So disappointed in pay rise after going above and beyond

[workistoomuch]

I feel like I've been completely strung along by work. My job role now covers about the twice the work of what it did when I started and what I have done goes far beyond the job description. I've won awards and had really positive feedback from across the business. I've had another company who has heard about my work beg me to interview with their company with 3 different roles (I turned down two and didn't get one, they said because notice period was too long so a handover wouldn't be possible, or maybe they had someone better, who knows). I thought I really wanted to stay where I work and was excited about some upcoming projects I was leading.

I'd talked about a salary increase last year and said I was looking for 10% to keep up with inflation, there didn't seem to be objection to this. I've just heard I'm getting 3.5% and I am so disappointed. I feel like they are absolutely taking the piss out of me to be honest and I just feel like all my hard work is for nothing. They are talking about a promotion later in the year but frankly if it's going to be for another below inflation poxy pay rise I'd rather not bother.

I'm thinking about asking my manager to have a meeting where I discuss the scope of my role and say I would like to see exact salary and promotion by x date, with a planned date of promotion if I meet criteria by then. I am tempted to ask to have my job description and official title changed based on all the extra work I am now doing. Would that be ok?

I feel so disheartened and am currently updating my CV which I'm so sad about as there are so many part of the company I loved and I thought I wanted to be here long term. :(

Ask for job description and salary review, don't threaten to leave if you don't get what you want, don't make any threats, you'll back yourself into a corner, keep doing more than you should for the money and work on an exit plan. Fix up your LinkedIn account - describe your job properly so you come up on recruitment searches and make connections, as many as you can - that will improve your chances too.
If you threatened us with leaving we'd either shake your hand and wish you well, or we'd give you a small rise and assume you were leaving and start actively recruiting for your role and reducing the impact of your departure - people who threaten to leave are very likely to leave anyway within a year usually, so investing in them is risky.
They will know from your salary review request that you are unhappy with your package, they may choose to do nothing. Stay professional keep the emotion out of it - have a cry, it's upsetting not being valued and being fed a line - it happens to everyone though, even men who are amazingly talented at their jobs - we recruited one after a similar incident, the ex-employer (who we knew) was almost in tears and incredibly angry at losing him they'd thought he was too loyal to leave - more fool them, I doubt they will learn from the lesson.
Good luck.

I could have written your post this time last year. Due to several restructures, the scope of my role gradually crept up until it was virtually a different role after 6 years. No pay increases beyond the 2-3% annual increase.

I ended up taking a big leap into a job at another company which was totally outside my comfort zone. Ended up being a significantly step up in salary. All in all, it was a good move.

Take all that experience and market yourself for a new role.

Why do so many companies- including the one I work for- give these minescule pay rises when someone has worked their backside off and exceeded expectations.

Is there any better paying departments within the company you can start to move into? I did this recently and it's been massively beneficial to me.

Anyone on here who implies that you are childish or greedy for working hard and wanting to be rewarded for that is missing the point entirely.

You need to have a chat with them. Find out what their final position is but do not mention leaving. Talk about all the additional contributions you have made etc and see what they say.

If no more money is put on the table I would look to leave. If you hand in your notice and they suddenly offer more don't take it - too little too late and you don't want to hand in your notice every time you need a rise.

I was in your position last year. I moved and got a 30% pay rise. Go gal!

Always move, there's usually no point trying to negotiate.

My dh moved jobs every year or two in his career and earns a really hefty sum now in a cushy job.

It's very shortsighted of employers.

Also to clarify, he earned considerably more each time or got a better work life balance with each move, i.e a lot less hours, or both etc.

Why do so many companies- including the one I work for- give these minescule pay rises when someone has worked their backside off and exceeded expectations.

Read the thread. Tiaraboo explained how pay budgets work on the first page:

I got a 3.5% budget to dish out to my employees. To reward higher achievers, I need to reduce others payrises, so definitely no room for giving 10% pay rises

This is how it works at most businesses above a certain size, and the amount budgeted for pay rises isn’t decided on the basis of inflation. It’s about what is sensible and affordable for the business. If the OP thinks that she is working well above the level she is paid at, then she needs to ask for the role to be benchmarked, as others have suggested. Or even better, just leave.

OP, In discussions like this you have to be clear headed about what makes you valuable to the business. Are you bringing in loads of new business? Do you have specialist skills that are hard, and expensive, to source? That’s where your bargaining power comes from, although that’s best used by moving to a new role elsewhere.

You have to be prepared to find out that what you think is valuable, isn’t considered all that valuable to your employer. For example:

My job role now covers about the twice the work of what it did when I started

They won’t care unless you’ve got something they can’t do without.

and what I have done goes far beyond the job description.

Ditto.

I've won awards

OK but awards for what? You need to be dispassionate in assessing the value of these awards. Employee of the month stuff tends to be a ‘let’s be nice to the staff for morale reasons’ thing rather than an expression of market value. It might be something you can leverage, but only if it relates to skills the market will pay for, e.g. developing new green energy solutions. Not if it’s an award for being nice or being popular with contacts.

and had really positive feedback from across the business.

See above.

I've had another company who has heard about my work beg me to interview with their company with 3 different roles

This is when you should have started the negotiation with your current employers.

Move jobs.

I was in the same position, nine years in the role - lots of promises or promotion and pay rises but it never came to anything and I just keep getting told things will happen eventually. Last year my pay rise was 3% despite doing above and beyond my role and promises of a "good one".

I started applying for new roles within my company and was offered one recently, it comes with a 15% pay rise and it's a promotion in terms of grade / level.

To get that 15% pay rise if I stayed would take about 3/4 years.

When I do move to the new role, I certainly won't be hanging around for 9 years. It pays to keep moving.

Definitely look outside. I was the same - company for 20 odd years and made to feel grateful at any payrise at all. In the end I left and actually have upped my salary by 15-18% each time I moved. (moved twice since I left original company).

Nrtft but I'm in a similar position and am leaving and getting 30% increased salary with my new role (largely because I'm shifting to a new industry) but I think the most depressing bit is that in order to attract the right talent for my old role, they've reshaped it to be more desirable AND given it a 10% pay increase. It was only my leaving that got the c-suite to look at this seriously :(

Huge congrats to everyone with a new job and pay rise, I love these positive stories 🥂
I just find it so sad because I love my job and would love to stay long term but its not sustainable to be effectively reducing my salary with every year that goes by.