Not valued by my employer and how to get a pay rise

Monkey_Joe

I work as an Account Manager for a Biotech and currently earn £27,000 basic. The company that I work for is based in Paris and have helped me set up a home office to represent them for all clients within London, Wales, and South of England. There are two other people in a similar position to me but represent the Midland and Scotland/UK North respectively and earn roughly the same as me. I have been consistently the best salesman in the UK and last year Europe for that company. However, overall the company have failed to reach the targets, largely due to the poor performance of our European counterparts. It is the UK sales force that is largely keeping the company going.

I have recently discovered the following:

(1) The sales people in Europe earn on average 38,000 Euros a year. This is significantly higher than the UK team and what makes it more annoying is that they underperform!

(2) One of my sales colleagues in the UK have recently left for a better job, earning £40k a year. However, prior to him leaving my boss offered him a pay increase to £36k if he never quit. He still quit.

Don’t get me wrong, part from the salary, it’s a great company to work for but we are very underpaid for what we do. During my 3 years with the company I have been contacted my numerous recruitment consultants offering me opportunities to apply for similar better paying roles but each time I have resisted through some stupid loyalty and belief that I will one day be rewarded for it. However, discovering that someone who actively tried to leave and who I perform better then was offered a significant pay rise is a major kick in the teeth and is totally demoralising.

I have asked for a pay rise in the past but was fobbed off with the typical excuses that bosses give, limited budget, underperformances of company etc, so I guess my only solution now is just to look for another job. However, the ironic thing is that I actually enjoy working for the company. I guess I should be grateful I have a job right?

Would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this and if leaving is my only option.

dmbaxt

In my opinion (and this is purely my opinion) you have a job you enjoy doing - not everyone is lucky enough to be in that position. Most people drudge to work everyday to do a job they hate for rubbish money.

You have 2 questions that you really need to ask yourself (1) do you really need more money? (2) Would you be as happy somewhere else?

Take as an example my OH he has recently found himself a job he loves, yes it's less than what he was earning before and could earn in another job, but he loves it so it's worth the drop in the end for him not being as tired and stressed as before. Don't get me wrong it hasn't been easy to adjust financially but with the help from this forum we have.

I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do - at the end of the day it's a choice only you can make. xx

Boozer

I was in the same position, so i applied for other jobs in the same sector, i got another job so resigned my position with one months notice, i was called in to see the boss and asked if they could make me an offer to stay, well i still had a month to go so no problem, went in the next day to a smiling boss and offered a 10% pay rise, i said thank you very much and i only have 28 days left, OK OK another offer in a few days, no problem says me, i walk in and turn the offer over so i can not see it, i say thanks for the offer, i will look at it in my own time and decide what i was going to do, well it was now 20% and still far short of what i had been offered by the other company, so i said i was still leaving, at this point he told me to tell him what the others had offered, i put it all on the table and he ended up matching it at 40% more than i was currently on, which was infact about 10% more than i had actually been offered, but he did not need to know everything did he?

I got away with that because i was in demand and we were short on people, if i tried it today i would be told goodbye immediatly, but i think you should do the same thing, ensure you have another position lined up and it will put you in a strong negotiating place.

Good luck with it

Monkey_Joe

dmbaxt wrote: »

In my opinion (and this is purely my opinion) you have a job you enjoy doing - not everyone is lucky enough to be in that position. Most people drudge to work everyday to do a job they hate for rubbish money.

You have 2 questions that you really need to ask yourself (1) do you really need more money? (2) Would you be as happy somewhere else?

Take as an example my OH he has recently found himself a job he loves, yes it's less than what he was earning before and could earn in another job, but he loves it so it's worth the drop in the end for him not being as tired and stressed as before. Don't get me wrong it hasn't been easy to adjust financially but with the help from this forum we have.

I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do - at the end of the day it's a choice only you can make. xx

I can appreciate what you are saying. Yes there is more to life than money and enjoying your job should be more important than anything else!

So, hypothetically speaking, are you telling me that if one day you discover that a colleague of yours who (1) does not get the same high results as you and (2) not as loyal as you towards the company get offered a £9k pay rise if they don’t quit, you will not be a tad upset?

I wish I could be like you mate! To me it’s a kick in the teeth.

Yes I do enjoy the job and I am grateful I have a job but seriously it’s not right!

I guess my option is to apply for another job, get it and try to get my employer to offer me a pay rise to stay. However, knowing my luck they will do sod all and just say “good luck” lol

Weirdlittleman

dmbaxt wrote: »

In my opinion (and this is purely my opinion) you have a job you enjoy doing - not everyone is lucky enough to be in that position. Most people drudge to work everyday to do a job they hate for rubbish money.

You have 2 questions that you really need to ask yourself (1) do you really need more money? (2) Would you be as happy somewhere else?

Take as an example my OH he has recently found himself a job he loves, yes it's less than what he was earning before and could earn in another job, but he loves it so it's worth the drop in the end for him not being as tired and stressed as before. Don't get me wrong it hasn't been easy to adjust financially but with the help from this forum we have.

I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do - at the end of the day it's a choice only you can make. xx

]

Completely disagree

Yes if they say no you are in a stay or go situation but what harm is there in asking. If you are as good as you say they will surely pay you more to retain you. Avoid resigning but insinuate you will if they dont.

You could always sugarcoat it by making the increase sales earnings based.

dmbaxt

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

I can appreciate what you are saying. Yes there is more to life than money and enjoying your job should be more important than anything else!

So, hypothetically speaking, are you telling me that if one day you discover that a colleague of yours who (1) does not get the same high results as you and (2) not as loyal as you towards the company get offered a £9k pay rise if they don’t quit, you will not be a tad upset?

I wish I could be like you mate! To me it’s a kick in the teeth.

Yes I do enjoy the job and I am grateful I have a job but seriously it’s not right!

I guess my option is to apply for another job, get it and try to get my employer to offer me a pay rise to stay. However, knowing my luck they will do sod all and just say “good luck” lol

I'm not suggesting anything as I said any decision is yours and yours alone.

I'm one of those that totally hate my job, get paid peanuts for it and would jump at any offer of another job. There are people where I work who take the michael - do nothing all day, get all the perks and appreciation while I work my butt off to get the work done and get zip. It's one of the main reasons why I hate what I do, but I can't change who I am or my work ethics so I can't be like them. They also get paid more than me because they've worked their longer.

I can understand why you would feel the way you do, but you do at least enjoy your job. If there are plenty of jobs in your sector paying more money then call their bluff they can really only give you one of two answers.

inmypocketnottheirs

If you don't leave, you will end up bitter and twisted as well as under appreciated.

BandJB

When I worked for a large corporation and was doing a job I really liked but at a lower than 'average' rate for the job I used to go for one interview a year and tell them I was going for it "Just to see what's out there and keep my interview technique up to date". Then I'd honestly discuss the interview with them afterwards and tell them how I got on.
Worked a treat and I stayed there for years until I eventually went self-employed for reasons unrelated to salary.

emmell

Is your boss approachable? If so, you could have a word with him/her and say that you are seriously looking for another job because you feel you are dropping behind in salary terms.
This would be easier than looking for and obtaining a job just to try to get more money.
If they don't agree you can then start looking for a job.
My son used to have a reasonably decent paid job but after two years without a pay rise it's not that decent anymore.
ML.