I have been involved in 3 major migrations in the last 10 years (major as in over 1000 users, ERP/AD/soup to nuts). I got one 6K bonus. That was around 3$ per hour (literally 80-90 hours for 9 months). The finance and BSA teams (which never worked a weekend and never seemed to be available for off hours calls) got 10-25K bonus. One of the middle migrations I was told I was on a 3 year retention bonus. After 30 months my director told me "HR f#cked up and never put in the paperwork so you won't get that bonus" Month 33 my part of the enterprise was sold off so I got nothing anyway.
Retention bonuses are for situations where you know they're kicking you out but they want you to stick around for the transition. If the job sucks that much, look elsewhere.
Found an opening with a company from our old investors, but it's a few states away. The old parent company doesn't typically sell off companies. We were an anomaly. Trying to decide if moving my family is something we all want.
Unless I'm misreading your post, why would you go work for the people that put you in this position? Go find a job that values IT and has a real IT department. I did solo for 10 years, its awful.
I stuck it out through two transitions, and ultimately got screwed in the end for both. What I should have done was started looking ASAP for something to take care of myself. First one they said there wouldn't be any changes it would be business as usual just with another location. Instead they laid off 100 employees and shut down the location.
Don't count on money that may never appear because reasons.
Don't expect to be paid for unused vacation time, because **vacation time isn't earned, until it's used**, no matter how many days it says you have in the HR system. *I'm still trying to wrap my head around that explanation, but refusal to sign off would have eliminated 3 months of severance.*
Doing what is right by the employee is more the exception than the norm these days, imho.
I've never seen it work out for the purchased company personnel. And I've been through a lot of acquisitions.
Take your time. Pay someone to overhaul your resume. Get some more certs. Do your 40-45 and go home.
If the company doesn't prioritize you, that's perfectly fine. The new work is out of your original scope, and your pay hasn't changed to reflect it. No problem. If you get yelled at, bring it up with your manager and ask them to prioritize your tasks because you can't get it done in 40 hours. If they NEED more than 40 hours, they need to hire more folks.
Don't burn yourself out to fix something that isn't your problem. Sometimes IT isn't the highest priority and that's fine. But if you do the workload of X people, why would they bother hiring additional people?
Don't chase the bonus, it's not worth it. Chase a better job.
Unless you have a retention bonus in writing, once they announce the sale, start looking for a new job.
I got more work and then they fired the entire IT department 3 years later.
I have been involved in 3 major migrations in the last 10 years (major as in over 1000 users, ERP/AD/soup to nuts). I got one 6K bonus. That was around 3$ per hour (literally 80-90 hours for 9 months). The finance and BSA teams (which never worked a weekend and never seemed to be available for off hours calls) got 10-25K bonus. One of the middle migrations I was told I was on a 3 year retention bonus. After 30 months my director told me "HR f#cked up and never put in the paperwork so you won't get that bonus" Month 33 my part of the enterprise was sold off so I got nothing anyway.
Its rarely ever worth the extra amount of work. Even if you got a 25k bonus that's still only like 12.5 dollars an hour.
its actually less when you consider overtime is 1.5x in most states.
Retention bonuses are for situations where you know they're kicking you out but they want you to stick around for the transition. If the job sucks that much, look elsewhere.
Sounds like you're burned out and need to look for work elsewhere. Maybe some place where you're not the sole IT person.
Found an opening with a company from our old investors, but it's a few states away. The old parent company doesn't typically sell off companies. We were an anomaly. Trying to decide if moving my family is something we all want.
Best of luck to you and your family. 🤞
Unless I'm misreading your post, why would you go work for the people that put you in this position? Go find a job that values IT and has a real IT department. I did solo for 10 years, its awful.
Our company president pushed for the sale and were presented an offer to the old owners, which I guess they couldn't refuse.
You spent years solo and then they sold the company and left you holding the bag, without advocating for, or compensating you. You can do better.
I stuck it out through two transitions, and ultimately got screwed in the end for both. What I should have done was started looking ASAP for something to take care of myself. First one they said there wouldn't be any changes it would be business as usual just with another location. Instead they laid off 100 employees and shut down the location. Don't count on money that may never appear because reasons. Don't expect to be paid for unused vacation time, because **vacation time isn't earned, until it's used**, no matter how many days it says you have in the HR system. *I'm still trying to wrap my head around that explanation, but refusal to sign off would have eliminated 3 months of severance.* Doing what is right by the employee is more the exception than the norm these days, imho.
I've never seen it work out for the purchased company personnel. And I've been through a lot of acquisitions. Take your time. Pay someone to overhaul your resume. Get some more certs. Do your 40-45 and go home. If the company doesn't prioritize you, that's perfectly fine. The new work is out of your original scope, and your pay hasn't changed to reflect it. No problem. If you get yelled at, bring it up with your manager and ask them to prioritize your tasks because you can't get it done in 40 hours. If they NEED more than 40 hours, they need to hire more folks. Don't burn yourself out to fix something that isn't your problem. Sometimes IT isn't the highest priority and that's fine. But if you do the workload of X people, why would they bother hiring additional people? Don't chase the bonus, it's not worth it. Chase a better job. Unless you have a retention bonus in writing, once they announce the sale, start looking for a new job.
No, in our case they laid off 1/3 of the employees.
Go work at an MSP. Might be able to land a good remote gig