Promotion?

mcmanlyn

So my supervisor is leaving work & I offered myself for the position. My manager was happy with this as he said he thought of me as soon as the notice was handed in I've had problems with other companies verbally promising & going back on things, so I kept asking my manager for confirmation, this was 3 weeks ago...

Then on friday my manager says he'll offer me the job on a 2 month trial, keeping my current wage. And only if I'm successful I'll go up to less than what my supervisor is currently on Now I've done my job for over a year, I always cover for the supervisor on holidays & I'm just as qualified & experienced. And she's leaving next week, so it needs sorting asap.

I'm not sure what to do? I'm angry & upset that it took so long to get here, and it's less than the role is worth. How much should I argue my case before I look like an argumentative moneygrabber? And if I stand my ground I risk missing out on the promotion - would I just be cutting my nose off to spite my face, all for the sake of a couple of grand???

Not sure if I'm looking for advice or just venting here but what should have been a happy occasion has turned stressful

Lovelyjoolz

Firstly, well done!
Secondly, can I just ask: how do you know what your predecessor was paid? I ask because in some companies, it can be considered gross misconduct to discuss your salary with colleagues, and you don’t want to get into hot water by revealing that you know what he/she was paid. If however, everyone’s salary is common knowledge, you should ask directly why they want to pay you less. They may well have a very good reason for lowering the salary for that role, or they may not and are just being cheapskates! Either way, you’ve opened communication on the issue. Asking for the same pay as your predecessor makes you neither argumentative nor money-grabbing. Stand your ground, but remain calm – it should be a negotiation, not a fight!

SarEl

But equally, be careful about the ground that you are standing on as it may be shifting sand. There is no reason why you should be paid what your predecessor was paid, and whilst this is a negotiation, you don't have any rights here. Employers are looking to cut costs, and they may be unwilling to budge. And you have only an offer of a trial - they can refuse you the promotion now or at any time in that two months. There will, remember, no doubt be someone else who will take the job for the pay on offer. So it is a judgement and a balncing act as to what you are prepared to ask for and how far you are prepared to go.

In the end if they refuse to move that you have to decide what is in it for you - but one thing that may be is the ability to put down on your CV that this is the job you do, and potentially find an employer who will be willing to pay more for your experience in the future. That won't happen if you loose the promotion.

Margey

To be honest with you every job, promotion or internship will have a probation period. It's fair enough covering at times when your manager is off, but theymay want to see if you can deal with the pressure. I did an internship and was offered a job, and even though I had worked there for three months already there would be a probation period. I thought similar to you but spoke with someone from CAB and they said that it doesn't matter whether you have worked there before or not, a probation is to see if you can handle the extra responsibilities

scheming_gypsy

How long did your supervisor do the role for? if they'd been doing it for ten years and you're going in to it as a beginner then there'll usually be a gap in the salaries.

InsideInsurance

So basically it is a 2 month secondment with a view to it going perm after that.

Would you prefer to do that or the more normal case which is they have to advertise the job and you apply and have to be interviewed against other candidates?

There is a big difference between doing a job for a few hours a week or to cover a holiday than doing it 24/7. I used to cover for my supervisor back in my call centre days and whilst I had to deal with lateness, holiday requests, irate customers etc I wouldn't deal with disciplinarians, doing annual reviews, capacity planning etc.

mcmanlyn

My supervisor has been in the job for just over a year too, the whole team started at the same time.

This is what I'm worried about, on one hand I could argue myself out of a job/promotion that someone would willing have in this market. But if I take the job & don't pass the trial then what situation am I in? My 'replacement' has already been offered my job! Which is stupid of my company to do before securing my promotion, but there is no HR dept or real structure here tbh.

I have fully done the job while she's on holiday. It's not a real 'supervisor' position no disciplinaries or anything like that, just managing & distributing workload. And one of the holidays was a 4 week honeymoon, a fair test of my ability I thought.

I only found out the salary by accident, she volunteered the info in an after work chat. I'd have been happy with the salary I think, it's the trial that worries me.

Thanks for the input though, nice to see other points of view & lots to think about.

Edit: I should maybe add that my supervisor didn't do a trial for her job last year, she started on the wage she's on now. Not sure why I'm getting different treatment, other than to save money I suppose.

InsideInsurance

Does your employers have a secondment policy? Certainly the one time I did a secondment the company had a policy stating that my original role had to be available for me to go back to after the secondment even though evidently they will have filled the vacancy as quickly as possible. My secondment did turn perm, though was messy as I'd the same sort of offer as you but in the end was made to interview for the role, and so don't know what would have happened if I had gone back to my original team as it was a perm that took the job.

As to the existing person not having had to do a secondment, did they come internally or externally? Did they have any prior supervisory experience etc?

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter that much, the offer is on the table, it is up to you if you accept or not.

Generally speaking it is easier to get up the tree inside a company but easier to increase your salary by switching company. Do this secondment, do another 4+ months after and then look for roles outside the company as an experienced supervisor, you'll almost certainly get more money and find it easier to secure such a role than you would if you left today as a stand in supervisor.

getmore4less

They have obviously not thought it through just gone for the quick route and obvious choice.

Ask what happens if they decide you are not suitable what job will you have then.

Ask what measures, goals and acheavements they are going to use so you can keep on track chances they have none and were going to decide on a whim.

You could also phrase it, this trial means you are obviously not confident in my ability to do the job, to try to get them to say they are, or exactly what it is they are concerned about so you know what areas to excel.

End of the day they can always performance you out trial or no trial thats why getting the measures is potential important.

mcmanlyn

Current supervisor came exernally, no experience previous. Pretty much the same history as me.

No secondment policy at all, the person being taken on to do my role is external also, not sure if they are temp or not...

Yes that's how I've just left it, if you think I can do the job & surely I've proven myself over the past year then why do the trial.

And yes I'm aware that I'm the 'easy' option for the company, it's the easy option for me too - hoping to build up experience in this role to move on as other than this role there is nowhere else I can go to. It's a reasonably small company with few roles. Suppose I just wait & see if they can better the offer or if this is it.

InsideInsurance

If they came externally they would have gone through probation rather than a secondment. If you only found out their salary at the end then you really don't know if they had a reduced salary during their probationary period or not.

Personally I would have taken the secondment given the current job market but your gamble may pay off or you may find yourself with a new supervisor instead.