What salary should I be on?

[LemonyFresh]

Customer service manager for a well known online brand. Managing a team of 15 in a contact centre (email correspondence, not phone or social media)

Also expected to do recruitment, training and quality assessing.

I got £18,500 just for being a call adviser doing 37 hours a week :S my manager was on 28k

At the end of the day the business will see it that you have agreed to perform that role for that salary. You can try and speak to them however when you do, you need to consider what exactly they will be thinking and plan around that.

They will consider how much more you are asking for and weigh that up against the probability of you actually leaving if you don't get what you want and how much it will cost them to replace you. Whether they got lucky hiring you for that amount, how much time and effort is needed to replace you i.e whether there is a job shortage and they would have lots of applicants.

If it were me, I would look around locally at what the benchmark is for your job if you can find examples of other jobs paying significantly more, but accept that it is very unlikely you will get a large raise. Actually look and see if there are other positions available, if there is a lot it may mean there is a shortage of people to fill those roles, if there isn't that may mean there isn't enough jobs for those people looking, the first is good for you, the later better for business. Realistically consider how easily they can replace you. If you chose to speak to them have a clear concise list of your 'demands' and if you decide the bottom line is handing in your notice, you should follow through. Do your research, have a plan and stick to your guns.

Also just to tack on to the end of that. If you decide the bottom line is handing in your notice, get another job offer first so you have some options and use the new job offer as leverage if you would prefer to stay put, but put on your best poker face so the business doesn't know that.

External managers tend to be be recruited with more management experience and often with transformation experience too. You were promoted 6 months ago and so you can’t expect as high a salary as them. If they pay externals 20k and internals 17.5k then you need something in the middle.

£17,500 seems very low. When you were promoted, did you negotiate a salary increase or just accept their first offer? I’d look at similar jobs advertised and then arrange a meeting with your boss and say that you’d like a salary review in light of your responsibilities and experience. £400 more than your staff is a joke. Do they generally pay very badly?