Payrise Advise

JReacher1

74jax said:

Michy78 said:

@JReacher1 I know for a fact that if someone will start new will be on at least £ 1200 more than me .Based on the experience i should earn at least 2 k more but i am not sure if it is professional to quote this in the email or not and how should I approach it 

@Grumpy_chap So how do you suggest i approach the situation? What if i send it to my manager only and she does not reply ?

@Emmia We are all working remotely in my team. My presence in the office is not related to anything you have mentioned and will not make any difference in regards of getting noticed by senior management as it never did in the past.
 I am extremely grateful to work from home as with the current inflation, I will not be able to pay the expensive commuting if i have to go to the office .
My salary is too low and i can just barely pay my rent and bills. My hourly rate is only £ 2 more than the minimum hourly rate .

I wouldn't mention this at all. It has nothing to do with your payrise at all, so don't even mention it. 

I think it’s relevant and why the OP should ask for benchmarking of their role. If the market conditions are to hire someone new is £1.2k more than the OP is currently earning then this can be used to request a pay rise. 

OP I would ignore most of what you have given as reasons for why you should get a payrise e.g. working during the pandemic and just go straight in and request for the salary of your role to be benchmarked. I’ve used this method well over the last few years to ensure my salary matches what the industry is currently paying. 

Michy78

JReacher1 Thank you so much for your precious advise I really appreciate it. I didn't write the email to my manager yet because I wanted some advise first due to my particular circumstance . So in your opinion, shall i just address the email directly to my manager and ask for my salary in this current role to be benchmarked without copying her bosses? I am trying to find the best and most professional approach.

One thing i want to mention , none of her bosses know that i was the only one working in my department and everyone else was  got full wage and was able to do whatever they liked while i worked . It was a pure coincidence that i was given the laptop first in my Team but i didn't not get anything, not even a voucher or thank you  for working for over 6 months on my own and i don't think this was fair on me at all. Currently we are also short staffed so when my only other colleague is on holiday , I have to cover the job of 3 people which is extremely stressful. 

JReacher1

All of the other stuff although has impacted you personally is irrelevant to your request for a payrise. It detracts from your best argument which is that new hires are being brought in on a salary that is greater than yours. 

Is there no chance that you got the laptop first and worked over the pandemic because you were highly rated? In my experience most people who were put on furlough over this period tended to be either less highly rated or have personal reasons that they needed to be furloughed. 

Also don’t email everyone,  just contact your manager and ask for a formal response back. 

comeandgo

I would say you are at the peak of your working life and businesses do hire age 40 plus.  You have been in your job too long, you have lost the ability to see what you are capable of.  Get your CV out there, actively look for another job, if this employer does not know what is happening in all the departments then there is seriously bad top management too.

Michy78

@Jreacher1 Thank you so much for your precious suggestion. Through the research I have done on internet I had also the impression that  i had to elaborate the reason why i am asking a pay rise by also mentioning my achievements and goals based on my performance .

I don't know which criteria was used for assigning the laptop first to me and I even got it before my manager  .She actually got it a month after me.


@comendgo You are totally right , the whole culture of my company is off to be honest . Many people have left even the top bosses so I have been trying to look carefully for another role and been to few interviews  . The truth is also that when i read reviews of employees online on Indeed or Glassdoor , it does not look very promising elsewhere. There are not many good companies where employees are treated fairly , paid well and rewarded... but i still have hope...

penners324

Get your CV upto date and start applying for jobs. It's very easy with Indeed, Reed, LinkedIn 

carrspaints

That old saying "Employees don't leave companies, they leave Managers" is very true. I have worked for the same company (sales in water treatment) for nearly 23 years, and very successfully, receiving numerous accolades and awards over that time. 5 years ago, we had a new Area Manager come in. In that 5 years, my salary has increased 5.2%. This at a time when inflation in 2022 alone was double digit. The spending power of my salary today is far less than it was back in 2018.

So I am now faced with the real prospect of having to leave a company I have served well for 23 years because my line manager has seen fit to ensure my salary rises are so bad that I essentially quit. Yes, these people do exist.

My CV packs a powerful punch, so I have no concerns in getting another job that pays what I am worth. It sucks that some of us have to go through this, but when managers use their power to undermine your worth, there is little choice. Ultimately, it is that company that loses out anyway when you take your knowledge & skills to a competitor.

lincroft1710

carrspaints said:

That old saying "Employees don't leave companies, they leave Managers" is very true. I have worked for the same company (sales in water treatment) for nearly 23 years, and very successfully, receiving numerous accolades and awards over that time. 5 years ago, we had a new Area Manager come in. In that 5 years, my salary has increased 5.2%. This at a time when inflation in 2022 alone was double digit. The spending power of my salary today is far less than it was back in 2018.

So I am now faced with the real prospect of having to leave a company I have served well for 23 years because my line manager has seen fit to ensure my salary rises are so bad that I essentially quit. Yes, these people do exist.

My CV packs a powerful punch, so I have no concerns in getting another job that pays what I am worth. It sucks that some of us have to go through this, but when managers use their power to undermine your worth, there is little choice. Ultimately, it is that company that loses out anyway when you take your knowledge & skills to a competitor.

The Area Manager may have decided that your salary was sufficient, given the job you were doing, or that you were overpaid compared to others. Or he was trying to look good to his managers  by limiting salary increases (or may have been instructed to curb salary increases). You can never tell!


Have you discussed your disappointment at the low pay rises with them?

74jax

carrspaints said:

That old saying "Employees don't leave companies, they leave Managers" is very true. I have worked for the same company (sales in water treatment) for nearly 23 years, and very successfully, receiving numerous accolades and awards over that time. 5 years ago, we had a new Area Manager come in. In that 5 years, my salary has increased 5.2%. This at a time when inflation in 2022 alone was double digit. The spending power of my salary today is far less than it was back in 2018.

So I am now faced with the real prospect of having to leave a company I have served well for 23 years because my line manager has seen fit to ensure my salary rises are so bad that I essentially quit. Yes, these people do exist.

My CV packs a powerful punch, so I have no concerns in getting another job that pays what I am worth. It sucks that some of us have to go through this, but when managers use their power to undermine your worth, there is little choice. Ultimately, it is that company that loses out anyway when you take your knowledge & skills to a competitor.

It's very likely that your position will be filled by someone in another company in the same position as yourself, so their skills and knowledge transfer over too. 

A company won't lose out as they will gain from the next person, just as you will gain from your next employer.

Loyalty to a company - or - loyalty to an employee doesn't exist anymore. You just go where you feel happy with the work/pay, and a company takes someone who they are happy with and pay what they want.  

It's a shame, especially if you want to stay, but ultimately if you're not happy and will be elsewhere, it's a great motivator to move. 

SuzeQStan

Hi OP - any chance you could paste the email draft here for further advice? With redacted personal details of course.