How would you handle this?

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Hi everyone,

I've got a bit of an issue at work regarding my salary, I'd be interested to hear what you would do in this situation.

To give you a bit of background, I moved to my current position about 18 months ago. The job I left was a management position, in charge of a small PC/Network support team.

I left to get into the financial industry, my initial position was titled Systems Administrator but my responsibilities were more change/release management.

A few months into the job my company split from their parent, and because of my background I was tasked with designing a new network from scratch. The network now consists of 5 worldwide offices (which I manage with the assistance of 1 member of staff in India), and 3 datacentres (which I oversee and am responsible for, but the servers themselves are fully managed by datacentre staff)

Approx 4 months ago my job title was officially changed to Infrastructure Manager (I had been doing the job for the best part of a year) with the promise of a fairly substantial raise. I was assured that the raise would be in the March payroll, and this would be confirmed to me in February.

I still have had no confirmation - my manager has told me to ask the CEO directly, I've emailed the CEO and have had no reply (I also emailed both my manager and CEO together), emails have been ignored.

Frankly I'm at the stage where I feel like just dusting off my CV and going elsewhere, even if it means staying at my current salary, rather than dealing with the additional responsibilities and pressure without any reward.

If you were in this position what course of action would you take?

Thanks in advance

 

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we're you promised a payrise in writing? If not, then you dont really have a leg to stand on as far as pushing for it. I would take a look at what else is around. if you find something then move on.

 

To quote Bill Engvall "There's Your Sign". By your manager telling you to ask your CEO directly indicates the "promise" was never done. Your manager should have let you know that he/she would follow up on it and find out and let you know. But as Fergal already stated, if it was an oral agreement you're pretty much at their mercy.

 

Promised - not quite, I was told via email that it would go through subject to final confirmation in February.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to challenge them legally or anything. I just think that morally if they can't for whatever reason give me the raise, they should at least have the decency to tell me straight.

 

no argument there. because they said that it was subject to final confirmation, they are not required to actually give you the raise. I would start looking around, I seriously doubt you will get anything.

 

You after Brizoh's job Ferg - that’s the 2nd time you advised him to leave

Briz - I suppose it depends on your relationship with your bosses but if it were me, I would be sitting down with either of them to discuss the situation, after all, e-mails and even letters are soooo easy to just ignore. I would ask for an honest answer to the question - is the pay rise that was muted 4 months ago in the pipeline or is there a problem?

If you can't get an honest answer out of them or even arrange to talk with them then maybe you should let Fergal have your job and look to move on

 

Yep.

No not really, I just dont tend to believe in hanging around if you arent getting paid what you are worth. Especially if they have made overtures of getting paid more, and dont get it. If they are being evasive, I doubt that they will actually honour the promise, so its easier to just look elsewhere. Besides, you are already doing the job, for less money.

You can always hint that you might be looking elsewhere if a payrise isnt forthcoming, but that could put you on dangerous ground. if you leave, you want it to be under your terms, not theirs.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys - my bosses are based in London and I'm in Glasgow so getting time to sit with them is hard.

There is very much an IM or email culture in the company, the vast majority of communication is done via either of them so to they cant really claim they dont read their emails.

I think I've known for a while that I need to move on, but this really confirms it. Note to self - don't do anything in future without getting paid for it!

So - any good agencies or jobsearch sites that you'd recommend?

 

The first question I would ask myself is: Is it worth it. How much do I like working here.

 

And the answer is - not particularly, but I'd put up with it for the money that was suggested

I'd rather work elsewhere for the same money I'm on currently than do unpaid work for my existing employer.

I'm all for hard work (sometimes, as is the case here, to a fault) but there's comes a point when it feels like they're taking the piss.

 

Judging from the look and sound of things Brizoh it's time to dust of your CV and look else where. To be honest nowadays majority of employers don't know what honesty means in terms of dealing with their employees.

I suppose they just see us as a another number on payroll, too bad because a lot of them are losing out of excellent staff.

 

I would have said the same as Tinus. And, I did, several years ago. I was promised a raise after getting my MCSE+I. That happened in April. They put me off repeatedly. Fast forward to January, when I brought it up yet again... I hadn't even gotten a yearly raise (which should have occurred in September). My boss opened up what we were bringing in versus what our salaries were, and there wasn't any wiggle room. Well... it would have been nice to know that way back in April!

So... back in April, it was worth it. Then add 9 months, and no yearly raise, and other broken promises and hassles with my boss's boss... and it was no longer worth it. The CV got dusted off, and by May, I had another job. I even had the luxury of being able to wait until I found just the right one.

 

Thanks Michael, it sounds like a very similar situation. I actually got a reply today after posting this, in which my CEO says they haven't had time to discuss salary amendments and it may happen in April or May

I guess you're right in that it gives me time to find the right job but to be honest any motivation I had to work for my current employer has been sucked out of me, I'd like to get out asap.

 

I was in the same situation. I pretty much had the same responsibilities as you’re stated. I left! Forget the promise of more money, etc… It’s not the money that bothered me, it was the lack of respect. I took on the duties of hiring new staff and training them while being on call every night (averaging 1-2 calls per night @ approx. 3am).

I finally left. Many in management weren’t happy the way I was treated and offered me another job. Finally the CTO offered to ‘fix’ it all. But the damage was done – I was gone; and I’m better for it.

My suggestion is to start looking while you’re working. You’re much more ‘in-demand’ while still employed. See what your real options are for yourself then decide if it’s worth leaving.

 

Just had a conversation and I've been told they will look into backdating once it's been sorted out.

I just think I've heard it all before, and "we'll look into" is very ambigous. Very frustrating as the extra money would really come in handy at this point but I'll just need to keep checking the jobsites and see what happens.