What would you do?

broke=skint

I have been employed by a pretty succesful company for the last few years, they don't seem to have been hit by the resession and are bosting another increase in profit this year.

I approached my manager a few months back as I discovered that I was being considerably underpaid compared to the national average for someone doing my job. To be exact, around £8000 underpaid!

Management have just had their budget meetings and my manager came back to me. He told me he was really happy with my work, couldn't fault me and I had even had praise from the directors. At the end of it he offered me a £1500 pay rise and said the company was being cautious due to the current financial climate.

To me this sounds like they are just trying to get away with paying out as little as possible.
I told my manager I was unhappy with this and requested a rise of £3000-£5000, even the higher figure would leave me £4000 under the national average.

Is this fair or am I being unreasonable? Has anyone else ever found themselves in a situation like this?

Caffca

An average is made up of a spread of salaries, there could be a very wide spread of salaries for your job, often it depends on the geographical area you are in. Is your salary equivalent to your colleagues in the same job and to the regional average for your role? Have you looked at job ads in your area for your work - what are the salaries there?

Be careful, how you deal with this, they offered £1500, depending on how you replied, you have virtually turned it down. You could end up with nothing. If there are equivalent jobs in your commuting area paying more, your only option would be to apply for one of them and if you get it, see if they will match/better it to keep you.

Wage levels are more than national averages, supply and demand (amongst other things) comes into it as well. If there are lots of people who could do your job and would do it for less, any business would be foolish to pay over the odds for it. In one part of the country there may be more jobs for your skill set than there are people with that same skill set - hence wages will go up, in your area it could be a vice versa situation.

paulwf

Caffca makes some good points, and the national average means little if it includes London.

Any employer is unlikely to increase a wage by such a large amount in one go...you need to see it from their point of view as well, a manager isn't likely to be allowed to authorise a £4K increase for a single member of staff.

My personal tactic would be to discuss the long term future, and set up training courses and goals so that you can get a similar pay rise next year, that will be easier for a manager to authorise. Please remember the economy is still very fragile so they will be cautious at the moment. At least you have some comfort knowing redundancy is unlikely and that you haven't been subjected to a pay freeze.

Weirdlittleman

What is your job? What is your current salary?

broke=skint

Thanks for the responses. You sound as though you all know what you are talking about!
I have no idea what any of my colleagues earn, its company policy not to discuss wages. Saying that though, they all have company cars and I don't, so I assume they earn more too. It may just be coincidence but I am the only female in the office :eek:
When I say national averages I have looked at vacancies in my area (Midlands) and also payscale.co.uk which seems to be quite accurate when compared to the the current vacancies and they range from £26k to £32K with other benefits.
I don't like to blow my own trumpet, but I don't think just anyone could come in and do my job, I'm not saying I'm irreplaceable because I know that no one is but our department is very small and already understaffed, bringing in someone else would be very time consuming and would bring the department to a halt.

I like the idea of long term talks Paul, maybe that is the best way forward. I have already told my manager that I have no intentions to move as I like working there and I did mention that I would like to progress.

I have applied for a few backup jobs just in case things go horribly wrong, the lowest of which starts on £24000. But really, I don't want to leave unless I really have to, it is a good company.
On the other hand, I have huge debts which aren't going down. I suppose I will have to cross that bridge if all else fails

broke=skint

I forgot to mention that in my pay discussion with my manager I got a little upset and couldn't help but cry.
He asked why I was getting upset and asked for my to be totally honest, I explained to him that I was in a lot of debt and that I was hoping that my raise would be enough to make some impact on them.
He said he would go back to the directors and discuss it with them further but now I fear that any raise I get will be out of sympathy and not because I have earnt it and it is the amount I deserve.

In any future discussions should I ask them to base it on my role and abilities or is it too late for that? I really didn't want to bring my personal circumstances in to it.

pinkshoes

I discovered that a male colleague with the same qualifications and marginally more experience in the same team as me was paid over £10k more than me, so I've just asked for a pay increase too! If I don't get it, then I'll be asking them to justify the other guy's salary. I've not asked for what he gets, as I think he's grossly overpaid!

Basing it on averages isn't perhaps the best way to go about getting a pay rise. If I were you, I'd apply for another job paying a higher salary, then either take it, or use it to barter a pay rise.

CarineG

broke=skint wrote: »

I forgot to mention that in my pay discussion with my manager I got a little upset and couldn't help but cry.
He asked why I was getting upset and asked for my to be totally honest, I explained to him that I was in a lot of debt and that I was hoping that my raise would be enough to make some impact on them.
He said he would go back to the directors and discuss it with them further but now I fear that any raise I get will be out of sympathy and not because I have earnt it and it is the amount I deserve.

In any future discussions should I ask them to base it on my role and abilities or is it too late for that? I really didn't want to bring my personal circumstances in to it.

I don't think an employer would give you a rise to help you mitigate your financial situation, it would be based on your abilities to do your job.
The fact that you discussed your financial turmoils with them will show that you are determined to get the right level of pay for your job i.e. you are trying to reduce your debt so are prepared to look elsewhere if you don't get a reasonable payrise.

You said you have had praises by your boss and your directors - this is what you should use to obtain a raise which will be based on your achievement.

£1500 doesn't seem like a lot considering the other jobs going on in your area for a lot more money. I would carry on applying for other jobs and if it comes to it, show the potential offers to your company explaining that you don't want to leave but you may have to.

At the end of the day, do you want to work for a company that undervalues their staff?

grey_lady

Apply for the other jobs, if you get offered something at say 25k
then go back to your employer and ask them to match it, if they don't then you accept the new job!

DVardysShadow

grey_lady wrote: »

Apply for the other jobs, if you get offered something at say 25k
then go back to your employer and ask them to match it, if they don't then you accept the new job!

Asking for a salary match rarely works long term. If you go out looking and you are offered more, then base your decision on the salary you have on the morning you get the offer. Because they will only resent having to do a salary match and will work hard to get it back over the next year or 2.

broke=skint

Pinkshoes: Thats terrible, if I knew for sure that my colleagues were being paid that much more than me I would be doing the same as you are. Good luck with your negotiations
Unfortunatley I don't know for sure. The guy I work with isn't at all bothered by money, which is what makes it so much harder. If I push and get anywhere near £26000 I have a feeling I could be earning the same if not more than him. Seems a little unfair as he is far more experienced than I am, but he should speak up also shouldn't he? I think the company is taking advantage of both of us.

CarnieG: Thanks for opening up my eyes, I sometimes forget they are running a business and feelings don't come in to it.
I'm glad you agree £1500 isnt much, I was thinking maybe I was being greedy or childish but it does hurt when they offer a figure which barely meets inflation, they seem to have forgotten all of the overtime I have put in without claiming for it, all becase I have the companies best interests at heart, maybe I should start thinking about myself the next time I'm still working at 10.00pm for them.

I think is a majority opinion, I will carry on looking for other jobs that pay more. When I have some ammunition I can go back in and tell them I don't want to leave but they have forced me in to this position, hopefully they may appreciate me then.