Am I a fraud as a manager?

[Usedphone]

I joined this company almost 5 months ago. I'm not unhappy, and I'm still very grateful they took me.

For context, last year I left a company I really loved, but my manager moved her chess pieces in such a way that I couldn't stay long-term.

I found another job within weeks, but that place was a complete mess, and had to leave as I was going to be made redundant sooner or later (most of the team I was part of has resigned too, so clearly it was not a ME thing).

So then I found this company, I was promised investment, growth, and the usual things that come with it. I was also offered a job title, a for that I could never thank them enough.

However, the salaries are not competitive, and I can now clearly see that career progression for the people below me is nebulous at best. But I still need to go through the process of appraisals etc... Knowing that they won't get any pay rises, no title bumps, no real trainings/certifications that they can use for their own development.

They might not care, but I feel like I'm a fraud. Or maybe I've been watching too much Severance. I know I can't be honest with them either which breaks my heart even further as they're all lovely!

Why aren't the staff getting pay rises, promotions and training, personal development plans. Whose decision is that?

The parent company/owner. Apparently we're not making enough money . Before the company got acquired, the perks were at least better, although the salaries have been historically low.

It's completely out of my hands, so it's a ticking box exercise at best.

So ...

If the business is not making money it's hard to justify pay rises etc. But, as a manager, it's your responsibility to ensure that your team members have clear objectives with direct line of sight to how your business makes money. If you are in sales for example, this is straightforward as selling more in total and a bigger proportion of higher margin lines will increase profits. If you don't have good records of sales and/or understanding of what lines give the most profit, that's down to you to find out.

If you are in finance or HR for example, the link to sales/profit is more tenuous but HAS to be there, if you are undertaking activities with no understanding of how they improve your company's business you need to draw those links.

Setting great objectives and providing feedback might seem a bit pointless without a link to pay but having documented objectives and targets will give them personal satisfaction, a strong basis for arguing for eventual pay rises or bonuses and if the worst comes to it, a great record of achievement for CVs and interviews!

Setting great objectives is a key skill for managers, I'd really recommend the book Radical Candor by Kim Scott (she also has YouTube and podcasts) to help.

Managing in this type of circumstance also improves your skills as a leader and your team will appreciate this. Good luck!

Thank that's all very thoughtful and helpful! I'll have a listen.

It's just such a shame as they've been used to inflation matched pay rises, and they're not even getting that.

I think you have had some great advice already but one of the best managers I have had also gave me some advice that has stood me in good staff....your staff are your responsibility but are grown ups. They watch the news. They should know how tough things are. You can support them in lots of ways if needs be including keep an eye out for free courses, perhaps utilising your network to ask people to do mini training sessions. It's not ideal I know. I can tell you want to be a good manager but that means being the best you can the circumstances you face. If you were in the public sector you wouldn't have the option of financial rewards. You don't know so you will need to be more creative perhaps but don't understand estimate the value of your time and input....in the long run you coaching them could be a game changer for them.

Oh my this sounds familiar.. Does the parent company begin with an i?
In line with PP I'm encouraging my reports to build skills, write yearly objectives that equate to bullet points on a CV with a sprinkle of we're all adults and 'this place is a bit of a joke but I value you and you are succeeding'

Actually I realised it's not the same place because ours are also useless at hiring!! You have my sympathy and solidarity.

No you are not a fraud, that’s just how management works.
I work for a large multinational company that has revenue, profit & cashflow in the billions of dollars. I am a second line manager. We won’t be getting a bonus or pay rise this year or at least the vast majority of us won’t be as the money will targeted at only those who got top ratings in their appraisal.
Now that may sound fine except the directive this year was no more than 5% of people could be top, 20% had to be bottom and of those some will be targeted to put on a PIP. That every turns up and does their job well and doesn’t deserve to be bottom is of no relevance to the company or higher up managers.
There is (of course) no money for training and all you can do as a manager is encourage people to keep going, learn what they can on the job, find new opportunities for them etc.

There are so many ways you can provide training and development to your team (and they are your team as you are their manager). Be creative. Do on the job training with them. Look at Linked In learning. Network with your peers in other companies. Network within your own company and get them special projects or secondments. It’s your job to make the case for development and help them to make it happen. Write a business case and do a cost benefit analysis showing how much additional value/sales/profit would be earned from additional skills, knowledge or behaviours. If the investment in development does not benefit the organisation and/ir you can’t demonstrate this, should the organisation be paying for it anyway?

Are you a levy company? Check if you can use this or any funding to upskill your current work force. Apprenticeship are not just for the young! They can be used for any age range and not just new starters. Speak to HR.

If the business isn't awarding an annual pay rise in line with inflation, then in real terms, both you and the people you manage are getting a pay cut. It would be unsurprising if some of them walked, and got jobs with companies that pay them fairly.

Whether your company will care about that is another matter, of course, but recruitment to fill the gaps will cost them money. Even if they don't care about you or the people you manage, this may be what grabs the company's attention.

Thank you for the flurry of posts!

I did look into LinkedIn Learning (but you have to pay for it!)

Anywho, everybody was a bit annoyed at the lack of pay rise but that was expected.

I'm happy to do some coaching, that's the side of being a manager that I like.

So what I've told one of them, is to look at the end goal, and learn as much as she can for now, and then if it comes to it find somewhere else.

Plus I opened up to their suggestions for an alternative to the pizza party.