Disappointing evaluation after increased responsibilities...advice on how to proceed

[Anonymous]

Okay, so I work in a flat organization. Besides division directors, all professionals have the same job description. I am young and relatively inexperienced, so started out with fewer responsibilities and a considerably lower salary than those who either came in with more experience, or who have been here longer (as seems reasonable). I have been here for 3 years. In the last year, I made a large number of professional advancements. On my own initiative, I developed a relationship with a new client, brought in ~1M of work and now manage that work, with others working underneath me. And I got a really measly raise! I am pissed. Now, many will tell me I should be grateful for any raise and a stable job, and trust me, I am, but this is really sapping me of my motivation to improve! And in water cooler conversation, I have found that others have gotten significantly higher raises than me! What this means, is that the delta between my salary and others is increasing, as our professional responsibilities align. How would you proceed in my situation? During my eval, I asked my director how he arrived at this number and he blathered on about a formula and about how happy we was with my progress. He tends to operate very opaquely, which frustrates everyone. WWYD?

[Anonymous]

Does your company have a compensation policy? You need to understand what the formula is. I would push back.

[Anonymous]

What was the raise (in % terms)?

When you are comparing raises with others are you comparing %'s or $s?

[Anonymous]

Thanks pp. I think we don't have a policy. At least I can't find it. Should I ask HR about a policy? To the other pp I am only comparing percentages. Given that I am the lowest paid, it works out to lowest absolute raise as well! The number was 3.4.

[Anonymous]

I think 3.4 is the "new normal" for raises, and might even be on the higher side. If you were to leave, would that 1M worth of work follow you? If so, you might have some more leverage, but hard to tell from your description.

FWIW, discussing salaries and raises amongst coworkers always leads to hard feelings for someone, so usually isn't recommended.

[Anonymous]

OP- in the future make sure you get good about tooting your own horn and quantifying your contributions to management at review time. I'm not saying that you didn't do this but it sounds like others either did it better.

[Anonymous]

3.4 is a great raise!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- in the future make sure you get good about tooting your own horn and quantifying your contributions to management at review time. I'm not saying that you didn't do this but it sounds like others either did it better.

Ya know...I think I could have done better at documenting my achievements, and going forward this seems like the only path that may have an effect. The general sentiment going around is that raises are uncorrelated to performance. I had heard it before, but never thought I had done anything significant to merit a good raise. To those who think it's a good raise: in any other year, I agree. My concern is simply that I am suddenly feeling very undervalued in my current position. I am no longer the new kid with few responsibilities; I am doing more than many others in my same position, and paid up to 75 k less! No joke! I don't expect to automatically escalate to the salary of those with 10-20 years experience, but I'd like to be know I'm on the path there. Thanks to those who offered some advice. This kind of behavior by management has apparently driven some good talent out, and maybe that will be me in a few years...

[Anonymous]

OP, I feel for you. I also worked for nearly a decade at a flat-structure organization, and received measly salary increases in years where my responsibilities increased significantly. A mentor of mine at the company told me that raises for promotions (which sounds like what your change was, even though flat companies often don't call it that) tended to be phased in over several years, although there was no written policy explaining that, and management would have denied it if anyone asked. Here's hoping that things work that way for you, too, and this year's increase is followed by even more substantial raises in coming years.

[Anonymous]

If there is a way for you to work with a mentor or a former employee that understands how the system works? The other thing I will mention is up to a certain point, you can make salary jumps by changing jobs, then you hit a point where the positions starting at more money are far and few between and you are better staying the course with the 3.4% raise.

Also, while you are looking at it from the perspective of the person coming out of being the new kid on the block, I see the people 5-10 years younger making close to what I do. In your terms, maybe I had 5 more years of bringing in 1M business and late nights yet the nature of business is such that they started higher than my entry level salary and could have gotten a bump in changing jobs.

Whatever you do, please don't be the bitter person...either give it another year and hone your craft more or agree everyone has gotten something out of the relationship and is time to move on to a different job. After one break-out year, I do not see not doing a huge raise. Maybe a bonus would have been nice, but I would want to see a sustained effort that it wasn't a fluke or you do it one year, get the raise, then take it easy.