fast-tl

Funny, when I went to lunch with my boss to bring up the issue, the first thing he jokingly said was "Could you ask for one for me, too?"
I'm asking for a big adjustment, and what manager WANTS to take such a request to their boss? I don't envy him, that's for sure, but it better get done!

95gt

^^^ man not going to lie to you but I would be getting a little nervous if I was in your shoes. All the coments your boss is making are not very inspiring. Good luck

fast-tl

Well, yesterday before leaving the office I decided to "prod" a little bit. We have lots of prjects afloat so I didn't want to be an irritation, so I had to figure a way to get in a "reminder" without it being TOO obvious. So I double-checked the web-links in the Word file I submitted as my business case. Sure enough, 2 of the 8 links had moved. So I updated the Word file, converted it to PDF and made sure the links worked. Then I found my original e-mail to the boss and forwarded it again, saying that I was "checking the correctness of my links and two of them had moved, so I wanted to attach a corrected PDF."

Voila, an instant bump, but I've not heard anything today from him like an acknowledgement, or Oh Shit I forgot.....It's been 2 months and 2 days....any further advice?

mamboking

resign and start your own consulting gig?

fast-tl

The boss just came up and said he and the owner are discussing me Monday or Tuesday. My boss is off tomorrow. At least I know SOMETHING.

mamboking

Good luck. I hope everything works out for you.

fast-tl

OK,. at long last an update. This week we finally did reviews. Two people report to me. Our budget for raises was again 1%. We're a printing company that has one division whose revenue is up by about 20% (where I work) and 2 others where revenue is way down. Unfortunately that has an effect on everyone. Doesn't sound fair, but you have to consider the WHOLE business, not just the parts doing well. Our division's good year helped keep the other departments afloat. We're somewhat interdependent.

Anyway on to my case. I met with my boss, and he said that my performance was excellent, and I was instrumental in what the company has accomplished over the last 10 years and the yhope I will be for the next 10 years. We talked a while about some changes he'd like to make in my area (increasing my responsibility for a couple other employees I don't directly manage. This would reduce my stress somewhat.) He said they just couldn't make the financially jump I was asking for. I was looking for a minimum $5K raise. I escaped the 1% (which I would've flat refused had they even tried to offer it, which I knew they wouldn't , based on the report I submitted.)

He said that he and the president had decided to do $2500 plus another $1100 increase in bonus potential. When I factored in that I like where I work, and that the other departments are truly struggling, I said that I could accept that, and we agreed we would have to revisit the issue next year.

The part that kills me is that we've never had a layoff (the company is 50 this year) but our two areas where it's slow are a drag on the profitable area, and even those folks got 1% increases. My boss said I did a good job on the report I submitted, and that it was good to have the president see it. I did a sales job for my most important product: ME. Hopefully they'll see soon that they can't hold good people back for long by allowing deficiencies in other departments to affect departments performing quite well. One manager suggested to give us the increases and none for the divisions that lost so much money, but it's not the fault of the production folks who work there; plus they'd all want to transfer to my area, and we don't have room for them all..

Anyway, I'm satisfied at this first step and I'll use a little patience to see if business improves. There are some tough decisions ahead for the owner if he wants to keep the business lean and flexible.

I won't bore you with more unless you have questions. During the 3 months I waited for a resolution I wanted to re-write that business case several times but I resisted.

The shocker is that even though I felt I was underpaid in my position according to me and some of my data, local salary reports used by our company show that I'm above the median and above average for my function likely based on company size. As an employee that should be the case, because I *am* above average, by quite a bit. They used data from 20+ local companies that report wages to an industry group. I should've paid for some local, specific salary info. I may, next time.
So, there we have it. Any questions? Thanks for the input, folks.

txathlete

I was in a similar position where I was the person that kept the company afloat during their first year of operations. I asked for a raise and I got it, but it was beneath the salary for other people in the company in my same position. I was the "go-to" guy for the people at my company location (1 of 4 locations) and I wore many hats. Even my bosses could not do my job without great difficulty. After feeling I was getting the short end of the stick, being underpaid and unrecognized for the extra work I was putting in, and given catch-22 duties, I formally requested that my concerns be recognized in writing. The head honchos declined my request, booted me out, and immediately (within a couple of weeks) hired to new people. How is that gratitude for ya? I almost single-handedly took the company from the lowest revenue generating location to the #2 generating location (on the way to #1) and got squat for it.

Moral: No matter how valuable you are, you can always be replaced.

fast-tl

It's unwise to think that anyone below the principal(s) is irreplaceable. There are people there who could DO my job, though it might take a few of them and would certainly take up more of my boss' time. But it's true, if you're an employee, you're only one bad joke away, one misstatement away, from the unemployment line. They way I see it, the company existed BEFORE me, so it's clear they can operate without me, just not as well. Sorry you had to learn that the hard way. When you draw a line in the sand, you must be prepared for the consequences. I never recommend that tactic.

txathlete

Yep, it was an unexpected lesson. But my time there was almost up anyways. It was a dead end job with no advancement opportunities. It was unexpected b/c I didn't have something lined up before I got the boot. Me leaving was probably the best thing career-wise for me.