Is no pay raise in 7.5 years normal?

[blownout]

HI,
I WFH so reason why I'm a little isolated on this one in terms of advice.

I worked 22 years in a public sector job where a union negotiated pay raises in line with inflation etc. Being part of a union it was all done for us.

I was tempted away - working in the private sector 7.5 years ago - it was a GREAT salary offer. Problem is, 9 months into the job Covid hit the business hard and I was even on reduced hours. I work in the IT sector if this helps, but my question is:

Is it usual to work in a private sector job for 7.5 years with no pay raise in sight? We are coping with the cost of living, but only because this was meant to be a GREAT salary - now we are watching every spend.

I am in the UK - any suggestions / views since I don't get out much with this job would be appreciated.
Thank you so much :)

It’s time you ran your eye over your job description and started looking at alternatives jobs to see what the market rate is for your skills.

If your job description is what your were employed to do nine years ago, is it still reflected in your actual duties?

All private sector jobs I’ve worked in have still got an inflation pay rise each year and my current private sector jobs has a union that negotiates a fair deal for us. Do you have annual appraisals where pay could be discussed?

It is not usual but not unheard of since 2019. Is it company wide lack of pay rise ? I have found only way to get pay rise is to move or threaten to move

Thanks - it is - and then some! When I joined, it was a casual arrangement - my offer letter contained two sentences to outline expectations in the job - essentially I excelled initially and offered so much more outside of the initial description - eg. offered software demos to prospective clients, built a CRM database, and developed new software ideas we took to market... it was a lot ...so nothing has been taken away from me since I joined - I just keep on taking on new responsibilities without question - more the fool me I suppose but I'm not sure about how to ask for more if it is well deserved - I'm terrible about negotiating.

The only way these days to get a pay rise is to see where you are in the market and ask for a rise.

Gone are the days of an annual COL rise IME

I think large private sector firms still have a pay structure and a process for annual COL increases, but smaller businesses will very often leave it for you to ask. Another reason for the gender paygap, women are less likely to ask.

I'm tied into a non-compete clause in terms of working with existing competitors and current clients. It's painful but I can leave - do temping - just change what I do and spend 24 months doing something else. When I say I work in IT I'm not talking about a highly paid job. As a junior developer I was taken on with a 40k salary. I'm worried if I move this is now unreasonable and other employees will offer less.

I would speak or message your line manager to start a conversation. Even something as simple as “after no cost of living payrises since 2019, I am considering my options” etc

Further context - this was a late move and I'm in my early 50's. Whilst I'm no longer managing childcare, still have teenagers dependent at home.

But surely you’d no longer be a junior developer after 7.5 years? £40k isn’t a great salary for that experience. Annual pay rises are still common in private sector. Saying that, IT sector in development isn’t doing great at the moment due to AI and moving roles to other countries, lots are making redundancies.

Thank youUpDownAllAround1This could work. I suppose this is the main point in my question - am I being cheeky to ask? It's why I did and thank you so much for your feedback - it's giving me the confidence to approach the question.

I don't think OP should open with threats.

Just a polite "Ive been here 7 years and haven't had a payrise, I know you're pleased with my work, can we discuss this please?"

Obviously if OP doesn't get a good response, she will have to consider he options, but don't open with that.

Thank you Holtome .
Only criticism I ever have from my manager (also MD) of the company division I work for is I am often 'too nice' with clients, so this response fits me better. I will pluck up the courage to ask him.

Yes you are right. Mine sounded a bit strong.

Of course - I will update this thread on the outcome... thank you for your support.

It's not usual but unfortunately away from those nationally negotiated public sector pay awards you've discovered thd hard way that youre on your own.

Usually you need to get a counter offer from another employer if your private sector employer is being tight.

In terms of your non-compete agreement, it sounds like it might be too strict, therefore might not be enforceable. It’s reasonable to stop you poaching client, but unreasonable to prevent you from working in the same industry. If you wanted to change jobs, it would be worth gett8ng some legal advice.

Given the current level of inflation, you’re effectively being paid significantly less than when you took the role, and while often pay doesn’t keep up with inflation, there should be some attempt made to do so.

I would agree that the non compete may be unenforceable, they often are unless you are in an extremely client facing industry something like recruitment. But I've known recruiters go from agency to agency ( recruiting for the same roles so similar clients) so if they can get away with it I'm sure other less salesy roles can too.

I once heard it say that a lot of employers (the not so great ones) only ever have two reasons to consider your pay - to get you or to keep you. So unless you switch around a bit (not too often or you're seen as a job hopper) or you seek counter offers to use as leverage then you're stuck.

Another one for look at the non-compete clause, difficult to enforce & at 2 years would definitely impact your right to freedom of trade. Assuming they don’t provide 2 years paid gardening leave 🤣
Do some research on the market salary for the role that you are currently in and use that as additional information in putting a case forward.
Check if the freeze is corporate wide and / or there is a case for promotion