At the end of last year, I received a major promotion with a title change from Lab Technician to Senior R&D Chemist and I am currently making the same amount of money I was last year when I had much less responsibility. There was a slight pay bump, but I lost my cell phone/travel allowance which has completely negated the supposed 3% raise. I have been working toward this promotion for almost two years and now feel that I have wasted my time. My company has been purchased by another company earlier this year so hopefully I’ll get on the their pay scale within a couple of months, but I do not feel optimistic.
At my current job everybody basically has the exact same salary that only increases in accordance with years worked. So I wound up having the exact same salary as all my coworkers and yet I literally have 3x the tasks they have to do since I’m apparently the only responsible person and my management keep updating my job title because of it. Seems like my coworkers have it figured out by just doing average work and reaping the benefits in the long term.
Yes, it has happened to me. Look for another job, or, if you’re feeling sufficiently needed where you are now, have a talk with your manager: “I really enjoy my job, but employees at my level in this area are generally paid “X”. I’d like to discuss a plan for reaching comparable compensation.”
In my experience, if they didn’t offer it, it won’t happen unless you push for it.
Ask your management about opportunities for future raises. Some places have salary bands for different job titles. You might have been at the top of your old one and the bottom of your new one, which will make getting bigger raises much easier.
But everyplace does it differently, so you should check.
It happened to me once. I had been doing typographic work as the night shift manager, and the day shift manager was leaving. She had a coveted job, which everyone on the night shift wanted (there wasn’t much of a day shift, since most of the work was done at night). One by one everyone went into the owners’ office to plead their case. Except me. I knew what would be involved working days with the owners right there, breathing down my neck, and I neither needed nor wanted that kind of work environment.
Sure enough, I got the job. With no raise. I quickly learned that the only way I could survive was to simply pretend the owners weren’t there, when possible.
I worked for a company that paid all the worker bees the same hourly rate, but expected more experienced hands (like me) to do supervisory chores for the same pay. I was supposed to run a crew of seven construction workers and draw the same pay check, AND train a guy who was supposed to be an experienced electrician (but who knew nothing). I refused to do it.
It sounds like the OP *did *get a raise; the subsequent loss of benefits associated with ther previous position made it a wash. Which is something that should have been discussed at the time the salary increase was discussed.
Exactly. My response to the OP was going to be “I’ve never accepted a promotion/title change without an appropriate salary increase, so no.”
At one place my group got so large that leadership decided to add a layer of “team leads,” who would manage 3-4 people each (vs the senior manager having 30+ direct reports). In addition to providing day-to-day tasking and guidance, the team leads would also have performance management duties. I was a senior-ish employee and would have been a good fit for the new team lead role, but when I asked if the new positions would come with any salary increase the VP managed to act offended as he said no (but explained that team leads would certainly be in a “good position” for possible future pay increases). I didn’t say/ask anything further, but didn’t throw my hat in the ring; when I was flat-out asked to be a team lead, I said “no thanks.” I’m not judging the people who took those positions, but no way in hell would I agree to take on performance management responsibilities without *any *raise.
No company would agree to expand the scope of a contract without additional payment from their customer; I have no idea what makes some of them think they can expect their employees to.
Because employees who want to stay with the company can feel pressure to “be a team player,” whereas customers are a completely different team, answerable to their own boss(es).
A 3% raise is something I would consider to be a COLA raise, not a promotion raise.
When I was promoted, I was not given a raise but was put on a better bonus plan (bigger % bonus when the company had a good year). But as you can imagine, every year since then has been a “break even” type year, so little to no bonus
I was never so insulted than when I worked hard at my current job for two years, and at my first review I received a raise that amounted to ten dollars a week more.
This is going to eat at you if you don’t speak up now. But be prepared to be turned down. If you are, it’s up to you if you want to leave.
Yeah, corporate gigs can really suck like that. For example, I am certified to do every job that exists on my shift, but when it come time for my yearly raise I never get the extra few percent for “going the extra mile”. Really? Learning how to do four other jobs doesn’t count as “going the extra mile”?
Too late to edit, but keep in mind that you are a grown-ass adult. If you talk to the boss it’s not at all like a school child going to the head-master. Go in there prepared and with confidence. Maintain your PMA, this is a fight and you are strong enough to win any fight life throws at you!
Why don’t companies give decent raises to people already there? Because they screw their employees year after year and they employees stay.
You’ve got two options. First, find another job that pays better.
Second, give yourself an hourly wage by goofing off during work time, or leaving early or coming in late if you can get away with it.
My last place had a policy of only giving raises to the top 10% or so, which might have worked during the recession but not so much today. Everyone was on flex time. All of a sudden HR had a fit when they discovered that the parking lots were not very full at 9 am and emptied out at around 5:30. My boss, when he read the offended missive from HR about this, could hardly keep from cracking up. I had a reasonably good boss.
They said money was tight, but someday I’d be compensated. I knew I would never be. I could have turned down the job, but I finally decided that “day-shift manager” would be an asset on my resume… which I’d need very soon.
What most people don’t understand is that the main purpose of HR is to save the company money. Whether that means keeping the company from being sued or paying the least amount for decent help, it still boils down to money. And by adapting policies of only giving raises during the annual review, and by capping raises at 5% (or whatever), they deflect discussion about merit raises.
Anecdote time - one corporation I worked for in the early 2000’s had a policy of only giving raises when employees went out and got an offer from another company, then they would match it (or not if it was not a valued employee). Too bad word got around and now that company has closed all their US offices.
If it’s a larger company, different positions have different pay bands. If you received a real, on-paper promotion then they should be able to tell you exactly where you fit in the current pay band and when they intend to adjust your position in the band.
The reality is, however, that your only real power is your willingness to go to another company.
This. I was at my last employer for 20 years, getting 3-3.5% raises a year. My subsequent research has shown I was underpaid by about $20K. We got into a situation where we were bringing in new hires at a starting salary that was higher than what long-term employees were getting. My boss pitched a fit for about two years before it got sorted out.
Time to dust off your resume and get a better job.
