I would really appreciate your advice on how to deal with this situation.
I work for a government agency. I am currently on a temporary contract, but have recently been awarded a permanent position in which I consider a dream job. It's not technically a promotion since it's a different job, but it could be considered as such, and I'm very pleased to have got it.
I applied for the new job through an internal transfer, and as such, our policy states that staff will transfer across on their existing pay grades. This was never formally discussed at interview, but when I was offered the job my new line manager said he believed the job would be Grade 4 on the salary scale. My current post is one grade lower, Grade 3.
When I received the offer letter, it stated that, as our policy states, I would be offered the same pay grade as I am currently on.
The jobs are very different. My current role is as a temporary project officer, whereas my new role is as a specialist advisor. All other staff in the agency who are doing equivalent roles are on Grade 4 or 5 (in fact most are 5). There is considerably more responsibility with my new job, it is absolutely not a Grade 3 post. Furthermore, another member of staff was awarded a similar post at the same time, and she is already on Grade 4, so will likely transfer across on that grade. I will be the only person doing that type of job on a Grade 3. For what it's worth, other people in the organisation have told me I should be fighting for Grade 5, not 4.
Now, as it happens, my current salary is at the top of Grade 3, if I were to transfer to the middle of Grade 4, my salary would be almost equivalent for the first year. But from there on, I would have an annual salary increase until I reached the top of Grade 4. So for the first year, I wouldn't be any worse off. But it's not about the money, it's about the recognition that this job is very different and carries much more responsibility.
There is also, dare I say it, a certain amount of prestige (in my mind at least) associated with being a Grade 4 staff rather than a 3. It carries a certain amount of weight, which I feel I deserve.
I raised it with my new line manager and team leader. She said that she agrees the situation is crap, but that I may just have to suck it up until there is a pay grade review. I may then be entitled to back pay for the time that I will be doing the new job on the lower pay grade. She told me that the organisation have already done this for a member of senior management staff, so they have set themselves a precedent that they ought to adhere to for all staff. But there is no word on when the pay grade review is likely to happen. It could be years.
So my question really is - can they do this? Is this fair? Is there anything I can do about it? I don't really want to kick up a fuss when I'm lucky to have a job at all, and don't want to create a bad impression before I start.
And also, if I do just accept it as it is, what steps should I take to document my increased responsibilities, comparable duties that other colleagues on higher pay scales are doing etc?
Any advice on how to tackle this would be much appreciated
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.
Work
Offered a more responsible job but no more salary - how do I deal with this?
23 replies
TryingtoBePC · 01/05/2014 14:18
OP posts:
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.