Questioning a previous pay rise - sorry - long!

[beanieb]

I have posted about this before but can't find the thread I started so can't bump it.

Background.

I am the senior person in my office and so I earn a higher wage than the other person I supervise full time and the three people I supervise part time.

In Aug 2007 I was awarded the minimum pay rise. I was quite happy until I was told by the other person in my office that they had received twice as much as me!

At my Appraisal (may 2008) I raised the subject and asked if I could be told why my contribution was considered less worthy than my work mates. I have since been told that she was given a 'multiple pay adjustment'. My boss (not the same one who made the awards) says this was a payment to increase her wage as it was low.

However, HR tell me that this was definitely an award made for "excellent work throughout the year" as a "general pay change" would be recorded differently.

So - I have to go back to my boss and question this all over again. Trouble is that it was not her who made the pay award but our old boss who is currently in another department and may not return. I have drafted an email to him ... should I send it.

this is the email:

"Sorry to bother you about this but I thought perhaps you might know more about it than [New boss] (I have spoken to her also).
I asked at my Appraisal why was given a higher pay rise than me in 2007. I am only aware of this because it came up in a discussion with about the general pay awards other people had said they had received.

I queried this during my 2008 appraisal as I was a bit worried that my contribution to the department had not been valued the same.

(new boss) says this payment was a multiple pay adjustment and HR say that this is usually awarded for 'excellent work throughout the year' and is different to a change of salary scale which is recorded differently.
Obviously I don't want to be nit-picking over pay awards but since I was told received more, I have wondered what it was about my performance in 2007 compared to 's performance which was lacking."

or do you think I should go back to new boss? we don't get on well but this really has been bugging me for a long time.

Maybe I should just forget it?

[callmeovercautious]

TBH they should not comment on her rise to you at all. If I was the other person and found out they had been telling you the whys and wherefores I would be extremely peed off!

Having said that, if you turn the wording around to make it about your lack of a rise not her larger rise then it is worth a shot.

Definately ask what was wrong with your performance as you need feedback in order to improve.

[beanieb]

No - well... what happened was the woman I manage was telling me that she had been talking to another member of staff who was overjoyed at getting the minimum and she said to me 'I didn't want to upset him and tell him I got twice that'

it literally came out in conversation because she assumed that I would have had the same as her.

However it came out it's done now and I know what she got compared to me, I know that my boss is telling me one thing and HR another.

I mentioned it in my appraisal because essentially we do the same job but last year was a very tough one where I had to provide a lot of cover for my work mate. I really love working with her and I don't begrudge her at all.

I am just pissed off that for some reason my Boss seems to think that her contribution was worth twice mine! I asked for feedback in my appraisal and discussed the Pay issue then. New boss promised me she would find out but I had to mail her twice between May and now to get a response which according to HR is not the truth.

I do want to get it across that I am concerned that my performance was lacking and how can I improve that ... i.e 'tell me what I didn't do!'

[beanieb]

I am wondering if maybe I should not send an email and do it face to face...

[callmeovercautious]

Yes face to face might be better as a first approach. Book a meeting with your Boss so he can't wriggle out of the discussion.

[flowerybeanbag]

This is someone you manage? How come you didn't know what her pay rise was and/or have input into it if you manage her?

If you have a new boss I think you should be raising it with her, not running back to your old boss. She's (new boss) obviously given you a different answer to the one given you by HR (and if for some reason the pay rise of a person you manage isn't something you'd ordinarily know about, why are HR discussing it and the reasons for it with you anyway...?), either because that's what she was told or for some other reason. You need to push her on it and say what you've said here. Not in emails. Request a meeting to discuss the issue. Any action points or key points that come out of a meeting can be confirmed afterwards in an email so there is a written record, but really do have this kind of discussion in person.

If she can't find out, ask for a meeting with both her and new boss. She needs to be included as your current manager, so if the discussion needs to be with old boss for whatever reason and she is not able to get appropriate answers out of him, I think it should be a 3-way conversation. If your performance is an issue in any way, that's relevant to her as well, as is what you are paid.

[beanieb]

I supervise her. Basically the only difference between our job titles is that I have 'senior' in mine. Day to day we do the same job but I go to all the departmental meetings, plan changes etc.

I have done her last three appraisals but I have no input into her pay rises. Our over all departmental manager does all that.

I'll try to raise this subject in our next meeting, one to one.

[flowerybeanbag]

I'd do more than try to raise it at your next one to one, I'd make sure she knows you want to discuss it, so she has time to prepare, and either put it properly on the agenda for your one to one or set an additional date for a meeting to discuss it.

That way it's more difficult for her to either fob you off, or have to go away again for more information.