The Totem Pole

I got an interesting e-mail. Actual company names have been changed.

"I had some interesting news you should keep somewhat confidential. The contractor rates at [Client X] went up again effective [date withheld]. But here's the real catch: only some contractors were given this benefit. Apparently, the managers went through some sort of vote on who should be allowed to have their rate back to the [original date] levels. I'm not certain how high level these managers were. My [Consulting Company A] recruiter estimated about 80% of our staff got the nod. I don't know about [Consulting Company B], but there's a few from [Consulting Company C] I had lunch with on Friday that had the same news to share. The consulting firms and [Client X] have to keep a lid on it, so we're not supposed to tell. I think it's pretty crappy the way they are playing favorites, and secrets like that never really stay buried anyway."

I can't be surprised about this sort of thing. The company in question has been having problems and has been trying to save money, but undoubtedly they lost some good consultants when they dropped their rates, maybe some of their best.

The decision process they mentioned reminds me of an old way of determining raises that was used at a company I worked for in the past. The process was called the Totem Pole. Employees were ranked by managers, supposedly based on performance. Their names were then placed on a graph as the x coordinates in order of this ranking, and their salaries became the y coordinates. They then did some least-squares method to draw a line which represented what their salaries should be based on this ranking. If your salary was above the line, you were over-paid and didn't get a good raise (maybe cost of living). If you were below the line, you were under-paid compared to the other people and would get a raise.

The whole process of drawing a pretty graph was all to make the whole thing seem more objective and scientific. The ranking, was, of course, highly subjective. In any case, if you don't get a raise in such a system you know that either they think you're already over-paid, or you are at the bottom of the totem pole. Either way is not good. If they think you are over-paid, you can kiss any raises goodbye for the foreseeable future. If you're at the bottom of the totem pole, you not only can kiss your raises goodbye, but you may be on the short list for the next layoff.

Still, knowledge is power. Once you know you're at the bottom of the totem pole, you can try to improve your ranking somehow. If you don't think that's possible because you're already performing well, you can just hope things work out or you can start looking elsewhere.

Yeah, I know. Doesn't have much to do with programming, but it's it's just one aspect of life programmers have to deal with in the trenches.