Annual performance and pay rise

mackcracknsack

So, I was recently up for my annual performance and pay review in my current job (not in Ireland), and as I am the highest paid staff member in a certain pay grade, my manager deemed me not eligible for a pay rise this year.

Needless to say I was very annoyed about this and am extremely angry by the fact that I am now being penalised for negotiating a higher salary when joining the company. I have never received a negative performance review and have implemented and improved many processes during the past working year.
So regardless of all my efforts during the year, late night's (and there were far too many) and always showing willingness to take on new work this all counts for little as they have justified a 0% increase as I earn more than some colleagues.

Countless times I took on work during the year or took on my own mini projects to improve processes unbeknownst to my manager who would eventually find out after the fact and I would receive praise for doing so.

I am only in this job 2 years and have worked for 7/8 years in Ireland with little pay rises, no bonuses etc. The country I work in has not been massively impacted by the financial crash, so I feel my company does not have that card to play as many companies in Ireland have done so. I understand pay rises are not an entitlement but I am finding it hard to accept that as I am slightly ahead of my peers is good enough reason for no pay rise.

Am I right to be total pi$$ed off about this or should I suck it up and say nothing?

Peregrinus

Depends.

Basically, your employer (and indeed your industry) will have a range of pay in mind for the job that you do at the level you do it. If you negotiated a high entry salary when you joined, there is relatively less "headroom" for you to increase your earnings, unless the nature of your job changes. If you're still doing the same job you were recruited for - if you haven't, e.g., taken on management or leadership roles that weren't initially part of the role - then it may simply be that you are at the ceiling for what you can expect to earn in your current position. If you want to earn more, you're going to have to seek promotion to a more responsible position (either with your current employer or elsewhere) or you're going to have to wait for market conditions to raise the range of pay for the job you do (which could involve waiting a while).

Or, you may not be at the ceiling for your position. The company's unwillingness to pay you more could reflect the company's own circumstances, or it may reflect a cynical calculation that they can get away with paying you less than you might get elsewhere.

Have you any sense of whether other people doing a similar job to you but with other employers are being paid significantly more than you are?

Mellor

mackcracknsack wrote: »

I am now being penalised for negotiating a higher salary when joining the company.

Your total earning to date will be higher than colleagues on lower salarys. Going forward, even is they get raises this year, you probably still earn more - so you're not realistically being penalized.

It happens from time to time. It's crappy, but little you can do about at this point, in this role at least.
What I would do, is have the discussion about the future potential. If you are still the highest paid staff member next year, do you get passed over again? That basically equates to a pay cut when you consider inflation over years 2 and 3. That is sort of obvious, but sometimes it needs to be pointed out.
Highest paid in a given role, doesn't necessarily mean the highest you can or will be paid it that roll.

mackcracknsack

Thank you for the response.

Currently I am exactly at the midpoint of the pay scale for my job grade.
The top of the pay scale is approx 20% more than what I earn.

My company's own circumstances is in no way bleak or showing signs that it will deteriorate in the next 5/10 years.
I work in the finance industry and my company has outperformed market expectations the past couple of years and have a growth strategy in place.
Quarterly and annual financial results have been positive for my employer and they are a large global company.

We also participated in our annual engagement survey during the summer and our teams score fell massively by approx 40%, so moral of the wider team is very low.

From speaking to other colleagues, it is of their opinion that our company does not like to pay above the mid point of pay scales. That being said, I had a feeling many of my peers are underpaid as they have never moved externally from the company, many working there since graduate programs. They could easily earn more by moving to other companies.

The country I live in has seen massive inflation in cost of living over the past two years and CPI index has also increased. I am on better money than what I was on in Ireland, but now due to massive rent hikes etc, the squeeze is also happening here.

If my employer had of made a token gesture of 1%, this may not have irked me so much.

I have been tempted to bring this to my managers attention in the coming days but I am also taking action to seek other opportunities / promotion within the company.

Peregrinus

OK. If this . . .

mackcracknsack wrote: »

Currently I am exactly at the midpoint of the pay scale for my job grade . . . From speaking to other colleagues, it is of their opinion that our company does not like to pay above the mid point of pay scales.

. . . is correct, you may have got as far as you can go, pay-wise, with this particular company.

It may be worth having a chat with your manager indicating your dissatisfaction with the failure of your pay to progress, and asking what you should be doing to position yourself for favourable consideration for pay increases. (The answer may be some variation on "seek promotion".)

But it may also be worth dusting off your CV and looking around. A company whose policy is not to pay above the mid-point does not aim to employe the best. And if you want to be among the best, or even to work with the best, you may need to move on. Just sayin'.

Mellor

mackcracknsack wrote: »

Currently I am exactly at the midpoint of the pay scale for my job grade.
The top of the pay scale is approx 20% more than what I earn.

Out of curiosity, how did you see this pay scale? In my experience that sort of thing is restricted to management and HR.

mackcracknsack

Yeah, totally agree but i honestly don't think the company would ever pay top of the scale.

When I initially took this job I was in negotiations with other global financial institutions here and the hiring managers told me they couldn't match this company's salary so maybe I am at the top of their scale, even though it is midpoint for my grade with this company.

I entered this company with good experience and have worked with some highly regarded companies. As I was new to the county I also took a job lower than my last grade in my old job.
I have seen many colleagues fired this past year for not performing to expectations, so they certainly want the best staff.

mackcracknsack

Mellor wrote: »

mackcracknsack wrote: »

Currently I am exactly at the midpoint of the pay scale for my job grade.
The top of the pay scale is approx 20% more than what I earn.

Out of curiosity, how did you see this pay scale? In my experience that sort of thing is restricted to management and HR.

The pay scale is on my annual compensation statement which was issued to me as part of my review. 
The statement has lower, midpoint and top of scale. Crazy that they show this!
It is also easy to find other pay scales for job grades higher and lower than me. Not sure why this is available or if a massive slip up from HR but another colleague came across this today.
They are also upset with their pay increasei which was 1%. This was the lowest increase they received since entering the company.

mackcracknsack

Mellor wrote: »

mackcracknsack wrote: »

Currently I am exactly at the midpoint of the pay scale for my job grade.
The top of the pay scale is approx 20% more than what I earn.

Out of curiosity, how did you see this pay scale? In my experience that sort of thing is restricted to management and HR.

The pay scale is on my annual compensation statement which was issued to me as part of my review. 
The statement has lower, midpoint and top of scale. Crazy that they show this!
It is also easy to find other pay scales for job grades higher and lower than me. Not sure why this is available or if a massive slip up from HR but another colleague came across this today.
They are also upset with their pay increasei which was 1%. This was the lowest increase they received since entering the company.

Peregrinus

mackcracknsack wrote: »

Yeah, totally agree but i honestly don't think the company would ever pay top of the scale.

When I initially took this job I was in negotiations with other global financial institutions here and the hiring managers told me they couldn't match this company's salary so maybe I am at the top of their scale, even though it is midpoint for my grade with this company.

If the scale you are talking about is not an industry-based scale but the stated scale for your particular employer, and if their policy is not to pay above the mid-point, then it's not really their scale, is it? It's a fictional scale. The only scale that means anything is the scale that they actually pay on, and you appear to be at the top of that scale.

By having this "scale", they obviously seek to create the impression that in the right circumstances they might pay more, so I think you're justified in going back to your manager and having a conversation which says, basically, what do I need to do to keep moving up the scale?

mackcracknsack wrote: »

I entered this company with good experience and have worked with some highly regarded companies. As I was new to the county I also took a job lower than my last grade in my old job.
I have seen many colleagues fired this past year for not performing to expectations, so they certainly want the best staff.

Then they need to incentivize them. If I'm right in thinking that their pay scale is a bit fictitious, I think what you need to be doing is to benchmark your pay and position against what prevails with other comparable employers in the market. If the situation is (a) the employer is signalling through its stated pay scale that you could earn more, and (b) evidence suggests that you could earn more with other employers in the market, it's definitely time for a conversation with your manager, followed by some serious reflection as to whether you should be making an up-or-out decision.

Mellor

mackcracknsack wrote: »

The pay scale is on my annual compensation statement which was issued to me as part of my review. 
The statement has lower, midpoint and top of scale. Crazy that they show this!
It is also easy to find other pay scales for job grades higher and lower than me. Not sure why this is available or if a massive slip up from HR but another colleague came across this today.
They are also upset with their pay increasei which was 1%. This was the lowest increase they received since entering the company.

Wow, that's very odd that they include that info imo. Especially as they apparently don't like to pay over the mid-scale point.

1% is a bit of a kick in the teeth given inflation is going to be higher (well location depending). But a token 1% is better than a big fat 0%

mackcracknsack

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I certainly think a discussion with my manager is required but even at this stage there has been far too much damage done to my trust and respect for them, especially given the past year and how low overall team moral is.

A token increase of 1% is absolutely not adequate but at this stage it would meaningless to me.
Inflation and cost of living is a little crazy here at the moment. It is a large, diverse city and is in the top 10 global financial centres.

I definitely am going to purse upward moves in the company as a next move.

HandsomeBob

mackcracknsack wrote: »

They are also upset with their pay increasei which was 1%. This was the lowest increase they received since entering the company.

If one person got 1% that doesn't necessarily mean that it applied across the board. Maybe there are 1 or 2 people who received significant increases due to a combination of good performance and a lack of parity in salary between people in the same grade. People will stay quiet obviously about that type of thing so unfortunately you'll never know.

I think when it comes to negotiating it's a two way street. You may have believed that you negotiated a good salary at the time but companies know when they're overpaying to get someone in the door. Maybe they needed to look after 1 or 2 people to level things out as outlined above.

From what I've experienced, depending on the size of the company, you'd be pissing into the wind asking to discuss things without any leverage. Given you said you actually dropped down a level to take this job in the first place, perhaps a better strategy would be to ask for a meeting with your manager to discuss what you can do to get to the next grade and in turn achieve the corresponding salary.

_Brian

No matter how successful a company is they will have a budget for pay increases each year.

It’s likely they have directed the budget towards bringing up staff who for whatever reason are behind yourself on pay, probably as a staff retention measure.

It’s not unusual, and not much you can do.

You can appeal, but I’d doubt they will change, my guess is you’ve been labelled as a low risk for turnover. I remember a list being leaked in my workplace and I was labelled a “lifer”, how wrong that was !!

I’d say appeal if it makes you feel better, but in reality there comes a time when changing jobs gains the best pay rise.

mackcracknsack

_Brian wrote: »

No matter how successful a company is they will have a budget for pay increases each year.

It’s likely they have directed the budget towards bringing up staff who for whatever reason are behind yourself on pay, probably as a staff retention measure.

It’s not unusual, and not much you can do.
.

It's certainly not a budget constraint as older senior staff members have left and they have been replaced by internal staff with less experience and a lower pay base. My current employer is not constrained by budget.
I am an accountant and have done cost centre planning for many years in a previous job so I know how this works.


They certainly haven't directed the budget to bring up current staff members as a colleague, who I am a good friend with, expressed her disappointment at her level of increase from her review. She received 1%, which is paltry and insulting in my eyes.

The team we work on is required to work extremely late hours. Many times this past year we have been in the office from 9am until 10pm even midnight. Part of the reason moral is so low.

For all of the reasons above and late hours it is certainly a team I want to move on from, but it is more to the principal of being overlooked this year especially as I have implemented and change more processes on the team than any of my colleagues which has improved our teams efficiency.

Mellor

mackcracknsack wrote: »

It's certainly not a budget constraint as older senior staff members have left and they have been replaced by internal staff with less experience and a lower pay base.

Budgets are dynamic. A senior staff member being replaced by a junior doesn't mean more disposable cash for other staff. It means budgets get reduced to accommodate.

For all of the reasons above and late hours it is certainly a team I want to move on from, but it is more to the principal of being overlooked this year especially as I have implemented and change more processes on the team than any of my colleagues which has improved our teams efficiency.

If you are moving on, then it's all a bit moot, no. Forget about them and find somebody with fairer performance reviews.