Rules about pay rises

wendyhelpme

What are the rules about companies and pay rises pleases. I am a manager and had my staff appraisal with no issues and praised for my work ethic. I am a manager of two staff members both had appraisals and scored 1A and 2B. The directors then gave 5% to the 1A and 3% to the 2B. For me they then gave no score and only gave 2% as they said I was on enough? Can they do that? In my appraisal they said they had no clue what I did and they have no job description but I have been in the job 16 years with only two appraisal in that time. Feeling very let down

[Deleted User]

Yes, they can do that.

The only rule around pay rises is that you need to be at or above minimum wage.

2% is very good in the current climate.

lincroft1710

First rule of the right to a pay rise : there is no right to a pay rise (unless current wage/salary is below NMW/NLW).

Thrugelmir

No rules. Discretion of the employer. In many instances pay is set in line with similar roles elsewhere. Often there's a pot that gets divvied up. Not an easy task for the those making the decision. 

TBagpuss

Yes, they can.
Unless you have something explicit in your contract (very unusual ) then the only 'rule' is that they must increase your pay if not doing so would result in your being paid less than minimum wage. 
It's perfectly legal to pay people different amounts for the sam type of work (unless the reason for the discrepancy is discriminatory, e.g. paying one person less because of their gender, disability or race, for instance)
It's not particularly unusual for more junior staff to get a bigger percentage rise than more senior ones, as the employer may well be looking at the effect in real terms as well as a percentage.
If you feel that you should have got a larger raise based on you work and it's value to the business then you are free to present your case to your employer, for instance setting out specific achievements or ways in which you have improved the business's performance or profitability. 
Equally, if  you feel that your rise has left you being paid less than market rate for the role the you can raise that, and indeed can look to move to a new job. 

Mickey666

No rules (bar minimum age law etc).wendyhelpme said:

What are the rules about companies and pay rises pleases. I am a manager and had my staff appraisal with no issues and praised for my work ethic. I am a manager of two staff members both had appraisals and scored 1A and 2B. The directors then gave 5% to the 1A and 3% to the 2B. For me they then gave no score and only gave 2% as they said I was on enough? Can they do that? In my appraisal they said they had no clue what I did and they have no job description but I have been in the job 16 years with only two appraisal in that time. Feeling very let down

That sounds a bit ominous to me and it's a classic risk for 'managers'.  If you cannot explain to your boss/directors what you do all day then you should be careful to rectify the situation with some urgency if you want to keep your job.

I would start by writing your own job description.  You can then use that as the basis for promoting how your 'work ethic' contributes to the business because THAT'S what the directors will care about - results, not necessarily how hard you work.

TELLIT01

wendyhelpme said:

What are the rules about companies and pay rises pleases. I am a manager and had my staff appraisal with no issues and praised for my work ethic. I am a manager of two staff members both had appraisals and scored 1A and 2B. The directors then gave 5% to the 1A and 3% to the 2B. For me they then gave no score and only gave 2% as they said I was on enough? Can they do that? In my appraisal they said they had no clue what I did and they have no job description but I have been in the job 16 years with only two appraisal in that time. Feeling very let down

If they have had a manager in place for 16 years, and that manager has only received 2 appraisals, I would suggest it could be interpreted as meaning the manager's role isn't particularly important to the organisation.  Further, it might be questioned why the manager hadn't raised the lack of appraisals themselves, and interpreted as deliberately keeping a low profile for some reason.

oh_really

Your a manager to 2 individuals, have no regular/ on-going appraisals and have no job description additionally your employer doesn't really know what you do - rather you than me.

Sandtree

Each company has its own process for payrises. Some of the big companies I've worked with have a mathematical way of doing it so you calculate your salary as a percentage of the reference salary, your manager gives you a grade from 1 to 5 and you look up in the table and it says what percentage pay rise you'll get... so if you are 130% of the reference salary already you have to get a grade 5 to get any pay rise. If you are 70% you'd even get a small pay rise at grade 2.

Most other companies its been totally discretionary, the manager is told they've got £10,000 pay rises to give and its up to them how they split it across their 10 staff with guidelines that it should reflect performance and current salary. 

moneysavinghero

Look at it another way, your 2% pay rise is probably more in £ terms than the 3% the junior staff get. So you still win.

Start working with HR to get yourself a formal job description made up. Then next year they will have something to mark you against.