Salary increase - promotion

[MoominGang]

I have just been promoted from a Senior Manager to Head of Department and to be honest the salary increase that comes with it, is a bit underwhelming. The new role is incorporating all the previous responsibilities as well as a lot of new ones, so potentially a lot more work too. I know that moving within the same company will never come with the same salary increase as changing jobs and I don't want to sound ungrateful either. So what would you expect in this situation?

Are there salary bands or have you been made an offer? Have you tried negotiating?

Is it the standard 10% internal rise? I do find those disappointing. Is it worth pushing for more., do you think they might negotiate?

There is no salary bands and we don't know what other staff are on, including the ones I manage, just their starting salary. With any salary increase, we get a letter that outlines the details, it's not discussed at appraisals.
I would be happy to negotiate though for the very first time but want to see what others would expect in this situation.
The role is quite unique industry so checking salary for this level is not easy either.

Yes, just under 10% ... underwhelming with the level of responsibility involved.

You need to find your inner strength to go back to them and say given the huge increase in responsibility you feel the role is worth more.

Do they really want you in that role or are their lots of others that could do it? How I indispensible are you?
If they really want you, you definitely have the power here. Not sure if it's good advice or not, but I would suggest to them that you are still looking at options outside. Not hinting or being subtle. Be direct.
Say you had a salary expectation that the role would be X amount. (add what you would be happy with plus 10%). Then leave it for them to negotiate.
Of course they will pay you as little as they will get away with. Especially if you are there a long tíme and not likely to leave.

I would not say "feel".
It's not what a man would say. It is worth more.

Thank you all! Lots of good advice. You are all right and I have been there a long time which makes me prone to just sat thank you and be happy with what I have been given.

Were you on a bit of an inflated salary originally? Sometimes companies will have to look at slowing the rate of increases to bring salaries back in line with market rates/budgets/others in similar roles with similar experience.

Would happen often in my last workplace e.g. they hired an assistant type role on a very high salary due to the market at the time, then when market levelled out she was massively overpaid really, so when she was promoted the increase wasn't brill - but still slightly above market rate - because others in that role would have been effectively underpaid compared to her. Bit unfair on the individual but difficult for the company to do anything else really, at the time.

Defo go back and discuss it! If this is private sector there will be a lot more leeway (public sector where I am, you wouldn’t get anything like 10%). Be prepared for a hard ball situation though, they can pay you what they want - it’s up to you if you accept it (and how badly they want to keep you)…

In my experience they won’t pay you more out of ‘fairness’.

They will pay you more if you are prepared to walk if they don’t, and they want to keep you. So, are you prepared to? Will you be able to get substantially more elsewhere?

The conversation doesn’t have to be as ‘bare’ as this but ultimately this is what it is about.

I have started with the company at entry level position, everyone does and then moves up. Been through all the rungs of the ladder and some of the increases have been higher than others but I maybe naively thought this one will be bigger than it is on paper.

Prepared to walk out. I manage a big team and can slot in and assist with any role within the company. They won't be able to just advertise and replace me. Someone else in the company would need to take my workload on and there aren't that many of us.

Just by way of comparison, in the civil service this kind of jump is usually G7 to G6 which is around a £10,000 pay rise, it's particularly rubbish though because it's usually from around £50/55k to £60/65k so the take home is particularly impacted by increased tax, increased pension contributions (jumps from 5.45 to 7.35%) and also loss of child benefit if applicable. It can be a lot of extra responsibility for little financial reward!

Following on from this. Something I follow: Use words like: I recommend. I propose. I question. I expect. I urge. I advise.
Not: I think, I believe, I suggest, I guess. I suppose

You aren't being ungrateful to argue for your worth in salary. They’re not paying you out of kindness.

To add to the advice already given, can you find similar roles advertised and the pay available? You will have a much stronger argument by showing evidence of what similar roles are paying so they can see a) you know there are similar jobs out there and b) you know how much you could expect to be paid to do them and c) you are monitoring the market so could reasonably be expected to make a move if they don’t fix it.

It depends on your line of work. In mine a manager would be on about £40-50k and a head of department £75-85k.

I would benchmark the role against similar roles advertised by other companies and go back to them asking for more if it seems a lot lower.

Why are you still doing tasks that sit with the old role? Aren't they replacing you at that level? If so, then that person will take on these tasks and lighten your load.

If not, then I'd want to understand how they think you can deliver on 2 separate roles?!

Be careful, though, not to use the number of tasks/busy-ness of the role as a reason for an increase. A salary increase is down to increased responsibility, not tasks.

There are only 3 companies in the whole UK that do what we do. Industry is notorious for not advertising salaries so quite difficult to gauge what the market value is. Some jobs within National Trust might be comparable but also come with a range of benefits that we don’t get like pension or paid maternity.
This is all great advice and you’ve encouraged me to be more brave.
There will be no replacement for my role so for the next year I’m expected to carry on with the added responsibilities… I know …
The company is generally great to work for and I feel very appreciated and heard as well as have the freedom to decide how we work and make my own decisions.

I am in a similar situation OP where promotion would involve my current job plus whole lot more responsibility. I am seriously considering whether the stress of it all will be worth my sanity and health.

No harm in asking and trying to negotiate more.

Fool that I am, I’m an NHS junior manager and got a £1000 a year payrise when I got my promotion. It’s an insult for all the extra I do. Now nearly 2 years on, I’m finally about to get a boost but it’s still nowhere near 10%. NHS bands are crap! It’s not worth the stress for me but I am backed into a corner and I don’t want to leave my team.

Can you squeeze as much experience as possible out of this role, and aim to move on in a year? It's really normal to change roles every 2 years or so these days, staying put isn't financially rewarded at all.

I received the same i got £900 a year extra before tax for moving into Management.
I currently earn £6 a day more than those at the top of the grade below me.
It's pathetic really I would move if it wasn't for the fact I love the work we do as it helps others and I find that rewarding but salary wise ive been taken for a fool.
Re negotiate.

From my experience, you need to leave to get a decent pay increase anyway. But maybe just send a note to say im taking extra responsibility in x/y/z, so I should be paid extra for this.