Gov Contractors Hit by Contract Cycles
Government contractors are experiencing widespread job insecurity due to contract cycles and cost-cutting measures. This results in abrupt changes, pressure to accept increased workloads, and a feeling of being disposable, often accompanied by dismissive or exploitative management practices. The lack of job stability and perceived disrespect are causing significant distress.
SOURCES (60)
“I'm a generalist Network Admin that survived all rounds of layoffs since 2022. Naturually, the last one(s) standing pick up more of the slack. It's just my boss and myself in the IT department but by the end of August, the company is closing its…”
“Prob lile 75-85k. Im making more so seniosr staff level when it comes to (not my industry senior staff. Dont want to put too much of my info out) Senior staff in my industry makes around 115+. Im making 97.5k as a staff rn. Plus 10% bonus”
“Yeah, you're definitely underpaid. $18.50/hr for a solo manager running two locations, handling purchasing, repairs, social, and a work experience program? That's not a retail clerk role - that's a general manager. In most Canadian markets, that position runs $24-30/hr base before bonuses. The vintage audio repair alone is a specialized skill shops pay premium for. Getting 30% of 5-6 jobs a year is pennies - you should either be charging shop rate for those hours or getting a meaning”
“This wont happen. They take advantage of the fact that salaried employees are exempt from overtime compensation which is insane. Back when there was no internet or phones to be constantly connected it was probably ok. But today Companies take advantage of this. To make it worse we have offshoring pressure and AI so supply of white collar labor is huge but demand hasn't really increased significantly to meet the supply. This is why comoanoes can have churn and burn models. Even corproate role”
“My enterprise AE was working at least 50 hours and I’m not including the driving. But I do hear claims of people working 30 hours and earning around this. Not looking for exceptions, how many hours on average are these earners working? submitted by /u/techi-turtle [link] [comments]”
“They sent out an email about it last year. At least I got one from someone at the exec level”
“Same for me last year. The A1s this year got fully meeting and my manager described it as being because the firm is doing better this year. Sounds like it’s the standard going forward that you can never get above meeting in your first year”
“There are people with Masters degrees earning in the 40k bracket. This is the world created for us to live in.”
“The salary gap is real and no amount of hustle culture nonsense changes that. But I'd push back gently on the "rigged" framing -- not because it's wrong on the numbers, but because it's not useful once you've acknowledged it. Here's what I mean. When I was building my business, I had zero funding, zero connections in the industry, and was competing against firms that had 40 years of relationships. If I'd framed that as "rigged" -- which it kind of was”
“I'm going to be the Master Conspirator to slow down weekend work production to 10 percent at my Frozen Warehouse. This will leave all the work to the supervisor lol. F this penny pinching skeleton crew management and "Operational efficiency metric" horse crap. I started 5 years ago, there was no one at my department, no boss, no co workers. I just grab my frozen pallet from the frozen truck load and replenish my part of the warehouse. It was great and a dream come true. I got it do”
“I recently found out that I got a raise and I have no one to share it with (other than my husband). I am a first time mom and I just returned from maternity leave a month and a half ago. I found out this week I got a raise. It was very unexpected. It isn’t much, the monthly increase will cover just under one full week of daycare so that’s cool! I can’t share with my mom friends because they are all SAHMs, and I don’t think they’d take kindly to that. And they already judge me for working and sen”
“I ended up going for high pay, mostly because I wanted to give provide good experiences to my kids (and turns out many aren't very cheap). Also it turns out that high comp can make a path to FIRE quite realistic, so if you don't necessarily like the premise of "working for the man" for your whole life, FIRE is a alternative door that high comp brings within reach.”
“Poor RISE, I see their schedules during meetings and it always looks insane on top of low pay. I hope they can find better”
“I don't understand why some people refuse to leave their jobs. Yeah you get used to it and you make friends and whatnot, but you've had clear and obvious signs that there are no promotions in sight. 13 years with no title or duty changes isn't a coincidence. They are obviously very happy to keep you at the level you're at since you know the environment after being there for so long + being on a lower salary "saves" them money. Take the leap. At least look for work in ot”
“How do I manage these prices? I make 80k rn and maybe 150k-200k if i actually get my shit together baby moms is 50k topping out at 90-200 when she finishes nursing the problem is my pay is dependent on how i grind. it’s 50k if i just work regular and don’t try. but i’m starting to panic cause my baby moms doesn’t want us to do the african route which is grabbing a nanny overseas and helping them for childcare. (it’s the only reason my mom and dad were able to make money the way they did but dad”
“Personally, I always ask for at least 20% more than what I actually want and negotiate from there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It also depends on the location. I'm in California, so are we talking Bay Area pay or somewhere else? It also depends on how badly I want the job. I'm willing to accept less if I'm desperate, but tbh, I haven't been desperate in years. I used to be super timid about negotiating too. I'm talking asking for a $0.50 raise way back befor”
“Coworkers aren’t friends. Colleagues don’t become family. Your coworkers are in your life because your availability and need for money, coincide. These people literally get paid to be around you. Don’t try to make it more complicated than that. There will be people, who make the leap and become friends outside of work, but those are rare. Companies also don’t usually pick the best candidate. They pick the one who wants the paychecks, but doesn’t care about the responsibilities.”
“Email just came through today with my raise for this year. Got all of a 2% increase. Seeing that when I'm already the lowest paid member of the IT staff across the whole organization is just so insulting. Do I just reply to the email with the official inflation chart from last year showing that I'm technically making less money now? submitted by /u/mcshuggets [link] [comments]”
“I misspoke, I understdood 3 jobs in 3 years, it seemed high to me. Why didn't it work out before?”
“In an unacceptable situation I leave for a better lower paying one when it will still cover my expenses including investing for retirement and saving for an occasional vacation. I don't regret the 25% cut I took leaving Amazon (after my seventh manager and second reorganization) for my fourth startup.”
“Maybe stop folk retiring or using as many contractors. Just to be clear it's not crazy turnover, but it's definitely a leakage of valuable knowlege when it happens.”
“So ito na ngaaaa... I've been with the same company for 3 years now. I started as an Admin Assistant and I recently got promoted to Deputy Head. Ofc I was happy kasi it kinda felt like all the hard work finally paid off. Then I received my promotion letter. That's when I saw my new total monthly salary: ₱29,000 . 😭 Hindi ko alam, pero seeing the actual number in writing suddenly put everything into perspective. Ang baba pala talaga hahahaha. Before this, I honestly thought okay naman yu”
“I joined my current company (FAANG adjacent, gig/fintech uber doordash stripe etc.) about 2 years ago, one of my coworkers is about to cliff so hard that his TC is going to drop below what it was when he was hired as a mid level eng. He is actively interviewing and will probably leave some time this year, he's made the final rounds at two other places and is a sharp guy. What I don't understand is why it feels as though upper level leadership at these companies are just completely inflex”
“Someone I met has owned his own tech support company for a long time. I started working for him 1.5 years ago. On paper, I'm a contractor. I'm working part time and have yet to get a pay raise. When I first started the job I was told I would eventually be working full time. Also, I've been using my car more and more for moving equipment around. When I first started the job, I never had a car, let alone agreed to use it. Aside from my hourly pay I don't get compensated for the car”
“For context, I live in Canada so everything is in CAD. I currently work in a 70k CAD role as a project coordinator in a unionized position. I recently was offered an 85k CAD role at a different organization but it is excluded. The problem is that I asked for 95K but they informed me that the most they can provide is 85K. The current breakdown is: Current job: - 70K base - 3 weeks vacation - included unionized position - strong pension plan - strong health care benefits - 4 days remote, 1 office”
“There’s your mistake. Never “upgrade” your life when things are precarious. Live at the same level and save everything .”
“100%, that time and money has to come out of somewhere. It’s standard materials and labor. If the job requires that, then it should be part of the pay structure. They want to pay only the labor (your craft at work) and expect the shipping is free.”
“Well ya. When you get your way with people like that there's no support to help carry you across the finish line. Sounds like he'll. Was the pay worth the misery?”
“I have been in my field for 12 years. I've been at every type of company and have gotten burned plenty of times by working way more than what I was paid for. At my old job I made 48k my first year in what should have been characterized as a senior role. I'd show up at 9am and leave around 9:30pm most nights. My pay never caught up with what I was producing. I really like my current job but I've only been here about 5 months. They hired me for one position, low balling me and going 5”
“I was a 2nd year associate and not even being eligible for a bonus was such bullshit.”
“I've been struggling with this all week and wanted to see if anyone else has dealt with something similar. For context, I work in a fairly comfortable office job. I only have to go into the office three days a week, my manager is pretty chill, I have great benefits, and last year I made around $245k after bonus. Anyway, review season came around and I thought all my hard work was finally going to be recognized. I've been absolutely crushing it. My boss told me I'm one of the stronges”
“I would try to ride it out. Try the "let them" mindset. If the place is toxic, that's their problem, try to get the work done that you need to do while minimizing exposure to the toxic people, and accept that there's a strong possibility they'll fire you, but who cares? I haven't experienced anything that bad, but my wife has, and she ended up looking like the only adult in the room so they wanted to keep her on, and she stayed for several more months to earn a bit more”
“Start looking for another job and they'll sense it and just offer you a raise. Push them for more and leave anyway.”
“Chill out, they sent an email giving instructions on how to access it. It's there, I don't think there will be layoffs for a while”
“Midwest HCOL SA1 -> SA2 Audit Fully Meeting 87.2 -> 95.1 (9%) $2.5k 5. Bonus sucked, but I'm already applying for new jobs, so the raise being more than I expected was nice.”
“Good, leave you could easily be making 120k+ in industry. As an Assocaite I’m grateful for my pay right now but it sucks when they take away bonuses then say they’re going to raise base comp raises. My raise was a joke and was less than 4% which is a joke for tax. I was expecting at least a 5% raise.”
“They tried that with my role and learned the hard way that my historical knowledge outweighs the cost savings of outsourcing. Also outsourcing is not cheap either, we’ve tried it for other roles and sometimes it just doesn’t work. Maybe for more entry-ish level roles like call center yes, but specialized roles that need knowledge of local markets, employment laws and other compliance issues in-country are hard to outsource.”
“I'm exhausted . My current job is pretty low stress, but only gives me a max of 17 hours a week at my area's current minimum wage. I've been there for 3 years and my 'raise' has only ever been when they legally have to increase wages. Recently a full-time position opened up in the exact same department, meaning it'd be a seamless transition considering I was already doing most of the work for that position anyway after the previous person left, and they outright told me i”
“Have you seen how the gov is treating employees? The safe job for less pay days are gone.”
“Then the job is getting really bad pay. If you have to spend a lot of time on your own, rather switch fields honestly.”
“You cab move next to work. Commute can be down to 5 mins. Alternatively, someone with 2 hr commute can’t ask for a shorter billable hours workday or additional comp based on it. This is the nature of the beast unless your role was remote and now is getting changed to non remote.”
“The real issue is not the commute itself. It’s the feeling that employees are expected to sacrifice more while the company treats those sacrifices as invisible”
“Just hire all these geniuses and pay them $15 an hour. Demand more and more for less and less.”
“I had the same convo. Covered my commute for a few months before “laying me off””
“There is no harm in asking and now it is on record and you know where you stand - I’m with OP”
“Its like buying power switch it out with influence/access/potential and it becomes worth something”
“This happened to my mom and she couldn’t do anything, she even had a union and they didn’t do anything. She makes so little and the least they could do was keep her remote, but now she has to pay for commuting 45 minutes away (in nyc so car is impracticable there is no parking) but they won’t give her a raise. Not sure what to do but I feel bad she has to wake up at 4 am now just to go to work :( she works online and does not have any reason to come in, she’s afraid of losing her job so she does”
“I know this is a shitty Chinese owned company but they are offering as little as $57.6K for an Accounting Manager with CPA preferred. 40 hr/week position (but probably expects you to work OT and be on call like all shitty Chinese companies) so this is as little as $28/hr (or less). People can literally work as a shift supervisor for a retail store for about the same wage without all of these requirements and 6 years of postsecondary education. submitted by /u/Maleficent_Cherry737 [li”