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I am working for a company which opened its regional office in my country since last year. I started 11 months ago and I was told by HR that company has bright future and it values its employees by giving them bonuses and market competitive yearly salary increments.

With in 4 months of my joining the technical manager resigned due to clashes with top management, who was later preceded by another manager who has limited technical experience. He then started hiring his past colleagues and started giving them key positions.

I was then working as lead developer on a project and I was promised by new manager that he'll recommend me for team lead position as I had worked from start of this project and I had domain knowledge. But later he added one of his own people in my project who assumed role of team lead.

Now my review is due in one month along with couple of other developers and I over heard manager saying that he's recommending HR to bring new people instead of giving us yearly increment and relieve us from job.

Is it ethically correct ? what should I and other developers do? Should we search for new job and resign from current one(this will be of loss to us as we worked a year for same pay and we were hopping to get reward for our hard work) or should I contact HR who hired us and promised good rewards ?

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    What country are you in?
    – user13659
    Feb 17 '15 at 23:23
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    i'm from pakistan
    – rollo
    Feb 19 '15 at 20:42
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    Just a note: "we worked a year for same pay and we were hopping to get reward for our hard work" - that's not how it works in an enployment. The reward for the work is the salary you get right then. Everything else is a bonus, but not something you should hope for/rely on. Don't let yourself influence by non-binding promises ("You'll get a raise once the project is done") - you'll only be disappointed (most of the time).
    – sleske
    Jun 17 '16 at 11:46
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I have no idea if what they're doing is ethical or legal because you don't state how you're employed but you do what you should always do - hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Get your CV sorted and start paying attention to the job market. You don't need to make any rash moves, but you should be prepared for it to go wrong one day.

Additionally, and please remember this: HR are not your friends or advocates and are not there to protect you. They work for the company and ensure the best interests of the company are met - sometimes they may align (Especially around legal issues) but unless you sincerely believe you could bring a potential legal case then you should be very wary about attempting to pull HR into these kind of disputes.

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    You are right that HR are not my friends but when HR gave me 1 month notice to improve my performance, I and other developers had a meeting with him- in which HR told that he was unaware of the fact that 2 of the total 3 newly hired people were from manager's previous company and neither did tech manager nor new guys told him that they've worked together. Also the name of their previous employers are different on their CV's ! Although HR said that he'll discuss this matter with higher management but I have already made my mind to resign from this place.
    – rollo
    Feb 19 '15 at 21:08
  • " have already made my mind to resign from this place" seems to be the correct decision, but do it on your own terms, in your own time. Take as long as you need to find a new job - a better job.
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Nov 22 '18 at 8:13
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This is classic cronyism.

First, there is almost nothing you can do. Weak managers do this because they reward their cronies, who in turn protect him. It's not at all unlike middle-ages feudalism.

You either have to get "in" with them, or you're out.

I've seen this happen several times at several different positions.

You can try your best to work through it, but it sounds like they've already decided you're "out." Best bet: Polish that resume. Tech is hot, right now. If they do lay you off, you shouldn't have to search too long.

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    Tech. So hot right now.
    – Lawrence Aiello
    Feb 18 '15 at 0:35
  • This is my second company so I wasn't quite used to that level of cronyism because neither do I perform such an act myself nor I appreciate anyone else doing it. I've started circulating my resume and already received several interview calls but now I am focusing on getting position in bigger companies as I am fed up with startups.
    – rollo
    Feb 19 '15 at 20:55
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    @Awais well big companies can have these problems too. (And their varieties not typically found in startups either) The big thing is no matter what company you persue big or small is to gauge the company health and culture during the interview. If things aren't as they should be in either case, or you spot red flags perhaps everything isn't exactly as they're describing it you should probably just keep looking.
    – Eric J Fisher
    Feb 20 '15 at 18:51
  • "You either have to get "in" with them, or you're out" - that says it all.
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Nov 22 '18 at 8:14
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It does not sound like a healthy work environment. If I was you I would try to move to another project/department, or prepare myself for new opportunities. You could be OK with not becoming team lead (maybe), but being fired is a significant risk.

Of course, there is the chance that what you heard won't be applied. If all office gossip was actioned, all companies would be wastelands.

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    yes it isn't but since I am one of the first employee of company I wanted to make sure that I do best in work and stay out of politics. I've received praise for more than once. p.s. today 8 of not-cronies guys got the notice letter form HR so it has bee applied.
    – rollo
    Feb 19 '15 at 20:47
  • @Awais - if you weren't in that 8, you still have a shot. Do your best to get "in" with them if you want to stay. At the very least, you'll improve your references if you do end up on the outside.
    – Wesley Long
    Feb 20 '15 at 18:26

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