So, times are tough in the tech world and my company decided that in addition to no bonuses/ stocks for the foreseeable future, they also want to stop matching our 401k contributions.
They say this is temporary, but it’s already been 6 months. I’m in my early 30s, so I still have quite some time before retiring. These small differences now will compound in the long run, and I’m starting to think I should look for a new job.
Does my view of these small missed contributions actually being a big deal make sense, or is it something I should wait out?
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Your employer says they can’t afford to keep up their end of the compensation bargain. There is a fair chance that layoffs will be coming down the road. There is never a bad time to test the market for your skills. This sounds like a very good time to do so.
That’s a dealbreaker for me. Retirement is the #1 reason I work right now. Without a company supporting me in my goals, I’m moving on.
Just my 2 cents here, but no more bonus + stocks + 401K matching?? That seems like a pretty huge hit for you. If it were me, I’d probably be looking for other offers… you can’t simply wait for your company to get its shit together.
Also regarding 401K, every bit of contribution matching helps especially since you are still young and in your 30s. So those small missed contributions definitely add up 30 years down the road.
I’d start looking just to see what options are out there even if you don’t end up deciding to leave. You could start investing the amount that you’re missing from the match so that you don’t miss out on compounding growth, but it’s certainly a pay cut however you look at it and if it’s already been 6 months I don’t trust that it’ll be temporary.
Bonuses are discretionary. Stock is questionable, especially if it is not immediately 100 percent vested, 401k tells me they are completely out of money and can’t / won’t source additional funding.
In tech, you should always be looking at the next job, even if you are comfortable where you are. Loving what you do, who you work with, work life balance can all offset certain amounts of money, but knowledge and experience is either always growing or growing stale. I’m guessing at early 30s, you are not in an exec position and changing companies with lead to faster career growth than sticking around for the company to turn around it’s books and promote you.
At the very least that is a sign to dust off your resume and get it ready to post up the second they lay you off. And if you want to be proactive, look around and I bet you’ll find something out there that matches or exceeds your current salary. I know certain sectors of the economy are booming right now. It’s ridiculously hard to find programmers. (We’ve been trying to fill a slot in Tucson for a Microsoft full stack dev for like 6 months now. Although that is partly because corporate has posted an absolutely terrible job description with no salaray, and can’t be bothered to fix it.)
Thank you for the suggestion. Yeah, I’m a systems engineer in the storage space. Things were booming the last few years, but now we’re in a slump. I know the market is cyclical, but I’ve never worked somewhere where they decided touching the 401k’s was a viable option. I’ll look at some other sectors :)
