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I've been working as a software engineer in an IT consulting company for over 15 years now.

My performance review for the year 2019 was scheduled for November 2019. But due to a heavy workload, I had no availability at that time. So my boss and I agreed to reschedule the interview to a later date.

And then COVID came along! It was getting more and more complicated to agree on a face-to-face appointment, so we did the evaluation interview via skype in February 2020. During the interview, I asked for a substantial raise (think +20%).I obviously didn't expect to get exactly what I asked for, but I expected at least two-thirds of it. Now, every time I've asked for a raise, I've got one by the end of the next month. That was not the case this time. Worse, three months after my annual review, the client I had been working for for a few years had to downsize, and I was one of those who had to leave the project. The reason, of course, was COVID-19.

I went a few months without being assigned to a new project by my boss. Then I worked for about 6 months on a project for another client, which ended because I had finished the work I was assigned. Then I found myself without a project again.

This summer I started working for another client. The project, from what I can tell, is planned for a long time (a few years). Before I started working on this new project, I asked my boss about my request for a raise in early 2020. He answered that he had forgotten and that, moreover, I had spent several months without having a project to work on, but that he would come back to me, at a date he indicated, with an answer. That date passed several weeks ago.

I don't know what to do. Should I keep pushing my boss to get an answer? Should I keep waiting? In the first case, the risk is that he will refuse my request for a raise, or he will give me a raise that is very low, not to say insignificant. In the second case, I don't know how long I will have to wait...

I should also point out that during the periods when I was not working for a client, it was the government, not my employer, who paid my salary.

anon123h
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  • Does this answer your question? How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid? – gnat Sep 04 '21 at 01:14
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    He will “forget” again. Do yourself a favor and start looking for a new post. Or you could leave a few job adverts about so your boss sees then. His reaction may tell you all you need to know. – Solar Mike Sep 04 '21 at 05:55
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    Do you know if you’re paid under, at or above market level now? A 20% raise is pretty massive unless you’re quite poorly paid now. – Sebastiaan van den Broek Sep 05 '21 at 16:06
  • @SebastiaanvandenBroek I'm with no doubt paid under market level – anon123h Sep 05 '21 at 21:07
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    15 years in the same company as a software engineer? And the boss still is playing childish games with you? I think he knows how to exploit your weak points. – Mateusz Stefek Sep 06 '21 at 00:41
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    The reason people shift around so much in IT is that employers are unable to justify/convey pay raise to higher ups. If, like you state in another comment thread, you are paid by the government, there might be regulations further complicating this.

    You are bit out of the loop right now, which is typical. First step is getting more hands-on with the current job market and poking alternatives. Nothing says "I'm underpaid" as clearly as a job offer on your hands, regardless of whether you intend on following up on it or not.

     – Lodinn Sep 06 '21 at 21:30

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You need to face the truth here: either your employer is struggling to stay in business, or they don't value you, or both. You don't put a good employee on "6 months without project" status unless you absolutely have to. It's unlikely that they will dish out large raises. They might not have the money for it.

It's probably time to start looking for a different job. That will give you a sense of what the demand in your market looks like and what the "going rate" is.

If you find something good: go and take it.

If you have trouble finding better opportunities, then you probably have to make your peace with the situation for now, but you still should keep looking in the background and work on making yourself more employable.

If you are lucky, there may be a big post Covid turn-around, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Kat
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Hilmar
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  • I really doubt that he is fighting for the survival of his business. Certainly, there was a downturn in business during COVID. But as I said, where I live, salaries were (and still are) paid entirely by the government when a company employee is not assigned to a client project. Plus during COVID and during lockdown, my boss even hired new people! And when I started my new assignment this summer, I got confirmation that there were no employees left without a project. – anon123h Sep 04 '21 at 11:42
  • @anon123h - Was this government payment due to the fact you were technically displaced? – Donald Sep 04 '21 at 18:10
  • @Donald Just think of it as a special measure taken by the government during the pandemic to prevent companies from laying off employees they don't have work for because of the downturn. – anon123h Sep 04 '21 at 18:38
  • @Donald I won't go into technical details, nor will I reveal where I live. Please , just trust me when I say that the payment of my salary was not a problem for my employer during those periods when I was not assigned to a project. – anon123h Sep 04 '21 at 18:53
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    "your employer is struggling to stay in business, or they don't value you, or both" Ah, the common Workplace.SE trope about undervaluation again. How about the possibility that they value OP, so that he got a raise every time he asked in the past, but now he is earning so much that they can't justify another raise? – Chris Sep 05 '21 at 17:55
  • @Chris I mean, you can get a raise every time you ask for one, but still be underpaid... It's not contradictory at all... – anon123h Sep 05 '21 at 21:11
  • @anon123h Your post doesn't contain any statement about that, that's why I was thinking this answer is jumping to conclusions. If this is the case, you should add it to the question. – Chris Sep 06 '21 at 04:44
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You were in a very comfortable situation, that you got a raise every time you asked for it. That is unusual! Most employees must follow-up many times until they finally get the raise.

To summarize your situation:

  • In November 2019 you maybe had a chance to get a raise, but you skipped it, because you were not able to free up an hour to talk to your boss. (Think about your time management...)
  • In February 2020 while everything was going downhill because of the COVID-19 pandemic, you asked for a 20% raise and didn't get an answer.
  • You didn't follow up on your question about a raise until you lost your project. Your employer struggled to find a new project for you. For months you were getting a salary without working on a project.
  • Now you are asking for a raise that you already asked for 1,5 years ago, although you never got an answer.

I don't know how good your story telling is while asking for a raise, but I don't see any reason to give you more money right now after what happened during the last 18 months. It's not your fault, but neither it's your employer's fault.

Let's face reality, you missed the opportunity to get a raise. Now it's too late.

You're starting from zero. There are not bonus points for previous success. You have to show that you are still able to perform on the same level or above as you did in the past.

Chris
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  • First, there is no need to be aggressive. Second, I was not in a comfortable situation. I am still, as I speak, underpaid. Yes, I was paid for months without working on a project. And not by my employer, so it didn't cost him anything. Secondly, it was not my responsibility to find a project, at least mostly. Third, regarding my time management: if I have a bug on the production environment that needs to be fixed urgently, what would you suggest: fix it first or go to my appointment to ask for a raise? – anon123h Sep 05 '21 at 21:47
  • Fourth, I had valid arguments to ask for the raise I asked for. I wasn't going to downplay my performance for the year because of a virus that no one could predict how things would turn out, even from February of last year. – anon123h Sep 05 '21 at 21:51
  • Finally, you say, "There are not bonus points for previous success. You have to show that you are still able to perform on the same level or above as you did in the past". I have been working in this company for at least 15 years. If I wasn't a good consultant, I'd have been fired long ago. And the only way I know I can prove I'm effective at every performance review is by basing my performance on my past results, not by promising I'll have good results in the future. At least, that what I think but I may be wrong... – anon123h Sep 05 '21 at 21:57
  • If you point out what you perceive as aggressive, I could edit it. 2. You didn't mention that you're underpaid or that you were compensated by somebody else. 3. Did it take 3 months to fix the production error? 4. In February offices were already closing. You had to schedule the meeting via Skype. 5. You were a good consultant, that's why you got raises without any delays in the past. In the last 18 months, you could not show that this is still the case. You can't base your performance review on something you did 2 years ago. => Again, it's not your fault, but it's a fact.
    • – Chris Sep 06 '21 at 05:35
  • I won't bother arguing with you further. Not because you insist on putting the blame on me (and saying at the end "it's not your fault" just shows your hypocrisy instead of assuming responsibility for your opinion), but because in total bad faith, you make up you own facts and jump to YOUR conlusions, without bothering asking questions before, and then you say that I didn't provide information. I didn't force you to reply to my post. Stop waisting my time. – anon123h Sep 06 '21 at 11:33
  • @anon123h: Obviously not getting the raise is your fault for whatever reasons. I meant it's not your fault that you don't get a good project. Please point out where I'm jumping to conclusions, so that I can correct it. This is not a forum, answers will be based on your question. It's your responsibility to provide the necessary facts. – Chris Sep 06 '21 at 16:01
  • @anon123h "if I have a bug on the production environment that needs to be fixed urgently..." - if this keeps happening more than say twice a year and you can't reschedule, sorry, both your time management AND company practices for dealing with these issues are indeed dysfunctional. – Lodinn Sep 06 '21 at 21:27
  • @Lodinn Stop making up facts that suit your narrative. I won't bother replying further to you either. Don't waste my time. – anon123h Sep 07 '21 at 08:28
  • @anon123h I don't understand your behaviour. We're trying to give you an outside perspective to help you handle the situation. We can only rely on the information which you are telling us. Now, you're stating that we're wrong, but don't tell what is wrong. How do you expect to get any helpful advice like that? – Chris Sep 07 '21 at 10:39