Would you ever turn down a raise?

[Eastern Roamer]

Originally Posted by CaptainNJ

i think you need to see a psychiatrist. if i offered an employee a raise and he turned it down, i would not look at that as a good thing. i at least thought you were going to talk about extra responsibility or a change in position that you dont want. to just turn down more money for the same job is insane.

I agree. However, there is one situation that I've encountered... my co-worker was offered a raise and change in title to "team lead". He had already been taking on additional responsibility so he thought it would just be a raise and title, and not actually a new position. He was doing the same job, after all.

We work for a fairly large company, there are a lot of different kinds of jobs, and you cannot apply to internal positions unless you have been in your current job for at least a year. He didn't realize that by accepting the raise, he was stuck and could not apply for positions elsewhere in the firm for a year.

So, unless your obligating yourself to something, like signing a contract, I can't imagine why you would turn down a raise. That's just dumb. Another situation might be if you're in sales and you already make more in commissions than you would in salary in management.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by SpeedyAZ

Actually there is ONE reason why I'd turn down a raise and I already know of 2 friends who HAVE taken promotions but turned DOWN raises with those promotions. Reason: Getting put in a higher TAX BRACKET!

This is especially common for married filing jointly because at around $140K (2012), you can be put in either the 25% tax bracket or 28% tax bracket. 3% can certainly make a fair difference in today's economy so it isn't always in ones best interest to take a pay raise.

I'm single and unless I decide to get married, I probably won't ever reach the top of my tax bracket to be put into the next highest one.

This makes absolutely no sense. Tax brackets are at the margins. EG:

The first $10K you earn might not be taxed at all
The next $10K might be taxed at 10%: so that's $1000 in taxes
The next $10 above that might be taxed ad 15%, so that's $1500 in taxes.

So, on a $30,000 salary, you'd be paying $2500 in taxes. This is just an example to show how tax rates work. The actual tax brackets are different from this example, but the follow the sam principle.

[Thinking-man]

Thanks again everyone.
i finally had my review.....
they gave me a great review and a good raise and i didn't object.
i've been here for two years.....

the first year, i was doing pretty much stuff that was a bit different than i was hired for.....i got a 8.5% raise. This year, my role was changed from a Systems Engineer to a PM role, with ALOT more responsibilities and MANY more things on my plate....my raise was 8.3%.

i'm not complaining. Simply getting a raise in this economy seems like enough reason to be thankful, let alone an 8% raise.....but it kind of bugs me that my raise was actually less during the year that my responsibilities were maybe 5 times as much!

I don't think i'll mention anything to anyone......although i kind of want to!
i don't want to come across as greedy (although i couldn't blame someone for calling me that, after i re-read what i just wrote here!)

[slackjaw]

I did it before at my previous company, which worked out surprisingly well. Boss said he had no clue how to handle either a declined raise or one person with a different vacation policy so he gave me the raise anyway and let me take the extra vacation with an unofficial off the books wink deal. Only negative there is that deal is obviously only good as long as have same Boss.

I'm probably going to try to trade raise for vacation again this year, for similar reasons as thread starter. Due to a few fortunate opportunities involving talent wars and being poached my salary is probably a bit higher than it should be, definitely on the high end for software developer in my area. Plus we definitely don't need the money, and with wife also high salary + no kids + no mortgage so much of a raise goes to taxes anyway.

[manderly6]

Originally Posted by Thinking-man

Thanks again everyone.
i finally had my review.....
they gave me a great review and a good raise and i didn't object.
i've been here for two years.....

the first year, i was doing pretty much stuff that was a bit different than i was hired for.....i got a 8.5% raise. This year, my role was changed from a Systems Engineer to a PM role, with ALOT more responsibilities and MANY more things on my plate....my raise was 8.3%.

i'm not complaining. Simply getting a raise in this economy seems like enough reason to be thankful, let alone an 8% raise.....but it kind of bugs me that my raise was actually less during the year that my responsibilities were maybe 5 times as much!

I don't think i'll mention anything to anyone......although i kind of want to!
i don't want to come across as greedy (although i couldn't blame someone for calling me that, after i re-read what i just wrote here!)

So you went from wanting to turn down your raise to complaining it wasn't enough. Classic!

[Thinking-man]

Originally Posted by manderly6

So you went from wanting to turn down your raise to complaining it wasn't enough. Classic!

lol
yeah, basically.

The comments of people here was convincing regarding the fact that refusing a raise when responsibilities and level of effort have increase dramatically is for the most part foolish.

[S2000]

I too am reluctant to jump from my current IT Project Manager job to a Program Manager role due to the same many posted here with also a spouse with high salary. I just don't see the benefit of making another 25-35k in pay if it goes to the government.

[Asheville Native]

Never turn down a raise, for it effects all future raises as long as you work there.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by Thinking-man

hi everyone,
i was wondering about what i'm going to do.....i work as an Engineer with 7-8 years of experience. I've been at the current small company for 2 years now and my review is up.
i've performed well over the past year, obtained my PMP, have several satisfied customers from the past year, and i'm sure that i will be offered a raise....but i'm content with how much i'm getting paid. It is more than 20k more than my friends working elsewhere, and the company is not doing as well as it could be doing right now (although things are turning around rapidly). The reason i'm considering declining the raise is the facts mentioned above, as well as the thinking about the higher paid folks being cut first, should there ever be a downsizing.....

my question to you is whether you'd ever turn down a raise, and what's the best way to go about doing that strategically if you were to do that? should i ask for something else instead? (like more Vacation time, etc.?)

The people who get paid more are done so often because they are considered more valuable, so I don't get where your idea that you will get cut first comes from. Also, the people who get paid more often are the ones deciding who goes, so again...I don't get what you mean.

However, if you can legitimately trade the money for more time off (which I doubt, and btw, that really would make you more expendable), that could be an interesting proposition.

Lol on the 'raise doesn't equal the increase in my responsibilities' part. My wife is going through that right now. She was just promoted to manager, and says the same thing. I enjoy it when things like this happen, because I think a lot of people don't realize what the people above them are doing or how much work it actually takes to make more money.