My father was very high-achieving in business, so when he gave me the following piece of advice, it was truly unexpected. He told me, “if you can get away with only putting in maybe 85% and still get things done, maybe only give 85%.”
I expected some holier than thou “you must give it your all,” but he taught me to coast when I can do so and still meet expectations.
Matter of fact, when you do get a raise you need to ask yourself if it’s truly a raise. Inflation decreases the purchasing power of your salary, so if you get a raise you might be getting what was your initial salary.
You did a fantastic job, blew all your metrics out of the park. You were herr 6/7 days a week for the whole year and did the work of 3 people. We couldnt be more proud of you. So I went to bat for you, really fought like hell, and managed to get your raise increased from 3% to 5&!!!
Inflation was 8+%
In Belgium we have mandatory wage increases to combat inflation.
Companies aren’t allowed to call them raises because that isn’t what they are.
Last year after Covid, we had an increase of 11-12%. Which was very nice.
Honestly this should be the norm everywhere.
All of a sudden all projects are much harder and require your utmost focus.
So you put on headphones and watch a show.
Last year I started working less for even more money. Another company wanted to poach me, so my boss had to make me an offer. Went down to a 32 hour work week with Fridays off while also getting a significant raise, so I stayed at the company. He didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much of a choice because we’re severely understaffed.
Let’s see if I can do this again this year. Not working less hours (32h is fine), but getting an even better offer.
Probably he might fire you after getting trained staffed. This is very old strategy. Hold onto a employee till a cheaper replacement. Enjoy while it last start searching for better company
