I emailed my big boss after two years in the job and said that I wanted to renegotiate my contract and either wanted a payrise or a day off a week for less money. He wrote me back immediately and said that he will get back to me asap about it.
The next day he said that he was going to handball it to one of my junior bosses pending the outcome of the 360 reviews that they were about to conduct.
To cut a long story shorter, a month ago, I did the 360 review where 6 people I work with are asked a series of questions of what they think of my performance. Weeks later - when I asked about what the hell was going on with my initial request, I was asked to fill out another form that detailed what I thought of my performance.
Finally today I sat down with my junior boss - over a month later - to discuss my 360 review, I received a ton of paperwork and skimmed over it - what I read was surprisingly positive. My boss bought me a tuna salad for lunch and we discussed my 360 review. After about an hour he got a call and said he had to go. I butted in and asked him what about my request and he said that he wasn't in a position to give me either a payrise or a day off a week. He said I had to do a some other thing - can't remember the initials for it - before my request would be considered.
It's not the payrise or even the day off a week I was after. It was really just to gain some insight into what makes our company tick, and what the hell we are doing with our lives trying to keep this corporate beast alive.
I see my workplace like that MS game mechwarrior where all the staff are peddling away like mad powering the robot while my bosses are in the head having a great deal of trouble keeping the retarded beast steady.
There is so much wastage in corporate Australia, I don't think it can ever be fixed.
nothing in almost 3 years; I can't even be bothered to ask for anything any more... so I just turn up late, go home early, talk in the kitchen, if they call me I don't answer...
I don't even mind being fired 
I still do a good job, but they don't get the extras previous employers enjoyed.
Pay rise, ha ha.
Gday Oliver. What industry do you work in? Many still have pay freezes in place, if it a european or US owned company then they may be directed to not give a pay rise because business may be crap in the parent country.
This may sound harsh but the majority of the corporate world is all about greed, in particular how much the top management, directors and CEO's can make. To do that they need to screw the guys underneath them - ie you, me and the shareholders in the company (if it's public).
It sounds like your boss is blowing you off - he probably thinks that free tuna lunch should shut you up and make you think he's a great guy. You getting a payrise may affect his kpi's hence his bonus hence that is why he hasn't done anything about it - he probably hopes you will forget about it.
Probably the easiest and most successful way to get a pay rise is to change companies or roles in your company. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you are good at your job, the company (and especially your boss) needs you then nothing gets your boss and HR more focused on retaining you is the threat of resignation (make sure you have a new job to go to though
). If you are easily replaced then this may be the perfect chance for them to get rid of you.
Good luck.
best to maybe look for a new job and negotiate your conditions with a new employer then tell your existing your pulling the pin. no point negotiating any further with existing. your boss would have looked at you to see what worth you have in the company. if they were worried you were worth too much to lose for your pay they would have negotiated.
btw are you earning the shareholders a lot of money, or providing a service that is indispensible?? welcome to corporate hell!
some companys have the culture of working 5 days at 9 hours a day and cant understand someone who wants to works less. you are then not earning as much for the company and they need more staff to cover the time required to complete the work.
also if they have grown and spent to much on gowing they could be under the pump cash flow wise so it might be problematic.
Oliver,
Two years? I've been in my job for over ten. Welcome to the corporate world.... 
My company is a big multi-national - the worst kind.
Your boss has already told you he's not in any position to give you what you want and his boss won't have any incentive to do it. So you can forget your request, they're just stuffing around to make it look like they're listening to you. To me it sounds like you fall into the majority band - ie you're not one of the drones because if you were, they'd be moving towards getting rid of you and you're not one of the exceptional ones because almost nobody is. So you may be a good and valuable employee but not so much that they're actually go out of their way to give you something in return for it.
In my experience you have three choices -
1. Cop it on the chin and keep going
2. Get another role within the same company. I've done this twice so far and it hasn't netted me a zac extra in pay but I have ended up with conditions that are a little better
3. Quit and get another job. Before I took on this job I was a contractor for about 15 years so I used to do this a LOT. When you negotiate your new job, make sure you twist their arm and get as much as you can up front because chances are you'll get bugger all in coming years. I did that in this job and am sooo glad... we've had payrises since but they've usually been less than the CPI so I'm slowly going backwards
oliver are you saying you are unhappy on 10k a month with 1-2k bonuses?
lifes tuff hey. 
Buster,
while your union was securing 16% over 3 years did they also make sure that all of the jobs they were fighting for stayed in australia?
no point securing pay rises when there is no jobs left because of it
ahh, you beat me to it ginger......
Two jobs. In one job I work one month per year every year for the past 15 years.
The rest of the time I work a regular job - currently in corporate hell where a spade is not a spade - it's got some sort of abbreviation.
I usually either quit my regular job to do my other job or just take holidays at that time.
Oh here we go - and that's a good thing why exactly? lol
i
If you dont take a pay rise each year it becomes an inflation pay cut.
it should be more like 6 percent each yer to cover cpi and inflation
dont get to far behind inflation else you will have to move to the sandy desert to build a house!!!!
There has been some news and so I thought I'd give an update.
Since my 360 review I lost the vibe to go into work, and magically every week since that day there was some issue, so I couldn't go to work for at least one day out of the five. During that time I got my C.V. together and started looking around for alternatives.
A month has passed and this week I ran out of valid excuses to take a day off. This morning I went to work feeling pretty p1ssed and some new guy suggested that I should do my work in a certain way. I responded that he should mind his own business and he had no right to to micromanage me. My boss overheard this and pulled me aside, as he could see a negative confrontation developing.
To cut a longer story short. I was on the edge of a cliff and he pulled me from it. I was more than ready to throw the the past few years down the toilet over this minor issue, but my boss agreed with me and decided it was in all our best interests for me to work 4 days a week.
WhoooHooo Fcking Hooray - There is a god afterall.
Anyone looking to escape "Corporate Hell" I have a Kite Surfing, Sail Board and/or Sailing Instructor postition working at Hilton Iru Fushi in the Maldives.
Must have IKO or Sailing equivalent in order to get work Visa.
Second language a big advantage.
Send your resume and a photo to [email protected] for more information
Anyone looking to escape "Corporate Hell" I have a Kite Surfing, Sail Board and/or Sailing Instructor postition working at Hilton Iru Fushi in the Maldives.
Must have IKO or Sailing equivalent in order to get work Visa.
Second language a big advantage.
Send your resume and a photo to [email protected] for more information
There is no god. I came into work on Monday and they changed all the rules. There were all these draconian conditions attached, saying it would be reviewed every fortnight and depending on the business rules bla bla bla I could be made to come in five days a week. I thought about it overnight and wrote my boss an email this morning - the subject was: I quit
I might go for the second job also, does anyone know where I can buy a second language and IKO? I tried on ebay but there was nothing going.
You think you have problems. How about this guy??
Timing Is Everything
A guy shows up late for work. The boss yells, "You should've been here at 8:30!"
The guy replies, "Why? What happened at 8:30?"
