Sorry if this turns political. I work for multinational engineering company which had a turnover of €803m in 2023. This week we received our payrise...1% with 1.5% in a one off payment if we hit a EBIT target in February 2026. Obviously feeling on the shop floor isn't great. But people have mortgages and kids and feel they can't take action. I think the company feels it can take advantage of people because of their (misplaced) loyality. I'm just a bit fed up of rich companies taken employees for grated.
What do you do for them, is it a role you could easily move to another company to do? Are you easily replaceable or would it be difficult to replace your skills/experience
We normally have appraisals but they said they ain't doing them this year they will give everybody a letter . 0% pay rise with a one off 1.8% payment .
Reminds me of a conversation a few weeks ago about people saying their strong work ethic meant they always put in 100% regardless. You end up in situations like this where businesses take the piss and squeeze you dry.
Not forgetting they also have to pay extra national insurance to employ you - whether you agree or not, that is part of your 'package'
Turnover isn't the figure to be judging them on. How much profit are they making? What is the size of the workforce and how much in real terms is this pay rise costing them?
Unlikely that any of us on here know the actual circumstances, so it's pretty impossible or meaningless trying to answer. I'd just add that maybe the company has gone as far as it reasonably can in giving what it's given (on top of meeting additional employer costs landed on it recently). They are not all the devil, far from it. If they are a really poor employer then move. "work hard, but work harder on yourself than you do on your job". (I know you've done stuff ).
I can't find a figure for the whole group. But the UK part of the group made post tax profit of £4.8m from a £12.5m turnover. Our workforce is quite small. We have 13 on the shop floor and around 23 back office and management staff.
We manufacture quite niche fastener. It's used in Aerospace and automotive mainly but other industries like renewable energy and military equipment. The jobs are quite niche and take about two years worth of training to become fully competent.
I worked for a multi national engineering company, turnover £23.1B, they were still paying a 5.2% payrise last year if you want a benchmark, and still operate bonus schemes. Firmly believe the pay &conditions are a legacy of having strong unions, they used to have multiple unions for both works and staff and joint union committees. Admittedly this didn't always prevent redundancies and the eventual closure of production but engineering jobs are still going at BAE Brough if you look into it and they still recruit technical apprentices if anyone has children or grandchildren looking to get into engineering.
Working within aerospace would be looked on favourably by BAE, they've been recruiting but not sure of specific roles, also Siemens, obviously, but they have less technical opportunities.
It's sad to hear that you're not being looked after Casual. The trickle down effect is one of the biggest myths of the 20th Century.
No it's not. It's the company's obligation to pay it, if it wants to operate in the UK and have British workers. An obligatory company tax is not part of an employee's 'package'... It's ridiculous slave mentality to think that.
I assumed as they were part of a larger group they might have been able to do that with some costs going into the other parts, but yeah it's a very impressive number if not.
I worked at a very well known firm in Hull. They employed hundreds if not thousands of local people. They were an American company with plants all over the World. Always paid decent money, above the local average, but it was hard work and everyone knew that. Union got stronger and stronger, pay went up and up. Some departments were getting ridiculously high wages for shorter and shorter hours. And every year without fail the union asked for more and more. The workforce was gradually reduced as a result. More and more of 'our stuff' was being made in our sister plants in India, Italy and Egypt.......cheaper. Eventually the Hull plant closed down. It employs no-one now. I left the firm 30 odd years ago and went self employed because I saw what was coming.
