Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
My work year runs from 1 July to the end of June. At my last year-end appraisal I received a good rating and a bonus, but no pay rise (no one in the company got a rise). However, I was promised that my pay would be addressed at the half-year stage, if things were going well.
Things have gone very well indeed. I have been responsible for bringing in a lot of revenue in the first six months of the year, despite not having a huge amount of commercial responsibility – I have performed above and beyond what is expected of me. However, when I asked about pay my boss said the company doesn’t offer half-year pay reviews and I’ll have to wait until the end of the year. I was very frustrated at this and reminded him of what he had told me six months earlier, but it fell on deaf ears.
I have an external function that I am attending with the CEO and finance director of my firm in a fortnight and I am seriously considering raising the matter. I feel as though I have given my boss the chance to address matters (and have been lied to in the process), so why not go over his head? I’m guessing the CEO and finance director have no idea of my pay requests and that my boss is merely trying to keep costs down to make his own performance look good.
I’ve had enough and feel like telling the top dogs just how frustrated I am. Would this be a mistake? Should I hang on until July in the hope I do get a rise then? Should I leave?
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
