How to go about asking for a pay rise ?

Heckler

I'm with my company about 5 years. Went in as a general operative but have since been trained up in various roles. I find myself now doing what used to be a 2 man job on my own as a colleague left and wasn't replaced. My already busy workload has since doubled and I am swamped. I'm about a week behind where I should be and the volume of work coming at me means I have little chance of catching up.

The role I'm in now is very specific and no-one else is trained up to do what I do.

The job I started in was basic enough, the pay was minimum wage and that was fine. I knew how things were. Now I have all these extra responsibilities, doing the work of two and feeling very stressed.

The pay went up when I was made permanent but I feel for the work I do I'm quite underpaid. I would like to ask for a pay rise but don't know how to go about it. Not trying to be cocky but it took a year for me to train up the colleague who left to a competent standard so if I left it would cause a lot of hassle.

The work itself is fine, I like what I do. And am grateful to still be employed in this bastard of a year when so many are out of work.

What would be the best way to approach a pay rise ? This company has a history of high staff turnover on contract operatives and no loyalty at all to long termers and people in specialised roles. I figure its a roll of the dice. Ask and either get it or be put out the door. And I'm fine with out the door too.

Should I put down in writing my duties etc and why I think a pay rise is justified ? Go to my team lead or supervisor first ?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

tomwaits48

Have a look at the Brightwater Salary Survey or something similar, benchmark your role against what’s listed in there for your sector and position, if there is a gap, justifying an increase, you may have room to manoeuvre. Much easier and cheaper to keep a good worker happy by throwing them an extra €2k-€3k than having to start from scratch with a newbie. Best of luck.

Kalimah

I could have written your post neatly word for word OP. Myself and a colleague (individually )asked for a pay increase/role regrade early last year. I put together a good business case (as asked by management) to justify the increase. I was fobbed off time and time again since May and on Friday was told sorry no increase, as consultants had bench marked our roles a few years ago and our pay was industry standard.
It definitely is way below par so I’m handling in my resignation tomorrow and good luck to them finding a replacement for the same money

OMM 0000

Have a face to face meeting with whoever has the authority to increase your salary or request a salary increase for you.

Team leader and supervisor don't really sound like that person, but it would be good to meet with these two first, together, to state your case.

Lay out all the things you've done (improvements you've made, how you've saved the company money, all the things you're responsible for) and tell them what salary you want. You might as well use this opportunity to ask for a promotion too, or at least a title change.

Be friendly and easy and keep it informal.

You should also ask them are they the right people to talk to about this or should you meet with Mr X or Ms Y.

gifted

Just ask straight up to who ever your supervisor is... he/she will report back to their boss until it lands on the desk of whomever can say yes or no.

" we need to talk" is always a good indication to someone that you're looking for a pay rise.

Have your reason why ready.

Be prepared for them saying no. Either accept it....or reject it....or use it to decide how hard you work if you stay working there. They'll quickly cop on that you are not happy but if your doing what you are just paid for then they can't do anything.

Go in looking for a decent rise...they'll knock you back a bit but you get what you're looking for in the end.

Hey OP,

The elephant in the room is that you're doing the work of two people and you've said yourself you've no chance of catching up on the backlog. And it's only going to get worse when you take some annual leave next year.

So I guess the answer could be "You're looking for a rise? Aren't you a week behind as it is?"

Or - you get a rise and now you're expected to continue to do the work of two people but, now that you've been given a rise, you're actually expected to clear the backlog, take on all the extra work etc etc into the future.

It's a tough one - personally, I think I'd be trying to flag the backlog issue and get them to replace the guy who left - and hopefully take some stress off me - than trying to get a raise for doing extra work but still not being able to do all the work that's actually required.

Heckler

Thanks for the replies.

Thing is they did actually replace the guy who left but moved him a week later to somewhere else while someone took leave and hes' been there since even after the other person came back.

While I don't miss the general operative days god knows thats hard work standing on a line for 8 hours doing some very repetitive work, i've had enough. Doing a hundred things at once. My team lead and supervisor are well aware of my situation and are under huge pressure themselves from a delusional production manager who expects miracles.

The whole thing is falling apart right now with companies we deal with closing for Christmas till Jan and I'm kinda loving it. Its exposing a whole lot of failings in upper management. I never get any grief from my TL or super because they know how much I do. I'm nearly hoping for the prod manager to have a go. I'd keep the calm till Jan when I get my holidays for 2021. Then serve out my notice, get my years holiday pay, and get out of there.

Time for a change. My TL and super would be the first to go to re a pay increase and they would pass it on. Wouldn't be holding my breath. Might be offered a pittance increase at best.

I have some savings to get me along for a while. Honestly the dole for a couple of months while finding something is sounding alright to me. I know I'd have to wait for SW after voluntarily giving up work.

Maybe its just the year that's in it I dunno but something has to change.

Anyway thanks again for the replies.

Guffy

How do you get to keep your holiday pay if you leave? Is it not given on the assumption you work the year and would be paid on a pro rata basis in your cessation pay?

Heckler

Not sure. Temps have to work up the holidays. 1.3 days per month or something. Permanent get 21 days automatically at the start of the new year.

daheff

You should go find a new job at the salary you are saying is market rate.

Companies will pay you as little as they think they will get away with. They'll only pay you more if they think you are leaving ....but if they think they can replace you for the same or cheaper they'll let you go.

Either way you'll have a job at a better salary.

Regardless, you should go and find out how holiday accruals work as you don't understand it.

Banana Republic 1

Heckler wrote: »

I'm with my company about 5 years. Went in as a general operative but have since been trained up in various roles. I find myself now doing what used to be a 2 man job on my own as a colleague left and wasn't replaced. My already busy workload has since doubled and I am swamped. I'm about a week behind where I should be and the volume of work coming at me means I have little chance of catching up.

The role I'm in now is very specific and no-one else is trained up to do what I do.

The job I started in was basic enough, the pay was minimum wage and that was fine. I knew how things were. Now I have all these extra responsibilities, doing the work of two and feeling very stressed.

The pay went up when I was made permanent but I feel for the work I do I'm quite underpaid. I would like to ask for a pay rise but don't know how to go about it. Not trying to be cocky but it took a year for me to train up the colleague who left to a competent standard so if I left it would cause a lot of hassle.

The work itself is fine, I like what I do. And am grateful to still be employed in this bastard of a year when so many are out of work.

What would be the best way to approach a pay rise ? This company has a history of high staff turnover on contract operatives and no loyalty at all to long termers and people in specialised roles. I figure its a roll of the dice. Ask and either get it or be put out the door. And I'm fine with out the door too.

Should I put down in writing my duties etc and why I think a pay rise is justified ? Go to my team lead or supervisor first ?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

Hand job

hurleronditch

Heckler wrote: »

Not sure. Temps have to work up the holidays. 1.3 days per month or something. Permanent get 21 days automatically at the start of the new year.

If you left on the 31st Jan, you’d get paid 1/12th of 21 days, so 1.75 days. Just because you get allocated a full year on January 1st doesn’t mean you get them all paid out no matter when you leave.

Heckler

Thanks again for the replies. Seems I don't understand holidays. Don't really care at this stage. Nothing is worth the hassle.

SEPT 23 1989

Roll the dice put a gun to their head

If they value you you will stay on more money

If they don't what's the point in staying there?

Stihl waters

Kalimah wrote: »

I could have written your post neatly word for word OP. Myself and a colleague (individually )asked for a pay increase/role regrade early last year. I put together a good business case (as asked by management) to justify the increase. I was fobbed off time and time again since May and on Friday was told sorry no increase, as consultants had bench marked our roles a few years ago and our pay was industry standard.
It definitely is way below par so I’m handling in my resignation tomorrow and good luck to them finding a replacement for the same money

Did you hand in your notice, how did it go

Stihl waters

Stihl waters wrote: »

Did you hand in your notice, how did it go

Handing in notice without another job lined up in the current environment doesn't seem the smartest move. Grand if you're living at home rent free I suppose.

Kalimah

Stihl waters wrote: »

Did you hand in your notice, how did it go

Yes I did. No drama - just sorry you’re leaving etc. Talking to a friend in a senior position in a similar organisation it seems I’m paid about 5k less than the average for my role. That’s borne out by several job ads I’ve seen in the past year.
Anyway I’m reasonably confident of getting another job. I’ve no mortgage, kids are independent and I have a few quid there to last a couple of months.
Probably not the best thing to do to hand in resignation before lining up another job but I’ve done it before and it certainly concentrates the mind!