Unfair salary increase with internal promotion

[kittykat818]

Hi all, a bit of a work dilemma here... I currently work as a senior executive, when I was approached about the role it was marketed as an exec role but I asked for the title to be changed to senior exec (purely for the way this would look on my CV). I was offered the role at the top band of the scale (£40,000). When I accepted the role I was told I would be promoted to manager within the year and an unapproved job description was shared with me (by my manager, HR hadn't seen it) this showed the salary would be £50,000-£55,000 - I was very happy with this. This week I was told that HR had approved my promotion but were offering £46,000 (£2000 of this I had already received due a company wide cost of living pay increase) so an increase of £4000. I highlighted I wasn't happy and asked my manager to share with HR that other places of work were increasing the salary between these roles (exec to manager) by £7000 - £15,000. I also highlighted I had exceeded targets all year and that I would be becoming a line manager soon (this was not part of the JD they saw) I also highlighted the additional responsibilities the role would see me take on. My manager has come back and said they will not budge and that they think it is a fair increase and in line with the market - this is also worrying as I took on the role understanding pay was better here due to the prestige of the company, £40,000 is higher than the going rate for the kind of exec I am but £46,000 is about standard across the industry for a manager role so it seems unfair that they are willing to pay a lot when you are joining but this is forgotten about once you work there. It seems silly that there is only an increase of £4000 between a role advertised as an exec and a managerial role with line managing responsibilities... Does anyone have an advice on where I can go from here, I know I might not get the full £50,000 but it seems unfair that they wouldn't compromise at all. Thank you!

Move jobs, if you think you can get more elsewhere?

@Raincloudsonasunnyday I am very happy there so would prefer not to move jobs - should have mentioned that. I do think there should be room for these conversations at a work place and I don't think I would necessarily get huge amounts more necessarily it is more the fact of when I joined I was told they pay more than the average due to certain aspects of the work

How much of an uplift in responsibilities is there with the manager role?

You need to weigh up if the additional duties are worth the extra ~£200 a month after tax.

Sorry, but I don't really get the question. If you think "there should be room for these conversations at a work place", then have the conversation (or try to, it takes two to converse).

If you like the job and don't want to move, then stay. Pay is just one part of working life.

What else is there?

What do you do? £46,000 isn't really senior executive money and it seems odd not to be a line manager of any staff but to be a senior executive.

You've had the conversation so ultimately if you want more pay you need to start looking at other jobs. You have to have some leverage if you want to persuade them to pay more.

The last time I had this exact scenario I negotiated a stepped increase. See if you can get £50k after 6 months / a year into the promotion subject to promotion.

Did you get anything in writing when you were first hired?

@donquixotedelamancha I work in private healthcare, largely my role is relationship management based. I am on £42,000 as a senior exec (though this was simply the offered salary for an exec role) £46,000 would be the salary for the managerial role. Our team is currently just myself and my manager so I take on a lot of senior work and we are now hiring and I would become this new persons manager. I wouldn't like to leave but just hoped someone might be able to help with another points/ ways to work around this with my manager

That sounds very low for a senior exec role. Is it a very small company?

@disappearingfish I have mentioned this to my manager so I will push forward with that idea as well. I have the JD with the salary of £50-55,000 in writing. I don't think my manager really should have shared that with me before HR approved it but it is annoying as I know that's what she thinks is a fair salary for the role but disregarding the cost of living increase in £ it is only going up to £44,000 so a huge difference!

@Wishitsnows it's pretty high in comparison to some other places - execs are usually quite junior. But no, we are a pretty big organisation!

You need to benchmark against other similar companies, and then argue on that basis.

@GeneCity This was my initial argument, I found a number of similar workplaces and highlighted just how much they were increasing salaries between these roles but that didn't seem to work... I think because the salary as a a stand alone is fair. It is more the jump which is not fair as my starting salary was quite good for my exec role.

All you can do is ask, they can say no.

Unfortunately the previous unofficial job advert isn’t worth much, as it was never official, never ran by HR etc.

You need to present the strongest case for a pay rise based on evidence, internal and external, performance and market. They may well push back but at least you then move elsewhere knowing you gave them plenty of opportunity to keep you.

Agree this doesn't sound a lot for a 'senior executive'. The staff one below the executives where I work are on £100k+ salaries, and the executives have individually negotiated packages obviously some level above that.

Is it 'senior executive' as in, more senior than the most junior people? We used to have Exec and Senior Exec roles but they were basically the second and third step on the hierarchy and the level below Manager. They changed them because it was confusing! They definitely didn't mean Senior Executive as in c-suite roles.

Unfortunately in my experience you have to move employers to get the big increases.

Im on about £8k more than my colleagues who joined my employer via the graduate scheme but with similar experience as me because I was hired as a mid career. I was able to negotiate my salary rather than just take the going rate that was offered to grads.

It’s not fair but unfortunately how it works.

@mynameiscalypso Yes that seems to be the case! I think the charity/healthcare sector uses Exec as the norm for those under managers.

As confusing as it may sound, Executive and Senior Executive are often-used terminology/titles for the levels between Coordinator and Manager in many big companies. They are Individual Contributor level (not managment) roles and £30k-£40k is a normal salary banding for them.

VP/ SVP roles are also sometimes referred to as 'Senior Executive' roles, but that is obviously not what the OP means in this case.

Execs are not usually quite junior, they are usually the most senior people in an organisation, sounds like your organisation uses the terms in an unusual way, as such it is not easy to pinpoint exactly where you are in the organisation.

Nevertheless, you have tried to negotiate as you should, but your company have reached a point where they don’t wish to go further. It is up to you whether you find their offer acceptable and if not, you need to start looking for another job.

@Aprilx I guess it depends - the last 4 work places I have been at there have been junior people who's titles are exec, we then also have an executive team who are the most senior people as explained by the commenter above you, it might just be the case in large organisations but it's not too unusual!

So its sounds like the HR team have been asked to benchmark/job evaluate the job description which has determined the £salary. Your manager was wrong to share with you an unconfirmed £salary. However, you might try to argue that you were promised promotion within a year on a salary of £55K and see where that gets you. Verbal promises are harder to provide and I'm not sure if its enough to demonstrate a contractual promise. Worth a try. You've tried informally discussing it so you could raise a grievance if you can't get past this false promise. Of course the outcome may well be - the manager was wrong and didn't have authorisation to make you those promises and job evaluation outcome is final.

Take the promotion - say thank you, smile work your butt off getting as much experience under your belt as possible - be a keen bean and look for not other job in a year. You’ll smash it. Don’t dwell on the “not fair” - it’s the way it is with some companies - you need to work with what you’ve got.