I came back from mat leave in February. In august our pay process happened and I was given a tiny pay rise but the rest of my team was given a higher one. I am mid level senior but only one person is more junior than me in my team.
I raised this with my manager and they came back to me a couple of weeks later to say that my performance ‘wasn’t where it should be.’ This was news to me and I feel it should have been raised in the numerous 1:1 meetings I have had (as we all have!) on a monthly basis. I was also told that ‘you had another pay rise while on maternity leave don’t forget.’ What is that supposed to mean? Yep, I did have a minimal pay rise then as did my team and I am almost certain that you are not allowed to remove someone on mat leave from a pay review process but perhaps I am wrong and they were actually doing me a favour then?
Anyway… I have a had a few comments about ‘when I have my second’ since being back and I feel strongly that I haven’t been included in a proper pay review process by virtue of the fact I am now seen as a mother and someone who may be off again soon. I am actually not planning on more children as I am already 38.
What do I do about this if anything? I feel very stressed and upset that my work is now being criticised in small ways since having raised my rubbish pay rise and not ever been mentioned prior to this. Ironically I have also on a financial level performed better in the last six months than the year prior to me going off on mat leave which doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t know what to do or how to feel about this or whether I even have anything to argue here.