Work pay review disappointment

[ivegotthisyeah]

I am so mad I could cry!!
Had our work pay reviews this week.
I received and outstanding in my year end review ( very hard to get) and a promotion ( chose to stay at a lower level last year to gain more experience and more chance of decent pay rise this year) so I waited it out go over and above received fantastic feedback and I got the most appalling shitest increase of £900 a year. Wft !! I was gob smacked. Usual bullshit excuses goes on prior year you got double what everyone else got. It's private sector all on different pay so it's all irrelevant that I got double everyone else. My pay is low and I know it is but instead of complaining I've always tried to exceed my goals and work for a pay rise. It's seems they only had out decent pay rises when you leave or have another job waiting in the wings.
I am so mad and fucked off. Team leader said they are halting my promotion to go ahead with it in June as more chance of head office agreeing a pay rise out of pay review window.
I know my team leader is only the messenger but I actually want to laugh in her face at the fucking minimal shit £900 they think is ok.
I don't want to leave as it's flexible and benefits are good but I am so underpaid it's a joke.
I want to send her an email to say how dissatisfied and upset I am but not sure it will help. Do I want until June or voice my annoyance now - advice needed .
Been told this morning ( in confidence by a work friend) another colleague had gone in with another job offer and she got want she wanted but I am just not that kind of person to lie or make up a job offer pathetic aren't I

I think this is where the whole grading system can be disadvantageous to you as an employee.

If you take the "outstanding" categorisation away, how are they saying you did?

Did you just do the job that they were paying you for? Have you gone above and beyond your role, or simply performed your role very well?

As an employer, I pay people to do the job they were employed for. Unless they've done something truly exceptional, why should I pay them more than an inflationary increase? The only way people get a bigger boost on their earnings is to change and develop their role with training and experience and promotion.

The use of the word "outstanding" does feel like you should be expecting more from an end of year pay review.

The other thing that is being factored in to a lot of businesses this year is the increase in NI.

Let's say that you're on £23,000 currently. This year that means they're paying you the £23,000 and employer's NI is £1,918.

They give you a £900 pay increase, so your salary is now £23,900, but from April that employer's NI is £2,835.

A £900 salary increase and the NI increase takes your cost to them from £24,918 to £26,735 which is a 7.29% increase in their total cost.

To give you a 10% salary increase would take your total cost of employment to £25,300 in salary and £3,045 in NI = £28,345 or a 13.75% increase.

But yet they have taken on two new members of staff with experience and I bet they are on a lot more than me! So frustrating - we are recruiting too so may just apply for that 😂🤣🥂

If your FT is 29, they were never going to bump you to 35. That's a 20 increase. Thats rare ime.

You should have been questioning the £ when you accepted the promotion.

It is a bit rubbish for a promotion. I’d expect 3% min to be your annual rise (and more for private sector, i’m public and even we got 5% this years annual rise) but you’d expect a good few thousand for the next level up. In my public dept i’d say it’s 5k or so for next level up around that salary. My last promotion I had a 15k increase.

Start to look for something else.

If there was a way to find out that, you may have a better way to approach it.

Or, look for similar roles in other organisations.

Take these figures to your line manager and say "I know the new hires are earning more than me for the same role" or "I have researched the market and it looks like the market rate for my role is £X." then "can you please ask HR to reconsider my salary as a result and I feel I am being underpaid for the role I currently have."

That’s a fairly standard increase in the current climate.

Just to clarify I have not been promoted yet.
Unfortunately in my sector salaries are not advertised. You would only find out two interviews in what the salary would be.
So it is hard to prove or say

Of course you look for another job

And when you give your notice, you say that you've been offered a job for £X - the amount your current job should have offered you, so bye bye.

At worst they match it, at best you start your new job.

Keep it professional, but that's what everyone does.

I feel your pain. After a year of working myself into the ground for the company as it was struggling to find staff - I was offered £500.

Oddly enough I no longer work there.

@ivegotthisyeah Yup, exactly this OP. 👆You shouldn't have to "lie" about having another job in the wings because you should be looking around for one so when you say you have a job offer, it's genuine.
Also, it's all well and good your manager telling you they're delaying your promotion until June to get you an "out of pay review" pay rise, but what if Head Office don't agree to this? You may get the promotion with no increase in pay.
Only you can decide if the flexibility and benefits are worth the lower pay at your current employer, but you may find another job that has equal flexibility and benefits on a much higher salary. But you won't know if you don't look.
Finally, never forget, you are in your strongest position to negotiate a decent salary when you're about to start a new job - sadly, loyalty is often overlooked, particularly when you've been there 20 years.

OP, what a bummer. There is a risk June is future-faking.

If you are planning to leave, I would go back to your manager saying you would like a better title whilst you wait. Since they just revised everybody's title's hopefully it is not a big ask and there is some flex there.

That way, when you go for interviews, they can see a progression in terms of titles and you can spin it as you took on more responsibilities and are got a new title promotion and in line for a fair pay increase which did not materialise so you are looking for other opportunities to grow.

If the other job is offering more and can easily meet your salary expectations, they would not be too bothered. Of course you would throw in the usual about wanting to progress and increase your experience and exposure and what else the other role and company offers which is attractive blah blah

Look elsewhere. If you get offered something else be firm about the salary you're looking for. Your current employer may find the money to keep you, not sure I would stay in your shoes but whatever works for you.
The comments about what others are getting in terms of pay increases are not relevant. You should be paid the going rate for the work you do.

My experience is that once you are out there in the market preparing and psyching yourself up for interviews and researching the new employer, something in you dies about your current job. From being likewarm, you suddenly desperately want the new job and a change of scene.

Therefore, once you get the offer, just resign. No point playing games like stalking horse offers. I doubt you would be interested in any buy back by your current employer because your heart would have moved on by then.

Go out there and get a fair pay for your toil. Employers exploit your inertia and take you for granted especially part timers.

Hah. I had an employer who switched us to performance related pay and it turned out this was a euphemism for low pay rises. Think 1-2%. Any of us would have been delighted with what you got, and those who queried it were told to look elsewhere if they thought they could get better.

TBH it sounds like an average pay rise for an average job.

Unfortunately, job hopping is the only way to get the pay rises most are seeking these days. Most employers gamble that employees won't take the risk of moving to get the pay rises because most can't be arsed to go through the hoops of searching, interviewing, starting over. OP, you're an example of that phenomenon... you don't want to move, your employer knows that, so you got the minimum rise....

Foot off the gas. Do the absolute bare minimum not to get sacked.

Look for another job.

I've worked like a dog for years and I was so precious about my review ratings. None of it matters. Employers reward who they want to reward. Your award is insulting.

If I were you I'd get another job and see if they then match that salary.

I stayed with my previous employer. Always told there would be 'jam tomorrow'. The jam never came.

Then one day I applied for another job. Salary 50% increase on my then current salary plus much higher employer pension contributions. All for essentially the same job.

Told my employer. They were shocked. I was part of the furniture. I was asked 'Why?'. 'A lot more money' was my answer.

I stayed with my previous employer far too long.

You might not like it but that’s the way most big businesses work. Don’t shoot the messenger.

She said her company was private and most give a bonus unless the company is underperforming where in which case 10% pay rises wouldn’t be realistic either.

Honestly what ive observed a lot over the years, those who stick in a company for a long time often end up the poorest paid. There are exceptions to this, but I think when they bring people in from outside they pay market rate, but those who are there already get essentially a share of the pot available and if they can get away with little or nothing, they will.

From experience the ways to get a payrise are make yourself invaluable in a way no one else could easily do the role, find another job and then see if they are willing to match the offer or ask and hope they value you.

You could either look for like for like roles, see what the market rate is and show them that. Or you could apply for some of those roles and either find something new you love or get an offer to use to negotiate with.

I will say that more and more jobs have a level of flexibility these days so it doesn't hurt to see what is available in your sector, you may find something more suitable.

Reality is, with national insurance increases, a pay rise is a pay rise this year.

A firm I consult for, payroll has increased by just shy of £1m courtesy of the national insurance rises. To point out they are a charity and do not make profit of the services they provide.

In your shoes, I’d hold out until the promotion so that I can put it on my CV and then start applying for new jobs. Or apply to train as a train driver… they seem to be doing fine in the pay and pay rise stakes.

Agree. Years ago I started a job at 11k (high end of going rate then) and was being trained by a bloke that had been there 7 years and was earning 8k.

They had to match what I was on to get me but he had fallen back and back.

I bet he's still there and on 9.5k :(

This is true. You do have to move.