Should I be entitled to a pay rise?

[Workingmum1000]

I’ve been at my company for 2 and a half years. I’ve worked my way up from pretty much the grunt to a managerial role.

I got promoted nearly a year ago and have been offered a managerial role within the last few days.

No contract, no offer in writing and no pay rise.

I consistently fulfilled my previous role (before this recent promotion) and met all requirements in the JD.

They explained that I would not be getting a pay rise as the salary I’m on is reflective of the work I’m doing ON TOP of my new responsibilities.

Do you feel this is fair? How should I go about arguing a pay rise without raising too many issues?

The company isn’t doing too well at the moment so I understand they are trying to cut corners but is asking for a review in a few months reasonable?

when you say a managerial role do you mean you are managing people now? Or other additional responsibilities? I would suggest if you were line managing 1 or 2 people and your salary was within a reasonable range for those responsibilities then it might be hard to come up with a compelling case for why your role has changed so much you need a pay rise, but if you are now accountable for the success of a function/process whatever and you weren’t previously then it’s not fair to expect you to just suck it up.

I’d suggest you meet with you manager and explain that while you are excited for this opportunity and keen to make a success of it , it’s important that you are fairly rewarded for the level of responsibility and as such you would propose that X amount would be a reasonable increase. And then if you are feeling confident you could say that you may need to reconsider whether you are able to manage the additional responsibilities without fair remuneration.

Thank you for such a quick response to this.

I’m managing a service so not managing people per se.

I’m taking over a role of someone who recently left (hence the cutting corners comment in my original post).

I’m under 30 and feel this new role will help me develop so I guess I could suck it up and appreciate the opportunity to develop.

My direct manager unfortunately can’t make the decision on a pay rise but I may speak to HR about how could approach.

Thank you again!

Nobody is entitled to a pay rise but I guess your starting point is how much should your job be paid, what do similar jobs get paid (you can look on indeed or total jobs), then consider how your current pay compares.

I once attended a seminar run by a woman who helps other women negotiate in the workplace - who said that often the difference is that women are given extra responsibility and then feel like they have to prove themselves before pushing for more pay. Men push (and get) the higher pay first, and then prove themselves afterwards.

You know your own situation best - some companies absolutely won't give successive pay rises, so I don't want to give you advice to go in all guns blazing and burns your boats. But have a chat with your manager, and see what's possible in relation to both pay rise and job title. Don't just smile and take on the extra work as that's what's in their interest, not yours.