To think I deserve a promotion?

[promofomo]

I am a relatively junior member of staff at my workplace.

I recently had an internal transfer with no change in contract and my new role is quite different. It's a lot more hands-on with a lot more responsibility and a lot more tasks. I will be supervising and training a small team of 4 who are all on the same pay scale as me. It's a lot more work and I finish each day absolutely exhausted. I am starting to feel resentful that I am paid the same amount as my colleagues in my old department who have a much easier, less stressful workload.

To make matters worse, my department is understaffed. I am supposed to be working with another colleague but I am alone. Other colleagues in similar departments work in pairs so they get to share the responsibilities between the two of them.

I am enjoying my new role. It's a lot more rewarding and interesting but I think the increased responsibility and workload should be reflected by a change in job role? It's not even about the pay but rather just acknowledging that this new role has been a step-up.

AIBU?

Absolutely. Discuss it with your manager. Instead of framing it as a promotion, frame it as adjusting your title and pay to reflect the new duties you undertake which varies so differently from your old job title. Use real word examples from your team mates who work in pairs (who presumably have different salary rates and job titles to you)!

Private sector or public sector?

@malteserheist

Private sector or public sector?

Public sector

@AquaTorfana

Absolutely. Discuss it with your manager. Instead of framing it as a promotion, frame it as adjusting your title and pay to reflect the new duties you undertake which varies so differently from your old job title. Use real word examples from your team mates who work in pairs (who presumably have different salary rates and job titles to you)!

My manager agrees with me but he is limited in what he can do, I think he is trying to persuade his manager but not having much luck...

Well thinking you deserve one alone won’t get you one.
You have to ask.
Do it in a positive and polite way but you need to go for it rather than wait to be offered a promotion

If you were private sector they might have flexibility to create a role or job title reflecting the increased responsibilities if they weren't enough for promotion into an existing role. That would tend to be more possible in smaller organisations though.

But public sector usually means you have to demonstrate you meet the requirements for whatever the stipulated rank above you is. Can you do that? I would be surprised if they had power or flexibility to invent new roles in the middle, which seems to be the case from your updates.

Deserving promotion and receiving promotion don't always overlap at the best of times!

OP is there a grade you could be moved to such as "acting up" whilst the role itself is recognised as a higher graded role? Assuming your counterparts are also higher paid and that you are doing the job of two.
Who was doing the role before you?

You won’t get a promotion just because your role is different to another role at the same grade. Public sector jobs vary greatly and the different responsibilities don’t necessarily reflect that the job should be done at a higher grade. I had a role recently where I had a team of 10 to manage, other people at the same grade in the same programme has either 1 person or none. If you want one of those roles (or a promotion) the best thing to do is actively pursue those options.

Don’t go into thinking about promotion saying things like, “it’s not even about the pay”. If you think you deserve a promotion, which it sounds like you do, then do what you need to do to get one and be unapologetic about wanting the associated pay. Unfortunately, in the public sector, usually what you need to do to get a promotion is apply for another job at the higher grade and demonstrate your competency. I would use this extra responsibility at the current grade to build up really good examples of that until a job at the right level that you would want to do comes up.

I’ve worked in the public sector for my entire career and it is VERY restricted in terms of pay, promotions and job roles.

I understand where you are coming from but I take it when you applied for the job you had read the job description and salary before signing the contract?

You can speak to your manager about having the post regraded but don’t be surprised when there isn’t much they can do.

If you want a promotion in the public sector then you have to apply for a job that is a promotion.

My advice to you is to absolutely take every opportunity in your current role to learn new skills and then apply for an advertised promotion and use your experience as examples to demonstrate capability.

You're likely to have a 'Responsibility Alllowance' (may be called differently in your department) that is designed to compensate staff for taking on responsibilities outside of their job description. It may be limited to a certain percentage of your base salary - in my department it is 10%. There may also be other allowances such as a 'retention allowance' or the possibility of an end of year performance bonus.

Another possibility, if your deployment is permanent rather than a shortet term secondment is to look into the banding of the role and whether it correctly reflects the responsibilities and seniority of the job.

I haven't been in the public sector long, but my understanding is that promotions are very rare - a suitable role needs to be created and you'd need to apply for it.

Having said this I would aim for a positive and solution focused conversation with your manager, i wouldn't go in all guns blazing. They'll need to advocate for you in committee / submit applications for allowances etc and will do so more enthusiastically if you keep things amicable.

Good luck OP! If all else fails at least you'll have a nice addition to your CV and the prospect of building your professional reputation.

You can ask, but you accepted this role with no change of contract, why would they? In the world of work what should happen and what likely will happen are world's apart. I've certainly learnt my lesson to not move roles without it being an actual job with a new contract etc.

When I did similar in local government, I had a temporary upgrade to reflect the additional responsibilities, which were also temporary.

There was also a job revaluation process. My friend had her job re-evaluated as it had changed a lot and got a massive upgrade. Which was very handy, as it was her last 4 years before retirement and it put her pension up considerably.

If it's a new post or a post which has had additional responsibilities added, I think it would be worth asking about. However, if you applied for it knowing what was involved and there has been no change, they may well turn round and say you took it knowing the responsibilities and the pay grade so it's just tough!

Ah yeh you won't get far in the public sector with discussing with the manager and expecting a promotion. Your best bet is to do the job for 6 months, get the experience and apply for another role which is a promotion. It's absolute trash and leads to many people being taken advantage of, but until there is more funding to the public sector (arf arf unlikely) nothing will be done. My sympathies, I have been in a similar position many times.

You know for next time, but your mistake was taking the role without addressing salary and insisting upon it first. (Not your fault most employers are sneaky)

Personally I'd flag as you have done, continue to raise it at regular intervals, quaterly minimum, and follow up in writing with your line manager.
If an acceptable payrise (£5k min) is offered, get it back dated.
The regardless of any make good by the company update your cv at 10 months and be looking for a new job to either take or get them to match.

Do not mess about and do not stay at companies who dick you over because the "people are nice". Nice people exist in lots of companies. FOLLOW THE MONEY.

I am supposed to be working with another colleague but I am alone

You need to highlight this now, rather than absorbing the extra workload.

Why did you not discuss your pay/responsibilities when agreeing to the new role?

@malteserheist

If you were private sector they might have flexibility to create a role or job title reflecting the increased responsibilities if they weren't enough for promotion into an existing role. That would tend to be more possible in smaller organisations though.

But public sector usually means you have to demonstrate you meet the requirements for whatever the stipulated rank above you is. Can you do that? I would be surprised if they had power or flexibility to invent new roles in the middle, which seems to be the case from your updates.

Deserving promotion and receiving promotion don't always overlap at the best of times!

In my previous department there was a role a rank above me and, in my opinion, in my new department I am doing work that aligns more closely with that higher rank than my current level.

@Monty27

OP is there a grade you could be moved to such as "acting up" whilst the role itself is recognised as a higher graded role? Assuming your counterparts are also higher paid and that you are doing the job of two. Who was doing the role before you?

There is higher role in other departments which I think matches what my current responsibilities that I think I should be moved to.

There was nobody doing the role before me, it's a brand new department.

In my previous department there was a role a rank above me and, in my opinion, in my new department I am doing work that aligns more closely with that higher rank than my current level

In my experience, you've basically got to have support from several layers of managers above you, a formal interview and personal agreement from the minister for whichever department you're part of to get a promotion in the public sector, just doing the work in the higher grade is the easy part.

@TolkiensFallow

I’ve worked in the public sector for my entire career and it is VERY restricted in terms of pay, promotions and job roles.

I understand where you are coming from but I take it when you applied for the job you had read the job description and salary before signing the contract?

You can speak to your manager about having the post regraded but don’t be surprised when there isn’t much they can do.

If you want a promotion in the public sector then you have to apply for a job that is a promotion.

My advice to you is to absolutely take every opportunity in your current role to learn new skills and then apply for an advertised promotion and use your experience as examples to demonstrate capability.

So I applied for the role in my previous department before this new department even existed. Then when the new department opened I applied for an internal transfer into it not really knowing what it entailed as there was no change in contract. The idea of being promoted when we started in this new department was floated around but I think they have decided against that.

The issue is my current role is not really reflected in my job description. For example, my previous role would occasionally require me to train one new colleague. Whereas now all I will be doing is training colleagues on a rolling basis.

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

I am supposed to be working with another colleague but I am alone

You need to highlight this now, rather than absorbing the extra workload.

Why did you not discuss your pay/responsibilities when agreeing to the new role?

It was kind of a strange situation.

So in my previous department I was doing a particular set of tasks. Then we received an email saying a new department was opening which involved doing the same task with some small adjustments. It sounded pretty similar and straight-forward so I applied for the transfer.

Since starting, the role has shifted. Initially, the role entailed working with 4 other competent/trained colleagues (all at the same level) for the foreseeable future alongside a senior supervisor. Now the role has shifted and I will be working alone, training colleagues on the tasks constantly before they move into the other department. I'll be trying to train colleagues on a complicated procedure all while trying to manage a really high workload. It's going to be literally impossible as either I'm going to be leaving untrained colleagues to get on with things (who will most likely be making mistakes along the way) or focussing on training them which slows me down and means I'm neglecting the high workload.

I don't understand why you can't discuss all of the above with your line manager?

Yeh you need to raise this with your line manager, it's their job to address resourcing issues. This isn't your responsibility....because they don't pay you enough!

Can you approach HR or internal audit and request a job evaluation?

The job needs to be regraded to reflect the change in responsibilities.