This is my very first article that is not about the legal profession – but it might as well be.
I know a recently graduated professional, finally free to make his mark on the world, and eager as hell to go out and make something of himself. It is not an easy job market out there, as we have all heard. It apparently has something to do with us evil Boomers having ruined the world, but that is a topic for another day.
This young man, who I will call Alan, submitted ten million applications and finally had two job opportunities. One was in sales and paid pretty well. The other was exactly what he had trained for with a super big company. He was a bit disappointed with the salary offered, which was substantially lower than the sales job, and just barely enough to cover his living expenses, but he decided to play the long game. He took the second offer so that he could gain the experience that he needed and race up the corporate ladder. What finally made the decision for him was the company’s promise that in six months, following their financial year end, they would review his compensation at the same time that they adjusted salaries for all of their other employees. Alan was eager to show them why he would deserve that raise.
So off goes Alan. He does everything that is asked of him, and then some. He is working like a fiend during long hours in difficult conditions, picking up the slack whenever others need some help, impressing his bosses, and well on his way to the Canadian dream. He is thrilled with the company, and they are thrilled with him. His boss loves him, and so does his bosses’ boss. Alan is sure that very soon he will get that raise and have some spare change rattling in his pocket. Maybe he will even be able to start filling his car’s gas tank right to the top without a second thought. He even dreams of fixing the muffler.
Six months go by, and everyone in the company gets their salary review and their increases, except for Alan and a few others who joined the company at the same time as him. Apparently, although his boss, and his boss’s boss, are all for keeping the promise that was made to him, Alan’s boss’s boss’s boss has decided that those who joined the company mid-financial year have to wait eighteen months for a raise. He doesn’t seem to care much about whatever promises were made when Alan was hired.
So now Alan is working nine to five, not available to cover emergencies, and polishing up his resume. Just one more case of today’s young people not being willing to work as hard as we Boomers did.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.