Quick Poll: Normal for Raise to be given AFTER a Promotion? 3

[FoxSE14]

Hello All,

Title sums it up best. Summary below:

I work for an engineering firm with under 1000 employees and was recently promoted to a senior position within the production staff. I've worked hard for this, am a heavy lifter on our team, and regularly contribute to things outside of my job description to help run our branch. I was very excited to receive the news of the promotion. My immediate manager has been generally supportive throughout my tenure under him, and any complaints I have are minor and "water off my back". I think we have a great personal and professional relationship overall. I am very happy with my job with respect to the day-to-day work and, in general, the company benefits. There's been other recent positive developments re: training and involvement with staff hiring that lead me to believe I have a future here, too.

The exception over the last two years is compensation. I've felt underpaid the last two years and have shared this during my recent performance review, supported with plenty of qualitative (clients and subordinates like me) and quantitative/financial data illustrating the breadth and depth of my contributions across many areas of the business. I also have some outside evidence to support this, but haven't shared with my employer...yet (i.e. recruiters reaching out for similar positions as that I was performing before my promotion: having the low-end of their salary range be a bit above what I was/am making now). I am not the job market, but am considering dropping more frequent hints re: recruiters seeking me out regularly and some of the glimpses of salary they've given (I've dropped a few hints over last few years).

I've been given new business cards, email signature, department announcement was made, and clients are being billed for my new rate for some time now (~2 months). But I'm not seeing the pay yet. After explaining to my boss very recently, politely but firmly, that with each passing week I am feeling a bit used and why...I found it interesting that I was told during the conversation, in a wishy-washy fashion, that this is standard practice at our firm re: promotions...to have compensation changes at one defined time during the year. I do admit our annual review/raise process is fairly rigid (occurring within the same month each year). I sensed understanding with my side of things, but also that I may have slightly ruffled some feathers during the conversation. Later, follow-up was made with me and I was told that upper mgmnt wasn't sure what was taking so long for me to see the pay increase and accounting was given special directive to give the adjustment to my paycheck. Should take effect in two more weeks.

I find it very frustrating and unfair that even in the special case of a promotion occurring 'off-quarter' from normal salary adjustments, the pay increase would have to wait. Especially when I'm being billed out. Perhaps it's a corporate "strategy" that I just need to accept if I'm going to stay here? I don't entirely believe the stories I'm getting, but want to be open minded to my immediate supervisor possibly being caught in the middle. I'm interested in making things work with him...yet I don't know what my coming salary increase even amounts to yet. I'm feeling like no matter the amount, I should be asking for slightly more $ just to "get myself a win".

Have others run into similar situations? Suggestions for path forward? I think I know how to approach tactfully, but certainly will require some careful contemplation ahead of time. Admittedly, I'm really just looking for some outside perspective or a pep talk.

 

[dik]

With a promotion, you'd almost think it was automatic... unless management is somewhere in the boonies... There's a reason it's called a promotion.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[phamENG]

dik - it could be like it was for me in the Navy. Job Title and Pay Grade were not the same thing. You could get promoted to a fancy new job title with all the fancy new responsibility, but that didn't guarantee a higher pay grade. In fact, you usually had to do the new job for 6 months to a year before you got an annual review that said you were good enough for the new pay grade.

 

[TheTick]

What's normal?

It's normal for good employers to keep their promises without delay.

It's normal for cruddy employers to balk at keeping promises.

 

[dik]

I guess a good reason for not joining the navy... I don't deal well with authority very well anyway. I've never left a job looking for a financial improvement... to me, it's the environment... and in 50+ years, I've never had a boss... only employers.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[CWB1]

I've left employers for financial reward and will do so again if I ever feel underpaid or otherwise abused. That said, I couldn't tell you which of my promotions involved raises. I know when I jumped from product development into research at a Fortune 50 it didn't include a raise but I did get a title bump, a much better environment, and a position reserved for fast-trackers. If someone had significant additional responsibilities added or their new position required much training ala jumping from supervised into supervisory then sure, a pay raise would be logical but a bump from engineer to senior engineer without changing desks might not involve one.

 

[btrueblood]

What Tick said. When an employer starts to monkey around about duly compensating* you, it's time to start shopping for a new boss.

*Compensation is not only salary, it is also your business expenses, e.g. travel or equipment purchases that were authorized by your boss and submitted to accounting for reimbursement. I have had too many go-arounds with accountants that shirked paying me, and decided it is a symptom of a cash poor company that is circling the drain. Can't say I have been proven wrong.

 

[weldstan]

I received raises after all my promotions from Jr Engineer to Engineer to Sen Engineer to Principal Engineer to Staff Engineer to Chief Engineer. Some were with the sme employer and some with change of employment.

 

[SwinnyGG]

Something is amiss here - either you're being abused (don't assume that until you can prove it, but it's a possibility you should not eliminate until this is resolved correctly) or someone missed something.

In the future, don't ever accept a promotion that comes with a vague promise of a raise.

Your company would NEVER EVER, in a million years, sign a contract to take on a known level of work for an unknown level of compensation. This is exactly what you've done. You've been promoted, I'm assuming you're now subject to an increased level of responsibility and scrutiny. A raise is how you are fairly compensated for that increased level of responsibility.

If this is a case where your manager offered you a promotion 'off the books' and doesn't have the headcount to give you the appropriate pay increase, that's your manager's problem, not yours. No matter how friendly you may be with the guy or girl, at the end of the day it's your career. You should demand fair compensation for your labor. You should not gently request it, you should demand it.

If I were in your shoes, after 7 months (!) I would be screaming to high heaven. The absolute minimum acceptable resolution would be an immediate increase to whatever is appropriate for your current position, along with back pay from today back to the day your promotion became official.

Did you get new business cards with a different title? Did your email signature change? Did you start managing any direct reports? Did you take on a new project that is/was more grand in scope than what you were doing before?

All of the above would be clear indications to any labor lawyer in the US that you've been promoted and that whatever compensation you were promised is owed.

It's not a case of them being friendly or polite- they owe it to you. You earned it. You worked for it.

If you don't advocate for yourself, no one else is going to do it for you. And if this doesn't get resolved up to and including back pay, it's time to move on. My personal opinion is that the bit about the raise timing being so structured as to happen only once per year is a pile of horse apples. I have no doubt that applies to annual increases - most companies operate that way - but promotions are completely different.

 

[moltenmetal]

A promotion which means something to an organization comes with an increase in compensation

A title change which is meant to appease a valuable but dissatisfied and credulous employee, doesn't come with increased compensation.