Deflationary Income

Writing this post makes me feel….angry? Sad? Let down? I do not even know what to feel anymore.

My company’s fiscal year is the calendar year which means that the year ends on 31 December each year and bonus and increments are announced on 1 March. I was never involved in this process as I was on contract employment with the company until recently.

If you recall in my earlier post, when my original contract ended in April/07, I extended the contract for another 1.5 months without any demands for increment or bonus, out of goodwill. When that contract ended, I said my Farewell and took a break for 6 weeks. I was not intending to come back to the company anymore.

But my boss needed me to help her through the Budget cycle. I was the only one with enough knowledge about the Budget application which I implemented for the hotels in the whole of Asia Pacific. I had asked for X amount of money; however, the company was not willing to pay me that amount.

My boss promised that she will fight for a one time bonus or some other form of compensation to make up for the lower-than-requested salary amount. She was really desperate and needed me to come back badly. I agreed to come back and help her out, again out of goodwill (haven't you realised that I am a nice person?! Hee!). I wanted a contract position but she refused – I think she has gotten smarter!

So anyways, I received my increment and bonus letter a month back. It was a double whammy as my bonus got pro-rated and my increment was a pathetic 1%! ONE freaking percent! Didn’t I read somewhere that the inflation in Singapore is 5%? It was not even enough to cover the GST increase from 5% - 7%!!

I was very disappointed and I told my boss frankly that I felt that the increment was a total insult. They should not even have bothered to give me an increment. For the long hours that I put in and the commitment that I have given to the job, I feel angered that this is what I am getting!

I could go on and on and on about this. But to cut the long story short, I have now decided to prioritize my life and make sure that work does not come first. Friends and family will come first and I will not hesitate to drop everything that I am doing so that I can be on-time for a dinner appointment, for example. I am also going to keep a lookout for other opportunities outside the company.

So, anyone wanna do dinner/lunch with me? Anyone has a job for me? :)