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Its about ongoing job and after promotion not at the time of hire. I joined as a trainee level in a software company and they told me I would have a review after 3 months. 3 months passed but no email and I asked if they would review me within a week. There was a review in the first week of March. I am sure I have performed more than what they expected for and during the review, the reviewer told me they had an interest in promoting me to junior level earlier because of my work but cited as time being. There are 3 more guys who joined like me and the company hadn't reviewed them but only me because I kept on asking them and I know I am doing more than trainee level.

In the review, I was told I would get "more than X and less than Y" salary but he didn't say exact figure. Also, he said I have just a few things to reach mid-level and would keep me on top of the junior level. I was expecting Y and had thought I would resign if I couldn't get the salary but if its near to Y, its okay.

I kept on asking for promotion letter but they give it after 3 weeks, a few days ago and the salary is just X.

I smell some politics going around: When I joined as trainee level there were few guys who were already on trainee and hadn't got a review in 5 months and few weeks after I joined, they had a review and they were getting less than X salary.

It was not a coincidence but one of the guys resigned a day after I got promoted and in the suggestion sheet before leaving he said, he's got discriminated.

Later after 2 weeks of my review, they reviewed the guys also who joined in the same level like me. Only after that, they gave me promotion letter with X salary.

I am on system engineering department and is the only guy who is shifting the current infrastructure to cloud which will save a huge amount of money for the company. I bet if I leave, there would be a huge shock for them as I have given them design following DevOps way and they are amazed.

Now, what I think is I cannot stay by getting paid only X salary and if I join another company, I am sure I would get more than Y and the market trend is also so. What should I do?

  • Talk with HR about the review saying I was promised more than X and I deserve that. Does that sound professional?
  • Talk with CEO (who is a cool guy) that I feel like cheated.
  • Obviously, going another company is another option
  • Resign without raising this issue but say only I want to change career path
  • Resign by telling them this issue has made me feel cheated or sth like that but not keeping it as main reason
  • Resign instantly and search for another job(I have already started applying for other company) OR fix it in another company and resign here? I would have to stay 1 month after resigning.
  • Stay as it is thinking I am not cheated but I expected more than X till now and shocked by getting less. There's no bad intention.

I don't want to have a bad relation with people, so want to act professionally. What would be the best option for me? Suggestions are highly appreciated.

Edit: I talked with manager. He said "We need you, so we can negotiate." He asked my expectation which I said Y. We negotiated at the mid of X and Y.

Hungry Mind
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3 Answers3

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Clearly, you're having a lot of problem, and feeling cheated isn't a great feeling at work. It takes a huge toll on your productivity and mental health.

Before talking to the HR or the CEO, have you tried talking to your manager?

If not, then please do so. He/She is your immediate head, and you shouldn't go over his authority to talk to someone else, about your problem. Also, talking to your manager would solve a lot of your problems, and help in accelerating your promotion and/or your appraisal.

Dawny33
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Something to keep in mind, from the companies view the $X-Y range probably isn't a figure for just completed training staff with <1 year of experience.

It's more likely a range for junior staff with the expectation that people at the bottom of the experience range will get the minimum, and the top of it either reserved for people who've been at the level long enough to be due for promotion. Or with promotable people in the middle of the range, and the upper half being reserved either for people who've declined promotion (although this is more common at the levels where promotion starts to be transition to management) or who are older and in a second career. Someone who had an early career doing something unrelated, and only got a BS in their late 20s/30s/etc is generally going to be more useful to an employer than an early 20s graduate. Your technical skills may be similar; but the older person presumably has a better grasp of all t he soft skills that are equally important to working because they've had experience doing them for the previous however many years in their past career.

You might have specialized skills that do make you more valuable than the typical person at your level. If you do, you need to base your argument around that; and not just "it's unfair that I'm at the bottom of the salary range" because that's the default for someone in your situation.

Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
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  • You got it in wrong way. The range X-Y is not for junior to senior range. Its for junior level only. In the company trend, even mid level get 1.5X. – Hungry Mind Mar 26 '17 at 16:26
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    @HungryMind No, you're misunderstanding. The range being for junior staff with varying levels of experience (eg typically 0 to 5 years for a conventional career path) is the first half of what I'm saying. The second half is that as someone who just completed training, the expectation is that your pay is near the bottom of the range; rising toward the top shortly before promotion to mid-level staff and higher paying range. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Mar 26 '17 at 16:46
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I think you should take a second to map out what is going on in this situation. Typically, if someone promises you something and is unable to deliver it is either because:

  1. Office Politics (circumstances have changed) or
  2. Bad Management (the person is untrustworthy)

I would eliminate emotions from this equation. "Feeling Cheated" can be perceived as not considering anything outside yourself. The health of a company is greater than that of any individual - and that means that a good CEO has to consider more than a single employee.

If you are critical for the company's function, then you "matter" a lot more. But nobody wants to have that explicitly stated to them, as it comes across as arrogant. Especially if the company is going through tough times, which very well may be the case.

I have been in a similar situation - and I cannot say that it was "fair", but I do think that taking a couple steps back and putting yourself in the shoes of those around you before acting is a critical skill for success in the long-run. Because office politics isn't something you will not encounter in a different company. Those that succeed typically are emotionally intelligent and know how to play their cards.

If your manager is good and you enjoy your job - if you are learning - I would focus on that over the bottom line. And again, if you like what you are doing and trust your manager, then I would very carefully consider how and what you communicate.

I hope this helps.

Gerard
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