I found a really interesting post over at Money Smart Life entitled “10 Lies Big Companies Tell Their Employees”. Sadly even though I’ve only been working for 7 years, I have heard all 10. You can find the complete list over at Money Smart Life, but here are my personal favorites:
1. “Our Salaries are Competitive in the Market” - Yeah, right! That’s why everyone is leaving for similar jobs elsewhere. Sadly, my experience has been that if you want to have a salary at market, you have to be in the market. Loyalty unfortunately isn’t rewarded in most cases. It seems like most places have a small cap on percentage increases which isn’t always in sync with the market. Usually the only way to true-up your salary to market is to go somewhere else.
2. “We Reward Excellence” - Not necessarily a lie, but it is certainly misleading. You can be a superstar, but your upside potential is often limited to a pay range specified by HR. Meanwhile, those who are doing the bare minimum will still in most cases get a cost of living increase each year. Does the superstar get more than the slacker? Probably. But is the superstar sufficiently rewarded when comparing his contribution to that of his slacker counterparts? Probably not.
3. “More Money Won’t Make You Happy” – What the hell do you think most of us are working for? It isn’t for the free coffee and ready access to a copy machine – it is for the money! Money isn’t everything of course, but it certainly means a lot more to me than gimmicks like ice cream socials and casual Fridays. Because you let me wear jeans occasionally doesn’t mean I’ll overlook the fact my salary is too low.
What is you favorite lie from the boss? How often have you heard these before?
where do i start?…
“sorry, there’s nothing we can do”
“the decision has already been made”
“it’s out of my hands, i’d do it if it were up to me”
“sorry, no budget”
blah blah blah….
My favorite lie a company can give you is:
“It’s company policy” – The longer you work for a company, (most likely) the less this lie/excuse will work. I have been in the working field for about 7 years. Working for both small and very large companies, I have heard some weird “policies”, but at my current position I think I have heard the strangest/ stupidest “policy” so far. Being brand new (my 3rd day) I needed to make sure that I scheduled the un-paid time off I discussed with the HR rep during my interview. Unfortunately, they have a company “policy” that prohibits new employees (6 months or less) from taking any time off, including un-paid time off. Well, I had told the HR rep in my interveiw about my need to take these 3 days off, so why was I not informed of this weird “policy” then, you may ask? Since my lovely HR rep didn’t have this discussion in her notes, I apparently “never asked for it”. So when asked to see both her notes and this “policy” that prohibits new employees from taking non-paid time off, I was told that I can see neither, they are for manager’s eyes only, it’s “policy”! So my company has a policy against seeing a policy. Eventually I got the days off and a copy of the policy I wasn’t supposed to see, through my manager, who didn’t contradict the “policy” but said she found a way around it.
I would like to see if anyone has found a stranger more stupid “policy” or lie from a company.