Coffeesforclosers

Director Sales and Market Development

Paused Raises to avoid Layoffs

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Writing on the wall?

Last year was all about keeping top talent and this year no raises (and bonuses still paid out for the non commission folks). Is top talent leaving not a threat anymore? They say this is to avoid a RIF, but is this a bad sign on things to come?

Also, not a fan of raises every year just to do it especially as sales people can get a raise every day if we sell something, but my team was accustomed to it and this is a blow.

Is this concerning?

Good or Bad

Attached poll

Reading to far into it Bail All good in the hood

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

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38 comments

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I mean, at least they are showing that they care for the company as a whole. Sure it sucks about the no-raise thing and I'm positive that they can evaluate the lower-performing people(layoffs suck no matter what)

The best I can say is just have some feelers out just in case shit hits the fan.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Yeah, good idea. It is true that this is the most "fiscally responsible" way, but for bonuses to be paid out, kinda erks the team morale

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I totally understand that. It can be tough, but as a sales leader, sometimes you have to make a tough spin on what could look like a bad situation.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

I was at a company that had everyone take a pay cut, entry level to CEO for 4 months, instead of layoffs. It sucked but we all still had our jobs.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

I wish some execs took pay cuts here

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Voted C but meant A.
Raises are a nice to have in sales, especially with inflation and rising CoL.
It's no fun to not have them when you're used to it, but it's important to ensure the longevity of the company.
As someone with commission, don't worry about it. BUT as @antiASKHOLE said maybe cast a few lines.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Agreed, thanks

BTQ

Politicker

Account Manager

Not saying to jump shit but hedge and apply other places.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Yeah its always wise to have options, been getting some good recruitment action lately too which is odd seeing the market is so soft

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I said all good. Pro: you have a job at the holidays 🤷‍♀️

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

What would cause the raises to come back? They are scared and trying to stop the bleeding without a plan to move forward with growth. Get ready for a cut at the end of the year or beginning of the new year.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

FY24 looked flat from a growth perspective, expected to bring raises back Q3 of this fiscal (september)

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

So a full year. Yeah, might be worth getting your cash somewhere a little more guaranteed. That’s a tough risk

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

My company is actually going through the same thing so I'm interested to see the responses here.
Our CEO went from "we want to reward our top performers and give them a reason to stay" to "no raises for anyone for the remainder of 2023 (announced in September)"
They had similar reasoning as well - Stating that they were doing this to avoid having to cut any positions. Buuuut the difference here is that they have been slowly letting go of people so I am definitely starting to read into it more. While I do feel secure in my position, it definitely is starting to put the teams on edge & you can feel a shift in the vibes

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Security is so odd and fickle. I know im valued in my inner circle, but if told my inner circle puts me outside real quick

TheDude

Politicker

Partnerships Lead

Transparency is key to a turnaround.

In countries like Japan with interesting monetary policy, companies will actually move to pay cuts during inflationary/stagflation periods.

With that said, does your revenue funnel math make sense? If yes, great! If not, explore that, as the sales team headcount may be too high.

If no, does your product and addressable markets align? If yes, great! If no, what is leadership doing to pivot there?

Once you can answer these questions, you can decide whether you should leave or not. Additionally, consider the local laws in your state/province regarding layoffs/severance. If there is truly writing on the wall and it's possible you won't get anything, time to start taking interviews.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

I would get a severance, but the market is so weird that severance for 8-12 weeks goes real quick

TheDude

Politicker

Partnerships Lead

If you haven't done so already, pay off your credit card debts asap and build an emergency fund 👍🏻
Product and quotas looking ok?

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Always have a foot out the door - always be interviewing.

Do you feel the company is doing well on their own? Maybe they are gearing up for something big next year?

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

ABI, i like it. They acquire 3 companies a year, its growth by acquisition these days

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

I'd prefer this to cuts. My questions would be about how much time does thus buy, what targets need to be hit to allow the path to raises/hiring need to be hit, and what the burn rate is on both.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Solid points

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

Whenever these situations happen, I always pay attention to what 'sacrifices' the executives are making. Did the CEO take a 40% pay cut to keep the company afloat?
No? Then why am I taking the hit? If yes, then companys probably circling the drain anyways. Either way, I'd look at other places.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Yeah it should start at the top, his bonus was only 8 figures this year so................FML

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

Taking a bonus while telling the rest of the org they dont get raises is wild. Def time to dip.

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

Neither? More of a sign of the times in my opinion.

tulip22

Good Citizen

The question I would ask is how much time does this buy your company? You guys might not be long for this world anyway

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

Start shopping around, they might come back and say that not doing raises didnt help enough and they still have to make layoffs. If you work at a public company, id look at the stock and see how its been doing the past year, if its downtrending the past year, not a good look.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

dropping pretty steadily though coming off record highs

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

if its down on the year, thats just good indication of bad fundamentals, you can look more into that to see profits, how much debt and everything to get a better idea. But look at zoominfo they released shit earnings loss 1bn in market value in one day. their stock been steadily declining the past year and a half. you know if it keeps going down theyre gonna have some layoffs and if they dont upward mobility will be harder in the company

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Like all things it depends. How much do you like working there? It’s not a good sign, but it shows they are doing everything to limit layoffs.

This can be just a temporary fix, so I recommend learning about new roles and be picky

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

I am happy, but i think i have to spread the seed

kindagoodae

Executive

Account Executive

As always, it's starts at the top. What are the executives doing to save money? Are they taking cuts? Start there and make your decisions appropriately.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

They are certainly not taking cuts

kindagoodae

Executive

Account Executive

Ah, yeah then as long as you feel safe through the holidays I would start looking at the new year. IMO it starts with leadership and that is a symptom of bad leadership.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This is like 2008 in my experience. Whole company had raises paused, bonuses paused (and ultimately never to return for anyone also getting commission). Company added PTO weeks off to get that overhead off and save facilities electricity. Most of those were resumed once things ticked back up, and there was no major RIF.

It’s the economically sensible thing to do. And may mean that your company is being prudent. That’s not necessarily a bad thing overall, though it’s not fun to lose perks.

Others have said to have feelers out there so you have a plan of this doesn’t work out, but it just might. Best of luck!

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Always be Looking my friend

Yournextheadofsales

Contributor

Sr Account Executive

I can't vote. I feel like there are other ways to reduce costs than to lose your most valuable resource- your people. I am not sure I would bail, but I definitely want to understand more. The fact that you asked this question means others think the same thing. Is your top talent going to stay without an opportunity to make more money? More than likely, bottom-tier performers will stay and the A-Team will head out.

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Coffeesforclosers

Paused Raises to avoid Layoffs

Good or Bad

38 comments

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