Am I just a number?

About a year and a half ago, I took on a new position with the company I work for. I was "loaned" to another department for the duration of a large capital project. As it is a position of greater responsibility (and knowing the company likes to add work without first asking), I defined a clear scope of work, which was agreed to by management, then asked for (and received) about a 10% raise.

You should know that, being in Alberta, the cost of living increase reported by the government for the last year was 4.6%, making my raise effectively about 5.4%. Living here, I can tell you that the actual cost of living increase over the last year is more like 8-10%. Hardly anyone takes the $8-10 per hour jobs, as you can't make ends meet with such a "low" wage.

But I digress. Back to the story:

Since taking the position they have more than doubled my scope of work, and yet no attempt to increase my renumeration was made. So, about 7 months ago, I wrote a letter to the multitude of managers (I report to at least 5 people now) who have some say in my daily grind at work. The result? I'm not sure yet.

I had a meeting with one of the department heads, and he could not understand why I would want more money for doing two to three times the amount of work that was originally defined. I responded that the way I see it, if I'm doing the work of 3-4 people, I should at least get 2 persons salary. Now, I'm not really asking for that much, but they like to beat you down, so if I want a 10% increase, I scare them by asking for 20%, and let the manager feel he did his part by "talking me down" to 10%.
This manager told me he couldn't afford to pay me any more, and offered to discuss transferring me permanently to the department I was loaned to, as they have the resources to meet my request. Apparently, this idea was well received, and it was promised that my "new" manager would have a meeting with me about it.

Well, about 4 months later, after I sent several reminders, this manager had a short meeting with me, told me they would be happy to have me in the group, and indicated he would issue a letter to me, clarifying position, scope, remuneration, etc.

That was almost 3 months ago. Yup. you guessed it, nothing since. Zip. Nada.

It's amazing that the company can even function as it stands, when management does so little, and forces their employees to "go above and beyond" at all times, without even any recognition that they are working so hard. At a recent staff meeting, the management indicated that the were happy the staff was working at 110% capacity, but everybody needs to double that amount to meet the demands. (Sweatshop, anybody? There's another good blog on Employee Engagement here.)

The company is hemorrhaging good employees, who are leaving for greener pastures, and these are being replaced with whoever applies for the position with the lowest salary expectations. It's amazing how many people I deal with on a daily basis who really are not qualified, and should not be doing the job they are assigned.

So, after waiting about 7 months, what are the results? I still don't know! If the corporate ladder-climbers would at least have the guts to say "NO", it would be one thing, but they continuously defer the decision, or, through inaction or sheer apathy, never get around to making the offer. Don't get me wrong, the people I work with on a daily basis have good things to say about me, and it's not that have not earned a promotion or wage increase, it simply that management seems to think we are all just numbers on an accounting sheet, and the smaller the number, the bigger the bonus they receive at the end of the year. Bah!

So, after giving them the chance, and going through the my recent health "wake-up call", I'm now looking for other, more gainful employment, and already have been advised of two openings, which I will be pursuing in the upcoming week. The company certainly doesn't care about my lifestyle or health, so it's up to me to look after my own, and when I view it that way, I don't understand why I didn't leave earlier.