No pay rise for 10 years.

windsweptgirlie

My partner is salaried and has been working for the same company for approx 15 years. The last pay rise he had was nearly 10 years ago. Now this is complicated as he does have huge health issues. This has included hospital time on a couple of occasions, no major time off but limited productivity in recovery. He has never claimed sick pay and tends to just "make time up". He is now a fully remote worker and has been on and off for nearly ten years,  which at the start was unusual but as we know this is now often the norm! I keep pressing him to ask for a raise as in real terms he has had a huge pay cut just accounting for inflation. This used to be a give and take situation, his ill health and chronic pain does sometimes make him less productive than he was, he often has to take extra time at lunch to rest but always makes up the time. The situation feels way more take take take now. My weakness is maths and I really want to show him how big a pay "cut" he has taken by not getting inflation linked yearly rises. Anyone better at sums than me out there?

Undervalued

windsweptgirlie said:

My partner is salaried and has been working for the same company for approx 15 years. The last pay rise he had was nearly 10 years ago. Now this is complicated as he does have huge health issues. This has included hospital time on a couple of occasions, no major time off but limited productivity in recovery. He has never claimed sick pay and tends to just "make time up". He is now a fully remote worker and has been on and off for nearly ten years,  which at the start was unusual but as we know this is now often the norm! I keep pressing him to ask for a raise as in real terms he has had a huge pay cut just accounting for inflation. This used to be a give and take situation, his ill health and chronic pain does sometimes make him less productive than he was, he often has to take extra time at lunch to rest but always makes up the time. The situation feels way more take take take now. My weakness is maths and I really want to show him how big a pay "cut" he has taken by not getting inflation linked yearly rises. Anyone better at sums than me out there?

I am not sure how that helps. He must have a reasonable idea surely?

Obviously this is very unusual but, legally, there is no "right" to a pay rise ever unless his pay has fallen below the national minimum wage! Assuming it hasn't it is purely a matter for negotiation.

Are his health issues so severe that a reasonable employer might be looking at "managing him out" on health grounds? If they are then he needs to tread carefully.

Is he disabled (for employment law purposes)? If so then it gives some limited protection and obliges the employer to make "reasonable adjustments". If not, and to use a ghastly phrase he is "only ill" (but not disabled), then the employer doesn't have to make any adjustments and could basically say "do your full job or no job at all". As I say, tread carefully.

windsweptgirlie

Undervalued said:

I am not sure how that helps. He must have a reasonable idea surely?

Obviously this is very unusual but, legally, there is no "right" to a pay rise ever unless his pay has fallen below the national minimum wage! Assuming it hasn't it is purely a matter for negotiation.

Are his health issues so severe that a reasonable employer might be looking at "managing him out" on health grounds? If they are then he needs to tread carefully.

Is he disabled (for employment law purposes)? If so then it gives some limited protection and obliges the employer to make "reasonable adjustments". If not, and to use a ghastly phrase he is "only ill" (but not disabled), then the employer doesn't have to make any adjustments and could basically say "do your full job or no job at all". As I say, tread carefully.

I just want to prove to him that even if he doesn't think he is worth a pay rise a wage increase linked to inflation surely isn't out of the question. He is still a couple of pounds above the minimum wage but totally under paid for the job he is doing (Back end IT).

Thankfully he is a core member of the team, they really can't manage without him. He has never managed a holiday without having to deal with some sort of work emergency. I suspect if they did replace him it would be with two or more people!

Not classed as Disabled yet unfortunately (!?) but possibly will be soon, it's all auto immune based so diagnosis is tricky for the latest phase of illness (five years). I did look into disability laws and they are so vague its untrue so I doubt this would make a difference.

JReacher1

Normally a company each year will give you a pay rise or a reason why you aren’t getting a pay rise. Have they ever fed back why he isn’t getting one?

Problem is he can ask for a pay rise but they don’t have to give him one and it doesn’t sound like he is in a great position to look for another job. So not much pressure he can put on the company. 

I’ve worked in IT for years and unfortunately no matter how good or critical someone is nobody is ever irreplaceable. There is always someone they can find to take over a role.

windsweptgirlie

JReacher1 said:

Normally a company each year will give you a pay rise or a reason why you aren’t getting a pay rise. Have they ever fed back why he isn’t getting one?

Problem is he can ask for a pay rise but they don’t have to give him one and it doesn’t sound like he is in a great position to look for another job. So not much pressure he can put on the company. 

I’ve worked in IT for years and unfortunately no matter how good or critical someone is nobody is ever irreplaceable. There is always someone they can find to take over a role.

He hasn't had a review in years (and years!). It's a very small company (about 10 employees) so there is no real structure unfortunately.

Undervalued

windsweptgirlie said:

Undervalued said:

I am not sure how that helps. He must have a reasonable idea surely?

Obviously this is very unusual but, legally, there is no "right" to a pay rise ever unless his pay has fallen below the national minimum wage! Assuming it hasn't it is purely a matter for negotiation.

Are his health issues so severe that a reasonable employer might be looking at "managing him out" on health grounds? If they are then he needs to tread carefully.

Is he disabled (for employment law purposes)? If so then it gives some limited protection and obliges the employer to make "reasonable adjustments". If not, and to use a ghastly phrase he is "only ill" (but not disabled), then the employer doesn't have to make any adjustments and could basically say "do your full job or no job at all". As I say, tread carefully.

I just want to prove to him that even if he doesn't think he is worth a pay rise a wage increase linked to inflation surely isn't out of the question. He is still a couple of pounds above the minimum wage but totally under paid for the job he is doing (Back end IT).

Thankfully he is a core member of the team, they really can't manage without him. He has never managed a holiday without having to deal with some sort of work emergency. I suspect if they did replace him it would be with two or more people!

Not classed as Disabled yet unfortunately (!?) but possibly will be soon, it's all auto immune based so diagnosis is tricky for the latest phase of illness (five years). I did look into disability laws and they are so vague its untrue so I doubt this would make a difference.

Even if that is correct (and with all respect very few people are indispensable), what matters is whether the employer sees it that way at the moment.

TELLIT01

Nobody is automatically entitled to a cost of living pay rise unless not getting one leaves them below the minimum wage.  Don't fool yourself into thinking he is indispensible as nobody really is.  It may cause the employer problems for a while but they will get over it.  At the last place I worked prior to retirement, nobody who was earning more than about £22k had any pay rise for about 5 years.

Savvy_Sue

Could you look around for similar roles he could compare witb? Maybe he's not underpaid, but had a very good salary then.

What will they do when he leaves / retires / needs a period of long term sick leave?

I speak as one of the indispensable people. That's how I'm seen. I'm working my way out of that: it's not healthy. Only this morning I told a colleague how to fix something irritating.

billy2shots

A few reasons for this. 

- Maybe he was 'over' paid to begin with

- Maybe his performance with his health issues and time off has dropped so he's giving less benefit to the company so the pay stays the same to account for him contributing less each year

- Maybe the employer wants him to resign

- Maybe your husband doesn't work there anymore at all (crazy suggestion but you do hear of partners keeping job loss from each other)

- Maybe the small (micro) business he works for isnt that profitable. Giving everyone a pay rise would be fantastic for a few months until they were forced to close and make everyone jobless.

- Maybe it's an unwritten rule that if you don't ask you don't get. 

400ixl

To give you something to calculate there is an inflation calculator at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

From 2011 to 2021 for every £1 earned he would need to be earning £1.19 to have kept up with inflation and effectively have the same buying power. Obviously that is going to accelerate this year with inflation getting into double figures on its own.

Own_Worst_Enermy

Look at job adverts coverings the years? 

But I'm afraid from 2007 to 2012 I worked in a stable job which only went up £500 if that in wage during this time. People wanted to argue they knew best and this didn't happen. But in 2012 I'm sorry I left a stable 5 year job paying £12,600.

It took until 2022 and a lot of moves to earn in excess of 21k for the first time ever and receiving a bonus toward the cost of living but I've worked for some awful employers along the way.  I have an employer who recognises a bonus needed simply to cover cost of living, I receive 600 before tax next month in respect of bonus toward energy costs going up.