Today I decided to quit my job. Yesterday I had my yearly review couldn't be more perfect, I did everything they asked me for and more (help with recruitment, animate conferences, work very late a lot of time, work during my vacation days...) yet to be surprised that I will only have 3% raise (on a low salary). I feel not valued and I was very disappointed :(

I don't blame you at all, but that's pretty much the way it works. The biggest reward one usually gets for staying with the same company is stability. Small incremental salary increases for annual merit bumps, and substantial increases only for promotions. The only way to increase your income by the numbers you want is to change jobs.

@bahua Yeah I know but given the fact that I had a low salary, to begin with, I was hoping for at least a slight bump then it would be fine with me to have an incremental bump, especially that I was sacrificing my personal life for work

@numb3rs

It's optimistic to assume that an employer would employ a sense of fairness or justice for people who joined the company at a lower rate. What they usually think is closer to, "he'll take this much, cool!"

Also, management are not in the business of keeping you happy, or even being fair. Their job is to make you as productive as they can, for as little as possible. There is usually a pool of money available to them for all of their people's annual increases, and even they will tell you that it's never enough.

Being willing to leave is a good price of leverage, but I'm guessing if you'd made a salary ultimatum to them, there's little they could have done. They will probably backfill your position for even less.

If you're young, unmarried, and childless, I highly recommend jumping from company to company for years, bringing your salary to where you want it. If/when you want to settle down, you won't be as stuck as you would be if you'd stayed in the same place the whole time.

Can't say that staying in the same company sucks so much, well depending on company ofc. I had 20% raise after 1 year, about a week ago. And soon going as regular also, with more % comming.

But that said, you must join a good company or have a nice manager, yea

Read rich Dad poor Dad by Robert kriosaki (I may have spelled the last one wrong)

@bahua Thank you for your wise words, I really do appreciate it

I believe that people always do thing when they have to, not should to ;)

Since you're in France, your 3% is probably about double inflation.