Originally Posted by pretant

Hi all,

I am confused.. I have a masters degree in engineering from Europe (a well reputed uni) and I joined a poly as a project engineer.. my starting pay was $2900/month (according to my contract, I am not eligible for any bonus..so the number you see is all I get).. I was told that this is a very normal starting salary for someone with my educational background and work experience (I had one year work experience in the form of internships before joining this current job)...
So I did not hesitate before joining partially due to the fact that I was hounded to join the job as the employer wasn't able to find suitable people in Singapore to fill the vacancy (it is a very specialized job and now I understand why nobody was joining the job- the pay is insanely low for the kind of job it is).

I did not think twice because European companies provide almost the same salary..But I totally missed the fact that European companies compensate this low salary with generous bonuses..

When I started working, I realized that I was grossly underpaid for the educational qualification I had... I confronted my superior about the pay and he said something which totally threw me off the cliff. According to him (or rather, in his words "the HR team which controls your pay"), this salary is what I deserve according to my qualification and work experience and to demand more is not appropriate and the reason I am getting agitated is cos am too young to understand the way salaries work!!!!!!! He promised that he would consider my request and recommend the HR team about a good increment in the next pay revision.. And they have sent me a new pay revision with a comment that my new salary would be "current + one increment" ...

So my questions now are:

1) What does "current + one increment" mean? There are no numbers attached to "one increment"? I asked this to my superior and to the HR team and neither of them give me a number.. They answer like presidential candidates, making you want to jump off the cliff.

2) Am I settling for peanuts in the name of salary?

3) What happens when you leave a job in between your contract period? My job contract says I can leave the job with a one month notice. Is it just on paper or that's how it works or will I get into any trouble if I leave the job in the middle of a contract?


Sorry for the long post and would really be glad if someone answered my query!! Thank you!!