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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to ask for a pay rise - and tell me HOW!!!!!!

33 replies

mizu · 01/06/2013 20:30

Ok so I work in education, am a teacher in FE. Worked in current place for 3 years and then left and then came back and have been here since 2006. Am curriculum leader of a small department and work 0.75 (3 and a half days a week).

Don't earn much and know I could be earning more on my pay scale and really feel like I have worked harder this year than any other. Position I am in has to be applied for every two years. No one else has applied so it will be more of an informal interview with head of school x 2. Really want to ask for a pay rise but don't know how as never have before.

Do I just bring it up at the end and explain what I have done to deserve it?

Feel uncomfortable just thinking about it.

OP posts:

phantomnamechanger · 01/06/2013 20:32

surely the job was advertised with the details of the pay? what's in your contract about rises?

Val007 · 01/06/2013 20:38

You haven't had a pay rise since 2006!?

Groovee · 01/06/2013 20:49

I thought dependant on experience and service it was automatic. I'd be bringing it up with your union.

HollyBerryBush · 01/06/2013 20:51

Ditto - I haven't had a pay rise in 7 years.

Staff who have brought this up with their SLT are told, in round about terms, that they are replaceable, possibly more cheaply.

To have a job in this economic environment is a positive.

I am told by the Finance Manager to spend the next 12 months stating my case, unemotively of course, making sure I document my enhancement to the business (which schools now are) and copying every similar job spec in the area to demonstrate that I am worth more money.

I wish you good luck - I don't hold out much hope!

Original poster

mizu · 01/06/2013 20:56

Well we all had a pay rise of 0.7% this year. I mean I would like a pay scale rise, for my hard work to be recognised.

phantom - the job has an honarorium (sp?) payment which is added on to the pay, it comes to about £38 extra a month. I have been doing the job for the last 2 years. TBH no one else in the dept really wants to do it as it can be a pain in the arse, 2 hours remission a week to do shit loads of extra work. I do enjoy some of it, other stuff i could do without.

There is no automatic pay rise system for experience or service, wow I wish, the college is quite well known for underpaying staff but location is great for me and i do love my job.

OP posts:

NotSpartacus · 01/06/2013 20:57

Just ask. Say you have worked hard and that you deserve an increase.
You know, a man wouldn't think twice before doing so.

I used to feel uncomfortable bout this stuff too. It was because
I didn't want to find out my bosses thought I was crap at my job. When I did bring it up, I ended up with a pay rise and a promotion. Wish I had done it sooner!

Original poster

mizu · 01/06/2013 20:58

Hollyberrybush - yes, we are sort of encouraged not to ask for payrises as we are lucky to have jobs - I know - and i don't hold out much hope either.

OP posts:

ilovesooty · 01/06/2013 21:09

Just ask. Say you have worked hard and that you deserve an increase.
You know, a man wouldn't think twice before doing so

I would have imagined that most people in employment - both male and female - would be aware that to have even a snowball's chance in hell of getting a salary increase you would have to evidence it in the way HollyBerryBush describes. The days of just asking and getting are long gone - you'd have to be on a different planet not to know this, I would think.

Sympathies, mizu. It sounds as though you work really hard but salaries in FE have been pretty poor for many years. That also goes for conditions, which teachers in schools are beginning to experience now we have so many academies.

NotSpartacus · 01/06/2013 21:13

Ilovesooty, I assure you I am not on another planet and of course you evidence what you are saying when you ask for a payrise. But I assume the op has evidence of why she deserves a payrise and was under the impression that her reservations spring more from the idea of asking (and being knocked back) than the fact she can't explain what she has done to deserve a pay rise.

HollyBerryBush · 01/06/2013 21:14

You know, a man wouldn't think twice before doing so

That's a sexist and crap statement. Dh hasn't had a pay rise in 3 years and he is a very high biller for the company. His colleagues however let the side down so he subsidises them. Until they start billing at his level, no one gets a pay rise.

Original poster

mizu · 01/06/2013 21:15

Thanks Ilovesooty, yes I guess if I do ask for a pay rise I will have to have it evidenced to the hilt.

OP posts:

NotSpartacus · 01/06/2013 21:18

It is not sexist crap. In my experience it is absolutely true. I know number of bosses who tell me that it is always the men who work for them who ask for rises and rarely not the women. I also know a number of women who are comparatively underpaid against men in the same job, and it is not because they are incompetent.
I am not saying a man would get a pay rise every time he asked (of course he would not) but I know a lot more men who discuss pay etc at appraisals than women who do the same.

ilovesooty · 01/06/2013 21:18

Sorry, notspartacus I see you managed to succeed outside the norms. Good that you did but I still mainain it's unusual now.

ilovesooty · 01/06/2013 21:21

The women in my organisation talk about pay and evidence their achievements every bit as much as the men do, in my experience. They tend to be better at getting themselves heard too.

NotSpartacus · 01/06/2013 21:22

Yes it is unusual and clearly if you work in education you are facing an uphill struggle for a pay rise in this country at the moment. But in some ways I think asking - particularly in the context of an appraisal or other discussion about career prospects - can help you look serious about your job. And while there is a lack of money for increases at the moment, hopefully that won't always be the case.

ilovesooty · 01/06/2013 21:25

I think asking - particularly in the context of an appraisal or other discussion about career prospects - can help you look serious about your job

I agree.

Val007 · 01/06/2013 21:27

It's difficult to ask for a pay rise, but in time you get used to it.

Once I left a job with nothing to fall back on just because I was really convinced I really deserved a pay rise and they could afford it. They let me leave. The next week I found a better paid job with childcare expenses paid on top of my salary.

Fear is your worst enemy when asking for a pay rise. Also, no point in waiting and no harm in asking.

Tomorrow, go there, look them in the eye and say: I would like to ask for a pay rise. Don't say anything else. You will see that you will get it without having to justify yourself.

Good luck ;)

marriedinwhiteagain · 01/06/2013 21:38

FE has an incrementally agreed pay scale both pre and post modernised pay. Increments are automatic annually unless capability or disciplinary issues prevail. Not sure what you are talking about TBH and I am an expert in the field.

Original poster

mizu · 02/06/2013 09:28

marriedinwhiteagain, I wish this were true. Like I said, I had a pro rated 0.7% payrise this year like all other staff in the college. There is no automatic rise up the pay scale.

For example, in my job, if I was full time I could earn anything from £21,000 to £30,000. Some people are on the lowest and some the highest amount. Yes, of course it depends on experience and time in the company but some of us have been there a very long time - and have consistently high observation grades etc etc but do not get pay increases up the pay scale. Perhaps I just need to be a bit more pushy

OP posts:

marriedinwhiteagain · 02/06/2013 09:36

I think you and your colleagues need to contact your union.

redexpat · 02/06/2013 10:37

Actually I've read that one of the reasons that men get paid more than women is because they are more likely to ask.

Christelle2207 · 02/06/2013 12:03

it is awkward but if you haven't had a pay rise since 2006 they would expect you ask one as would anyone else.
to have not had one at all in 7 years is taking the piss.
Try and get some evidence that others are paid more than you and get your case together re. how brilliant you are.
It is very difficult to get pay rises at the moment unfortunately. I had to fight tooth and nail to get mine but got sorted in the end. The people that shout loudest do best in my company, but we're private sector so it is different.
Remember it will cost them more money and a lot more hassle to employ someone else a bit a cheaper than you. It is in their interests to keep the staff that they have (and value) happy if they can.

Original poster

mizu · 03/06/2013 08:02

Thanks Christelle, much appreciated advice. I am definitely going to ask for a pay rise when in the interview next week.

OP posts:

lottiegarbanzo · 03/06/2013 08:16

What does your union advise?

lottiegarbanzo · 03/06/2013 08:18

Point being they are helpful for informal advice about these scenarios, as well as knowing the law and guidance that applies.

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