With pay-round coming up I had my annual review meeting which went through all my achievements during the year. It turns out I did pretty well and I’m fairly pleased with my performance.
So after my boss told me how great I was doing, I told him something along the lines of:
'I agree that I did well this year and I’m pleased, I’ve improved myself through education, experience, writing deals, training other, I really like this team and I enjoy the role and have a lot of respect for the transformation and vision, it’s a superb bank! I think that the value I add to my team and the deals I’ve written would warrant a higher salary than I’m on at the moment. I’ve got over 3yrs of experience in this role and I’m being paid less than new joiners with no experience and even the new graduate joiners!’
He then rattled on about how I know how much people get paid and that he thinks there are perks outside of salary.
I told him that i know people are getting paid considerably more than me because I’ve seen the jobs advertised and i know how much a grad gets paid. I also know the market rate for someone of my talents and told him that I think I should be paid £x K which is in line with my peer who were recruited externally or the grads.
He said that was a big number and he’d be surprised if he could get that through HR, but i reiterated that if I were to leave then they would have to employ externally and pay that person at least 30% more than I’m on, and the person would have nil experience in this space. So it would make commercial sense to pay me more, rather than go through the whole process of find someone new…which FYI took over 3 months last time someone left.
He said he didn’t want me to leave and that he liked me, and if I came to him tomorrow with a resignation letter he’d kick up a fuss to people up top to try and make things happen. But he doesn’t see any way that we can get a higher base salary for me, primarily because the Bank is always cutting costs.
Bonus time is in Feb, and I’m kinda expecting somewhere between £1k and £4k…so nothing special. FYI I work at one of the biggest banks in the UK in a Counterparty Credit Risk role.
It’s a tough market. But i’ve got a 2nd round interview and psychometric test for Macquarie Bank on Thursday for a role in their risk managment group based in London. Salary is 50% more than i’m on at the moment.
You know what I would love!!! To get my bonus slip and then hand in my notice that day…It would be great!!
If your evaluation of the market rate is correct, then it does seem like you are getting a bad deal. However, it is true that you really have no leverage unless you are prepared to leave your job. Good luck in any case.
Edit: I would think that if markets were perfect, you would have to pay an existing skilled employee slightly more than the salary of a new qualified hire, since the old employee would have some degree of institutional knowledge. Evidently, this is not always the case.
I am very proud of you to bring it up to your manager.
if you truly find that your salary is below market (by a material amount), then you should let them know and if they can’t match it or at least reconcile some of hte difference (in pay or vacation or benefits), then you should seek jobs elsewhere.
Like you said, if they can find someone externally and pay them a higher rate, meaning they probably have to quit their original jobs as well. So you can certainly try looking for employment elsewhere to prove your point.
BEST OF LUCK!
ps* i wouldn’t burn any bridges and certainly do not recommend quitting that way. I think your manager is being honest and reasonable with you from his position. the best thing to do is just to give them notice and give them the option of leaving immediately with pay or work through your notice period.
Your first contract with a firm is the most important one and sets the tone. If you start underpaid, you will most likely remain so for the rest of your stay there. You have leverage at the beginning as the firm clearly wants you. That is the time to get the most you can. Use your experience as a learning lesson.