by Beks
Two months ago, I was told I would receive a double step promotion at work. I immediately started working in the position and signed all my correspondence with ‘Interim’ and my new position title.
A few weeks went by and I inquired when I could drop the ‘Interim’ from my title. No one knew.
A few more weeks went by and well… I started to get a bit grumpy. Was I going to forever be the ‘interim’ person and never officially be given the title?
More weeks passed and I think management was starting to pick up on my foul mood – never a good thing. They took me aside and explained that they were waiting for my scheduled merit increase to become effective before processing paperwork for the new position. Why? Because they didn’t want me to have to negotiate a promotion salary AND a merit increase.
Oops.
I flashed a bright smile, thanked them for considering both increases, prayed they’d forget my foul mood, and walked out with my tail between my legs. They were being beyond kind and I thought they were just dragging their feet.
As promised, my merit increase was added last week and I was immediately called to sign paperwork for the promotion. When they announced they wouldn’t negotiate my new salary, I was a bit disappointed. They told me I would be getting a 10% increase and smiled at me as though they had just announced I would get a new Mercedes. Bratty me was a bit saddened. I kinda hoped for 15%. At that rate, I’d finally be back to where I was before the recession.
I thanked them and went back to my desk, my mood deflated. HR stopped by about 15 minutes later to drop off the copies of my paperwork and whispered, ‘Just so you know, the president has never signed a 10% increase before – even for a double step promotion. You’ve obviously got management heavyweights who fought for you. Congrats!!’
I felt about 2 inches tall.
My managers did so much and how did I respond? Like a spoiled child. I have to remind myself that this isn’t 2005.
I spent the rest of the afternoon like my old self – smiling, laughing, working hard.
I’ve got a lot of making up to do.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
Yeah, those old days of nice fat promotions and salary increases at the same employer, I think, are pretty well in the past. I remember I was kind of the wonderkid at a job doing network and server stuff right before the Y2K stuff hit, so demand was through the roof and I was thought of highly. I got a 22% increase for one of my reviews. Needless to say, even knowing that I was in demand, that knocked my socks off completely, but now a 2.2% increase would see me pretty much dancing through the streets.
Congratulations! Well, not on the bratty part, but on the raise that will soon be in your paycheck.
Congrats. A raise is a raise is a raise. I haven’t had one at all in 3 years due to the fabulous economy. Still, I get why you would be momentarily dissapointed. A double promotion sure SEEMS like it’d be worth more than 10%. Congrats nonetheless. Making more $$ is always fun!
Congrats! In this kind of economy, any raise is a good raise, esp when you count the number of ppl without a job. Stimes I grumble and wish I don’t hv so much work to do (I’m a teacher and the paperwork is gahhh!) But then I remember that I should be thankful coz I HAVE a job and lots of ppl don’t. I don’t make a lot but I have a pretty comfortable life so I’m just thankful.
Congrats on the promotions again!
10% is awesome. It’s okay to wish for more, but when other hardworking stiffs aren’t even managing 1%, you gotta be grateful for what you got. Fat raises are more likely to happen when you leave a company to go to a new job. That’s the time when you have the most leverage for higher pay.
Awesome job! I haven’t had a double digit increase since 2008! Very exciting! 🙂
Glad you got your attitude back in check. 🙂 Husband’s income got lowered by 2% recently, and may go down a whole lot more this year (he’s a public employee). Times continue to get tougher for our family. I am thankful that someone is doing better, rather than worse.
Congrats on the promotion and raise! Ten percent is a lot better than most folks are likely to see if they get a raise at all. Keep working and aiming high and you’ll get to where you want to be. It may not be as fast as you want it to be but you’ll get there.
Congrats on the 10%. I’d have to add up the past 3 years to get to that. I have to remind myself that I’m lucky, as I survived the last 2 rounds of layoffs.
That said, I understand the disappointment. Hang in there…
While I understand and applaud your taking responsibility for your bad attitude, a lot of this could have been avoided with more upfront transparency from your employer. They should have told you what was going on right away. I know they don’t do that stuff on purpose, but it’s a big problem at a lot of companies. And your manager mentioning two different raises to you, clearly set your expectations high. I think their communication needs work.
At all companies I’ve worked for the max is around 6%, and that’s if you are a rock-star. Promotions I think were 5% at the one job where I knew that information. Double step, maybe one can argue for 10%, but in this economy I can see how it would be a battle for it. So, yeah, I think you got a good deal!
I agree with Nichole – they could have helped you keep your cool by keeping you in the loop! But, that’s water under the bridge. Congratulations on your raise!!
My hubby’s getting a whopping 3% after not having a raise for three years (he’s a city employee and they have the worst budgets around)….I’d take the ten in a heartbeat :-)!
Wow! 10% is great! That would be a great raise for me. I have received two 3% raises in ten year and it looks like we aren’t getting one this year. Congratulations on your new position and raise. What will you do with the money? 🙂