First and foremost, I am very glad that Michael has a job. They have been very good to him. He got this job right after Dell let him go because they didn't have any more projects for him to work on. It was great that they were willing to give him a chance, even though my uncle works for the same company. They let him off for my appointments and are giving him a week of paid leave when the baby is born. It has been a good job. He gets to use SolidWorks, which is the program he taught a class for at K-State. It's been a good job. He enjoys it for the most part. And best of all, it's a solid and stable job. We don't have to worry about him losing it because the company ran out of work. The company always has work for him to do. It's been a good job.
All of that being said.... After over 4 months with the company, he is FINALLY getting his 90 day review. (Took them long enough, right??) Michael can do and has done for that company, things that no one else there can do. No one else knows how. His bosses seek his assistance on projects because he is so well versed in the program they are running. Michael thought it would take him a year or so to get the hang of things and become an asset to the company. Clearly, he has done that far sooner than he originally anticipated. So after his 90 day review we were expecting his salary to be increased to the level of his value and his performance. We were expecting for him to make up the gap that was created when he took this job and took a 12.5% annual pay cut. But that didn't happen today.
They gave him a 5% raise, which is good, I suppose, but it just doesn't seem like enough. It still makes our mortgage payments a struggle. It still makes money tight. It doesn't leave much wiggle room (if any) for me to possibly be able to quit working and stay home with our little girl. It's just disappointing. He's worth so much more than that. We were in no position to ask for more when he started working here, he needed a job. But now he's got experience and he's showed that he's valuable to the company, and it just doesn't seem like they are appreciating him.
So now I'm torn. This job has been great, but a starting engineer fresh out of school (which Michael is not) is still making 15% more than he is. They are not even getting close to paying him what he's worth. He has turned down at least half a dozen interviews with great, reputible companies since taking this job. Many of those companies would be willing to pay him what he's worth, or at least get closer than AeTR is. So I'm torn on what to do. We're stable (enough) financially (for the moment). But we are going to have medical bills very soon and a significantly reduced income (while I'm on maternity leave). Not to mention, I don't want to return to work full-time after the baby arrives. So would it be better for Michael to entertain some of those other job offers to keep us in a better place financially? Who knows. I guess we'll have some things to discuss when he gets home from work.
*sigh* I wanted today to turn out better than this. :(
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