I’m not quite sure how to address this without sounding ungrateful and greedy. And maybe it’s because I am being ungrateful and greedy. But.
I requested a mid-year review with Boss to see about getting a raise after earning my PE, working absurdly long hours because no one else was able to do this specific work, and basically having my job responsibilities change without being told.
It was a lengthy, awkward meeting. There was an airing of grievances — I don’t work enough hours; I didn’t catch a mistake that one of my coworkers made which never came to me for review. And it became clear to me that Boss didn’t actually know about 25% of the things I do (including automating 3 of my coworkers’ duties so they could be freed to do other work. What? Did he think they got really efficient all of a sudden? And didn’t he tell me to work with them..?).
So in the end, he said that he would go to upper management for me and recommend that I get a raise.
Now, I know the economy is bad. And I know I didn’t go to them with a specific numerical demand or offer in hand.
But I’m incredibly disappointed by the raise that I received and, honestly, a little insulted by it. I’m pretty sure my facial expression revealed my opinion of it because Boss did ask me if that was ok. And I hesitated, being unprepared to hear right then, and even more unprepared for something that wasn’t even on the radar in my expectation range.
This is the lowest raise I’ve received in 4 years.
I sound greedy now, don’t I?
I discussed with Boss at my review at the beginning of this year whether mid-year reviews/raises are an option. Specifically, with regard to getting my PE and Masters. He said yes. It’s not typical, but in exceptional cases like that, I should be compensated for my increased value to the company.
I don’t feel like they are compensating me a proportional amount to the increase in my value to them.
Now, I’m trying to see how, monetarily this is actually better than waiting until next spring and getting a larger raise. Because if I didn’t ask for anything now, it seems like my advances should make it worth more than a typical raise then. And this was, at best, typical.
And now my annual review cycle has been moved to this new date and I am not to expect a raise in the spring. This doesn’t add up for me.
I should also mention that when I walked into that meeting, his first issue was that I not have an expectation of doing this often. He doesn’t want me coming in every 6 months asking for another raise.
Trust me. I won’t.
LOTD: How much are you worth?
