Not had a pay increase in nearly 3 years and learned I’m earning a lot less than others with my qualifications

[mummytippy]

Wanting advice please on how to broach asking for a pay increase.
I’ve worked for my current employer for 6 years and had only one pay increase in that time.
I’m a qualified Bookkeeper (ICB - Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) and hold AAT Accountancy qualifications. I’m contracted to 3 full days (21 hrs) per week and earn £9.00 per hour.
The thing is I’m just about covering my outgoings but have no extra money for much else after bills. I’ve recently learned a friend of mine with the same qualifications earns £3.00 more per hour. Does anyone know the ‘going rate’ for this type of work? Also I currently don't earn enough to be eligible for the workplace pension scheme and I didn’t receive the official letter from my place of work to tell me this, I had to Google it. I’ve chatted in confidence to another member of staff (in a different department) and they said if I don’t ask I won’t get. I’m a lone parent with one ds who is a teenager. I’m not good at asking (lack confidence) but I have a lot of responsibility in my role and am starting to feel resentful and taken for granted. Any advice most welcome. Thank you in advance.

Also, if you’re on a part-time contract do you know if you usually get a slightly higher hourly rate?

No, you don't.

Thanks Bernadette

Update

My colleague phoned me yesterday eve to inform me she is going to retire in 3 months time. She said she’s still happy to ask for the pay increase today.

Definitely don’t bring not feeling valued or it being unfair etc into it if you’ve never asked for a pay rise.
Pay rises tend to work on negotiation, and it’s your job to initiate. I think you’ve got two arguments: that your pay hasn’t kept up with market value and that your skills, experience and ideally job role have grown. If you want a sizeable rise, then you need to organise a job offer elsewhere

Thanks Pepperama

Valid points, it’s definitely not kept up with Market values or the cost of living!!! Just covering my outgoings is a weekly challenge :-(

So me and my colleague broached the subject on Tuesday (yesterday) about the pay increase. Our boss spoke to us individually as she said she felt slightly hanged up on.

My colleague spoke to her first and said just felt an increase due as been a while. She suggested a rise of 50p an hour per year not had a rise... £1.50 to which our boss worked that out to £2.50 so £11.50 per hour.

I then chatted to our boss and said because I’m on such a tight budget and can’t cut my outgoings much more I’d looked at alternative employment and rates between £11.80 - £12 p hour. She said we were right on when the last rise was awarded and that I should have ‘spoken up’ sooner. I said I hadn’t wanted to. She said well they’re the sort of company where you have to.
Then she said she’d speak to the MD and let me know today but despite working together in the same office all day she didn’t

*Ganged up on

Good luck you get positive news tomorrow. If not do approach her, you don’t want to be in limbo over Christmas

My mum did this recently, she works part time for a small chain of shops and hadn't had a pay rise in 7 years. She suffers a fairly significant disability that doesnt mean any time off but would definitely affect what jobs she could do and therefore didnt have a lot of confidence to ask but was feeling quite undervalued. Like you she is a bookkeeper but has a degree in accounting (but hers is from many many years ago).

Her employer said he would have a think about it and she had a very nervous weekend but he spoke to her on the Monday and doubled her salary!

Thanks Peperama

Yes it’s frustrating that she hasn’t come back to after saying she would. My colleague isn’t back in work until tomorrow so I am going to leave it until then despite her telling me Tuesday ‘I should have spoken up’. That seemed like a cop out at the time though tbh. We finish tomorrow until the 6th Jan so we’ll definitely ask tomorrow as I’m not going to be left in limbo as not fair and not nice.

Hi Beseen19

I’m so pleased that your mum had a positive outcome in her salary doubling. Not nice she had to wonder over the weekend and I completely understand her feeling undervalued. Not a nice feeling. She sounds very well qualified and the age of her qualifications shouldn’t matter. Glad she had the confidence to ask :-)

I would get evidence of wages for similar roles in your area. Present this to them along with the point this is the 1st time you have asked for a rise but after 3 years and no rise you feel it is appropriate to do so. If they refuse look else where. If you feel you can not do this face to face do it in an email.

Apologies! Posted on wrong post.

I got a pay increase. My boss didn’t confirm verbally, we just cam across it in our Xmas payslips. We asked for £2.80 - £3.00 extra an hour based on adverts for the same time of work and that we’ve taken on more responsibility. We were given a £2 per hour rise.

Well done OP!

You’d earn more working in a supermarket.