Currently, I’m employed with a company in a client assistance / support role. The objective of such is simple, look after customers with genuine issues, and get them resolved.
I believe I do this well. I also believe I am employed in a job that is not a match for my skillset – but that’s another story. It doesn’t concern me that I am not using all my skills as such, it doesn’t make the day fun, but I still do a quality job where I can.
I find myself (not necessarily this position though), delivering the best performance I can for employers, and strangely, my ‘best performance’ outweighs that of others by exceptional percentages. It’s not entirely explainable though – I have different work methods, different work flow choices, and perhaps even stronger work ethic than those that watch YouTube throughout the workday.
The tough economic climate means that it’s not the best time to ask for a pay rise, no company is going to simply give a ‘blind-yes’ to a pay rise in these times without strong consideration for the employee, the company, and the end result.
I imagine that the forecast for the future, for my position alone will be bought into question, and then consider the value of replacing me with someone else. Asking for a pay rise isn’t a simple “I want more money”.
I get the idea that it is going to require analysis of the work that I perform, and how long it would take to train other employees to do the same task (employees, because I can find my own performance can be at least twice that of another).
I placed a great deal of thought into it, I didn’t want to ask and annoy upper management – any request for money is likely to not be seen ‘lightly’ – but, bricks and land cost money. Building a house costs money (I hope to someday). Savings is not at higher interest rates anymore. That’s ‘a plan’ for the additional income from the pay rise. But it also begs to question, why get paid less, if others are being rewarded for performance which is not of the same quality / quantity? It’s an uneasy thought, that continually leaves you considering ‘why’!
I did indeed seek alternative employment, to better match my skillset, but I currently don’t see the need to ‘let down’ / ‘disappoint’ the current organisation. I took a holiday recently, and came back to something ‘extreme’ as a result of a short stay away. This point is something that I consider a ‘key’ item to my value, as such activity had not occurred previously in my time with the company, evidence that I contribute a substantial amount!
Part of asking for a pay increase is the careful wording of the request – I spent a fair amount of time considering the wording. I know that upper management will easily see through a letter taken off some random site, and should easily see through a request for a pay rise on unwarranted terms – further instilling confidence that they aren’t as likely to bluntly say no.
I’m not asking for an extreme amount – actually, I didn’t specify an amount at all – I feel they may in fact be able to align my pay rate with performance rather easily – by taking the pay rate of others doing similar tasks, and finding a percentage point that best matches the work output. Basic logic would suggest to double it – but I would easily reject such an offer, because the position isn’t worth ‘double’ – they could have me 24 / 7 for ‘double’! – I think it’s simply finding a point that they believe reflects the performance.
I of course, do have a figure in mind, it’s only a relatively small increase percentage wise – but leaving the figure out gives oppourtunity for discussion between us, if they have no figure they can settle on, ask. I know, given a similar email, I would probably suggest a figure and if this wasn’t acceptable request what they would like.
But, we also arise at the question of career advancement – where will I eventually go? Eventually, I will want to take advantage of the skills I have. The company I work for can utilise the skills, but not in my current capacity. It’s not an urgent pressing topic, because I’m getting really comfortable where I am!
It’s an intriging and interesting wait – considering I do have a great deal of respect for the management of the company!
Enjoy, hopefully I will too!