I’ve always struggled with advocating for myself and speaking up when I should. I’m having a meeting tomorrow with my boss and I plan to ask about my future with my company. To be honest, I’m pretty sure it’s time to move on, but I need more info before I can confidently make this decision.
Background of job: 6 years in with increasing responsibilities (for the non-sales staff, I’m a top performer). One promotion 3 years ago. Since then, 6 people have left my team and not been backfilled and I’ve had to pick up a lot of their key responsibilities, streamlining along the way. I’m working under the verbal promise that ‘we can look at’ promotion at the end of the year. The problem is there’s no guarantee or specifics on salary increase or title (I work for a large, very cheap bank, so I fear it could be insignificant). I like the work and a lot of the people, but I’m tired of feeling under-appreciated.
I guess I’m just feeling nervous about bringing this up. I want to ask if there’s a future path for me there or if I’ve hit my ceiling. I also want more specifics around promotion and salary/grade increase.
Any advice?
9 comments
Write down what you’ve written here in the form of questions & take it into the meeting with you.
My advice would be, be blunt and have written timelines. Chinese whispers is a common tactic to milk you, dangling carrpts etc. Its why I always suggest moving from company to company for better pay or benefits.
Honestly the best advice is to be yourself and I know that’s cliche. Share how you’ve been feeling, remind them of your accomplishments and what you bring to the table, and make your desires known. Listen to their response. If it’s empty or more of the same promises then you just quietly conclude the meeting at the appropriate time and head straight to LinkedIn when you get an opportunity.
6 people haven’t been backfilled? That means one of 2 things:
1. They know you’re a sucker and will keep taking on more responsibility. During this conversation you will be told ‘yes yes yes we’re definitely looking into maybe getting you a raise/promotion’ then nothing is going to happen cuz hey, you’re a sucker.
2. The company is dying.
I’d be very nervous working for this company.
Think in advance about what you would like. For example, a new role / responsibilities / remuneration? What role? What remuneration? Etc – be prepared with some specific items you would like to see as outcomes. You don’t have to lead with these or even mention them but (a) they can help you maintain focus during the conversation on what you want the meeting to result in, and (b) you are ready if your manager asks what would make you happy, or what you’re seeking, etc.
In either case, if you don’t have a view to what you’d like the meeting to result in, you may falter if the manager makes vague promises for the future.
Also be armed with specific examples of how your work has positively impacted the profitability of the business – both in terms of increasing revenue and decreasing costs. Remember that if the business has a 10% margin (say) then every $1 you save is essentially $10 the company doesn’t need to earn to cover costs – and thus is now pure profit. You don’t merely keep systems running but you actively create efficiencies and bring value and be prepared with specific examples of things you have done and what they mean for the business in practical terms.
Fuck um. Start your own business and support yourself.
> I’m pretty sure it’s time to move on, but I need more info before I
can confidently make this decision.
the dont even need to sugar coat or beaufity anything. those lies are just for dumbassess. just say it straight to the point.
Start looking around. Understand what value your skills are worth on the open market. I’m very happy in my current role and I’ve even looked around recently, to the point where I received and offer. I turned it down for a variety of reasons. I wanted to understand if my current employer valued me like a prospective one. Turns out, they do.
The point is that you should understand your value. Then you’ll be confident that you can either make the same or more elsewhere and will be in a better position to have that conversation with your manager.
You’re doing the work of seven people for the salary of one. They’ve been stringing you along for years with bullshit and you keep taking it. Why would they ever want any kind of change to this situation?
There’s little leverage you have in the negotiations, and ultimately the only things you can do is start sandbagging (“Per my contract I’m paid $$ to do X, Y, and Z, so until $$ goes up, I’m going to have to stick to my contract.”) or leave.
You could take the approach of writing out all the extra duties you’ve taken on over the years – that will at last get your head in the right space. Do some research on the market rate for all of those jobs/roles and add it together – that’s the value of the work.
Another tack could be to bring up what happens if you get sick or have an accident – who covers all this work if you’re out? That’s a vulnerability to the business that should be addressed – bring it up as a concern for the business, not for you. This conversation could lead to hiring somebody junior to take over some of these tasks and take some of the workload off of you.
When you do go into the meeting, bring a notepad and take notes. Try to get a firm result and a firm timeline: “I’ll do X duties to Y quality in Z time. That will get me a $$$$ pay increase which will be applied in the next pay period.” Follow up on that conversation with a written record of what was agreed (email is good – BCC your personal address) and prepare to walk when they don’t follow through.
Ultimately, in these situations, you may have to get an extra offer and have a follow up meeting where you give notice.