't care you will be stuck in place forever.

Read some books, act differently and you will excel.

Mike

"... your boss is a poor leader he should be relieved in short order..."

like thats gonna happen!

I have worked for some awful bosses (and beleive me one was especially bad!) were not removed in short order. It doesn't happen like that!

Possibly you do need to change your job, or maybe change your roles in your current job!

If I hadn't received a salary increase in 2 years, I'd be gone... looking for another job. Some bosses are cheap jerks, and can't change the fact.

I'd have to know more about the situation than you should probably tell here in order to have a rational opinion. Having said that, four years w/o a pay raise means you SHOULD be sending out your resumé. If you weren't worth a raise, they should have fired you by now. If you haven't gotten the raise, you need to fire them.

I've had some miserable wretches for bosses (and some darn good ones, too!) but raises were and should be based on merit (yours, not his), not popularity. Is this "boss" the head of the company, or just a functionary?

Why Boss are always like this?

Because they can. As other posters have said, you should vote "with your feet" if you can, and I would suggest you don't take too long to do it. I can tell you from experience that the longer you wait, the more you have to lose. If you are young and have much flexibility with locations where you are willing to live and work, you will have a much better chance to pull this off. Once you are married, have children and a home, as well as a potential pension with a company, it becomes harder to justify the move "in your own mind". Actually, it is probably always better to make the move.

I suggest you approach the situation with your boss by telling him that you see yourself as an ambitious and talented employee. Ask him what you need to do in order to make yourself more valuable to the company. If you don't get a satisfactory answer, look elsewhere. Try to work it out so you both know what is expected of each other in order for you to achieve your potential.

Hallo Everyone;

Thank you very much for all your advice. As some of the post's suggested that I should work hard and save some money for company. Show boss how much I care for him.

Please read below and advice on me what should I do.

Company's Introduction:

1. Family owned company engaged in land development.

2. I was hired as a cost estimator 4 years back and reporting to president.

3. Project successfully awarded with 78,000 $ less then budget price. Budget was prepared by president of company.

4. Given additional responsibility to coordinate project through out the construction period.

5. Second project High rise (30 floors) high end condominium introduced to me after design completed. I reviewed drawings and pointed out some changes which resulted in savings of 32,000.00 $ (after paying extra fees to consultants for redesigns).

6. Now I am putting on three hats, 1. Cost Estimator, 2. Project Coordinator, 3. Project Manager.

7. I went with this list and I was told that I am not up to the mark.

8. I told them it is due to increase in responsibility but not increase in authority.

9. They said that this is all about construction and it is normal.

Do you guys think my request to have raise salary by 25% is not fare? Please advice.

Not sure how much 25% exactly is. It sound like allot, however, here are a few things for you to consider;

Do you have a contract? and what exactly does it entail. If you are now doing more than is in the scope of the contract, you have a right to be compensated for it. The company is making millions making condo's and can afford it.

To the owner, the job as a cost estimator is to save him money. If you saved him 100 thousand dollars last year and your pay is more then what you save, he may be better off to let you go.

The time you are doing the job as a project manager, you are not doing the job as a cost estimator. Are you working longer hours to do the project manager tasks?

The boss is paying you for your time and skills as a cost estimator. Are you qualified as a project manager?

I would concentrate on only asking for fair compensation for the extra work and skills outside the original contract/agreement. I saves him from hiring a project manager, and you are legally entitled to it.

Not up to the mark? That's a pretty high mark! Let's see, you saved $100K in two projects, doing three different types of tasks (or more), and without a pay raise for four years... Sounds like the kind of outfit where if you say you need a break, they reply "we gave you a break when we hired you". Is there some other kind of fair compensation they could provide? A company car perhaps, or at least more authority to go with the increased responsibility? Seems pretty sleazy to me...

you've answered your own question with "family owned business." This is more than the boss looking out for himself, he's looking out for the family interests too. Is he part of the family? If he is then you are really going to have to put the screws to them to get a raise. How many other family members are working there? He will have to think of the family first. Unless you marry the daughter you are always going to be an outsider.

You have to ask yourself if this is worth the grief or if you should just make a clean break of it. I left a company last year that was small family owned. The boss was going through a nasty divorce. Brought the whole company to it's knees; the guys who stayed are all part time now.

Good luck!

Face it you are not going to get a 25% rise...no one ever gets a 25% rise without changing to a new job higher up the ladder.
Companies rarely recognise the talent in their own ranks...

In these times of recession I'd think a 15% rise was marvellous...(my last rise which I had to ask for was a paltry 3%...but on the other hand I do have a nice 3day working week which I'd never get elsewhere)

You can offer an ultimatum...tell e'm how much you have saved 'em...but NEVER bluff, and ideally have a job offer already in your pocket. (But if you have a job offer do you really want to stay anyhow?)

Del

Yeah, Del is a smart kitty on the "never bluff" part; especially in a family controlled business. If you did bluff and they called you on it I would bet your raise that they would be planning on getting rid of you because you were an ingrate.

On the other hand I do know embedded software engineers in San Jose who got 25% by moving down the street...but right now in Rochester I'm very happy to have a good position, especially since I don't want to move.

All things to consider. But you have to have a "plan B."

In 1 year out of college I got 23% increase (for performance and taking on more responsibility) but I have not matched that 23% over a span of 3 years where I am now eventhough I feel deserve it (but who doesn't). The 3% Del referred to seems to be a typical standard raise to keep people from looking.

I'd say vote with your feet, the first senior engineer I worked with (also was my mentor) gave me advice and it was to get the money when you are walking in the door because you won't get it after that.

ANother thing to consider is work hours, comp time, travel, overtime. Just looking at salary is deceiving, I do alright but I earn no OT, expected to work a minimum of 50 hurs a week, if work needs to come home, it is jsut expected to happen (no OT). 3% is much harder to swallow after those things stack up.

I stay friends with certain colleagues from past companies and I can say with a high level of certainty that if you are talented they will never understand how important you are to the company's success until you are no longer there. I have seen places rehire old employees at a 50% increase less than a year after the person left because they were that indespensable and the company didn't realize it until after the person left.

Yes, and I have seen two or three new greenhorns hired to take the place of one old hand because no one person could replace them. Not exactly economical...