Payrise Advise

TBagpuss

OP, in your e-mail, it's reasonable to set out the justification for a raise in terms of the value you bring to the company.
So things to mention:

 - additional responsobilities or roles you have taken on or do which others don't, or which are different to / more chalenging that the work your coworkers do
- Market rates for the type of role you have. If you have evidence such as advertisments for any new staff in your department that's useful if they quote a salarly range, but also look at job listings for your field, so the point you are making is "I have looked into normal market rates for a role of this kind, in the local area, and the market rate would typially be £xxx to £xxx,  around £2,000 higher than my current salary, indicating that my pay is not current at, or cloer, to the normal maket rate for this type of work"
- you can make the point that the raises you have sseceived have been below inflation/ costs  of living menaing that in real terms you have actually had a pay cut since starting work. Domn't mention that you are struggling to pay bills, just that in real terms your pay has fallen.

Be clear about what you are requesting. If you think that you are underpaid by £2K ask for an extra £2K. 

Meanwhile, start seriousy job hunting. Update your CV and start applying. If you get a job offer then you can decide at that point whether to accept it andswitch jobs,, you can also if you want speak againto your manager at that time, tell them you have an offer on the table and see if they counter offer, but only do that if you are willing to walk away, as there's always the risk they say OK, good luck in your new job' rather than ' Let me see if we can match that offer', and thn you either need to leave or to acept that you will be staying but not getting a raise, and they know you are unlikely to leave even if they don't pay you market rates, so it weakens any future bargaining position. 

Does your employer have any formal revew or apprassal process? If so, use that - ask for specifc feedback about your job performance, highlight your achievements and ask for specfic guidance on what needs to happen for you to gte a pay rise so you have specifc goals.

It sounds as though you have a lot of resentment over the percpetion that others had an easier time of it than you during lockdown - whether or not that is objectively true, you need to let that go as it isn't relavant to your pay, but that resentment may be more obvious than you think and may be harming you if you are seen as having a bad attitude. 

Michy78

TBagpuss  Thank you for providing a practical example of the salary increase email.
This is an example of @SuzeQStan of the draft email i wrote so if i can get feedbacks on it i will really appreciate it.
Sorry to repeat but my situation with my manager is very personal, as she never liked me from day one so this is why I am trying to figure out the best course of action as she will more likely ignore my salary increase request via email hence why i added a polite deadline as I might need to escalate my request to her Boss or higher. Didn't have an appraisal since 2018( I was left last as always) when i faced her telling her she was trying to strategically pushing me out .
On every single occasions she undermined my work and achievements , clearly made and still makes favouritism with other team members ( most recent one, she allowed my colleague to carry over holidays but she wrote to me that it wasn't possible and i had to use them all so i did), ignored my questions on multiples occasions via email or Team chat and denied anything I presented even in front of the evidence

If i didn't have an health chronic  condition , I would definitely left long ago as the whole situation killed my confidence and motivation . At the same time stress triggers a relapse on my condition which is not visible so i need to be cautious where i will end up as there are not many nice companies out there based on the criteria  I am looking for ( Monday to Friday, hybrid or remote position , good benefits scheme)so i need to be realistic at the same time .

Dear Manager

I hope you this email finds you well.  I am writing to you to kindly request a formal review of my My current salary.
As I have been working in my role for over 14 years , I find myself still on £....., which as you can imagine , it is making it very difficult for me to meet my financial obligations, especially with the rising cost of living .

Based on online research re Salary Guide, I’ve found that the midpoint salary for this position is £ X pa annum . Considering regional variances, a 10% percent raise would put my compensation closer to those salary benchmarks.My last salary review goes back to 2018 when i received approximately  2% increase for being nominated for the X award. 
During my time at X, I have also demonstrated excellent can do attitude abilities using my own initiative by providing a successful resolution and demonstrated proficiency with the booking system. 

I’ve made a brief list of just some of my accomplishments and responsibilities, which include the following:

• Taking ownership of complex booking projects for over a month from X and X ( please see attached )
• Covering all duties and responsibility of the X as a sole agent during short staffed periods
• Dealt with difficult clients and several complaints and provided a prompt resolution
• Achieving success in accommodating last  minute Client's catering requests, some of which at very short notice
• Taking the lead on the booking system during lockdown as a sole agent for more than six months.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hear from you within a week time 

Sincerely,

Thank you all in advance for all the useful advise

SuzeQStan

Hi OP - thanks for posting your draft. I have made a few changes below bearing in mind that it’s not about your need to pay your bills,  It’s about your worth, value and results in the role.  

Tightened up a few areas but these are just my thoughts and only you will know best how to upsell yourself as an asset to the business.

I would also think about offering to take on added responsibilities.  Is there an aspect of your managers role that you could take on to take some of the weight off their shoulders? This could make a pay rise look more desirable to your manager as they would be getting something out of the deal.

@Michy78 said:

Dear Manager

I hope this email finds you well.  I am writing to you to kindly request a formal review of my current salary. 

I have been in role for over 14 years and contributed significantly to growth of the business as my responsibilities adapted. 

I have demonstrated myself as an asset to the business providing increasing levels of support - drawing particular attention to challenging times within the last several years. 

(This might be a good place to list any additional work you could take off your manager’s workload)

During my time at X, I have demonstrated an excellent can do attitude using my own initiative to provide successful resolution and proficiency within the booking system. 

I’ve made a brief list of just some of my accomplishments and responsibilities, which include the following:

• Taking ownership of complex booking projects for over a month from X and X ( please see attached )
• Covering all duties and responsibility of the X as a sole agent during short staffed periods
• Dealt with difficult client complaints providing a prompt resolution
• Accommodating short notice client catering requests
• Taking the lead on booking system during lockdown as a sole agent for more than six months.

My last salary review took place in 2018 when i was awarded a 2% increase for being nominated for the X award.

Based on online research re Salary Guide, I’ve found that the midpoint salary for this position is £ X pa annum . Considering regional variances, a 10% percent raise would put my compensation closer to those salary benchmarks.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you, and would welcome the opportunity to meet face to face to discuss further

Sincerely,

Michy78

@SuzeQStan Thank you so much for your precious advise and feedbacks and for amending the draft by making it look really sharp.So so grateful    
I don't really see anything wrong by mentioning the inflation considering so many companies employees have been striking for months now like TFL and Royal Mail .
How can they expect someone to survive with 1% bonus per year if the inflation is so high ? It is ridiculous . If I have to commute to work , i will not be able to survive with this wage and I am saving the pennies.
 Unfortunately due to the fact that my manager does not like me and also because she is aware I am underpaid, she does not want me to take additional responsibilities.
In general my company does not pay a good salary as well but i am definitely underpaid. I always took ownership of some complex situation while she was on holiday and very independent and confident in my role so I rarely asked my manager for advise unless it is something that i am not aware of  .My role has evolved a lot especially in the past 3 years due to lack of staff and many business changes and I have consistently built strong relationship with clients in  and building reliability and trust.
Also everything i do in my manager's eyes is  wrong even when i prove my point with evidence; For example when I got nominated and handed the award by the CEO of the company , she did not even extend her congratulations and she was rather annoyed because she tried to fail me on so many occasions. Unfortunately these characters exists in the society and some people abuse their power when get a bit of authority. Sadly, There are plenty of people in the same situation where I am

P.S Will it be professional to paste all the emails of projects I took and client compliments to a word document rather than attach the emails one by one ?

SuzeQStan

I’m so sorry to hear about the deteriorating relationship between you and your manager.  But I do understand when you say that you like the job itself, you are comfortable and the working conditions suit you (salary aside).  

I don’t think there should be an issue of collating your projects & compliments from your clients to a single document - but would suggest to keep it to a single page if you can. Brevity is often appreciated in these situations - especially if you have a manager who is not very tolerant. 

If it were me I would be trying very hard to get on the good side of my manager - I know that in a fair world your manager would treat you with respect automatically. You may yet be able to build bridges - and it will probably feel like you are doing this at the expense of your self respect.  

But there are positives to a job that you know inside out. I’ve been where you are, in a fashion.

I hadn’t had a pay rise for several years - the business had gone through tough times and much like yourself I worked through pandemic whilst all my colleagues were on furlough.

i never appreciated how hard it was for them to furlough - it affected mental health, finances, career development, financial
product worthiness - more.

so anyway I started applying for jobs in my field and amazingly got interviews and job offers. Money was better, work sounded interesting - but I was basically too comfy where I was and struggled putting my notice in.

once I finally managed to give notice my manager suggested a face to face meeting. It was tough - as if handled improperly it could have looked as though I was strong arming them into paying me more.

but it worked - I got a significant pay rise in line with inflation. 

Anyway enough about me - please let us know how you get on - wishing you all
the best outcomes and that you get the pay rise you deserve

xx SQS

Michy78

SuzeQStan Thank you for sharing your story ,showing so much empathy and giving me positive feedback xxx. I have no intention to get in the wrong side of my manager but what if she doesn't even answer to my email which is more likely to happen?
Even if I have the evidence like I did in the past ( I definitely  have more than 1 page of compliments as there are several emails i have received from clients) she has never rewarded me for ANYTHING . I want to keep positive ... but i am on the realistic side at the same time .


Finger and toes crossed 

Michy78

Hi All , I hope you all well. 
 
I finally got a very short reply from my manager after waiting 10 days for her response and chasing her once.

Based on the email template i used , copied here on the 8th January . My manager replied that all salaries in my company are reviewed every year and that my current salary at the moment is basically 3.5 K more compared to when i started ( this actually refers to a yearly bonus considering that 3.5 K split over 11 year i worked for this company corresponds to 300 circa per year.
I actually got my last payrise in 2018 not thanks to her but because I was nominated by the company and colleagues).
She said my salary will go up by around 3% only this year and it will not be reviewed

She has also not offered to discuss this in a meeting as i suggested in my original email and completely disregarded that i have made reference the midpoint salary review and neither she  made no reference to my performance and positive feedbacks i have attached in the email. I know this is very personal .Her decision is purely made on the fact that she does not like me 

I am so disappointed and i feel insulted and discriminated.  I feel at this stage i want to reply to her that the salary review that she refers to , it is entirely based on the bonus rather than a payrise and that on average i got less than 1-1.5% salary increase per year .I feel it is now time now to copy her boss who i am sure he is not aware of the situation.

Do you have any advise or practical feedbacks.

Thank you in advance 

Emmia

In my personal view, you should get job hunting.

SuzeQStan

Hi @Michy78 - so sorry to hear this - it’s a shame as I know you have said you enjoy the job itself. 

Also a bonus should definitely not be included when your manager is talking about your salary! 

I would echo @Emmia re the job hunt - There are WFH jobs out there - I got offered one not all that long ago.  

If your current workplace won’t negotiate then all you can do is vote with your feet or put up with it (which is no good for the self esteem!)

Just think how good it will feel to hand your notice in once you have found a new company that will value you properly.

keep your chin up - they will be sorry once you are gone

Michy78

Thank you @Emmia @SuzeQStan Thank you for the feedback.

I will definitely reply to her and copy her boss in the email . She is lucky to be sitting there as i should her reported her favouritism and discrimination long ago and i have decided not to leave quietly without fighting my cause 

I am already looking around but people should not be forced out of work because management misuse their power and bully some employees like myself to leave . Sometimes they need to learn a lesson .

Thank you xx