"Reward and Recognition - A question and a complaint"

That's what I called my email.

And this is what it said:

Mr. Pratt*,

I was going to request a meeting with you regarding my promotion/pay rise situation but I realise it will be a fruitless exercise. I do however feel the need to express my feeling of disappointment and distress at the position in which I have found myself.

Firstly, I was wondering whether you are able to provide me with some clarification on the criteria that must be met in order to achieve a promotion at this time of year?

To me (and others in the Account Bank team), it seems that I could have done all of the following and still would have been promoted:

• Arrive at least five minutes late for work every day. Repeatedly not apologise for my tardiness.

• Arrive late to team meetings, showing a great lack of respect for the rest of the team, simply because I have stopped off to get a coffee before hand.

• Frequently send embarrassing and inaccurate emails to clients in 'pigeon' English which no one can understand - even those who are fully briefed on the subject to which the email refers.

• Pepper my nonsensical emails with bank jargon which I, and the recipients, cannot understand as it is used out of context.

• Listen to music on my ipod at my desk the moment the boss moves away from their desk and whenever they have the day off. Then ignore John when he asks me politely to remove my headphones.

• Upset the rest of the team by speaking to them in a condescending and unnecessarily aggressive manner.
  

• Fail to show an ability to follow the simplest of instructions.

• Lack basic listening skills.

• Diminish team morale by creating an uncomfortable atmosphere when asked to help out with something that is not directly covered in my new role.

• Be moved into said new role because my payment processing skills were slow and inaccurate and moreover, because I was not a team player.

The list continues... As you can imagine, I clearly feel that when someone who ticks all of the boxes above is also promoted it wholly demeans and devalues everything that I have worked for and achieved myself.

I find it slightly unfortunate that I am unable to decline my 'promotion' at this time bearing in mind I have not received a "usual" level of remuneration. It is not even that I am not being adequately compensated - I am not being compensated at all... I cannot decline the promotion as I have already been performing the role for the past 5 months. Perhaps this is why the lack of pay rise is so difficult to accept.

My one relief is that Nigel* can no longer tell me two or three times a week that I am 'junior' to him - or indeed that he 'lets me do more work' than him because I am his junior and 'enjoy working through a big pile of work' while he does 'the tricky stuff' because he is more 'senior'. Of course this is nonsense as I have been performing every function that he has for the past 5 months (apart from booking deposits because I was not allowed the system). I am glad that he will no longer be able to use this well worn Junior vs. Senior excuse. That said, in the interest of fairness, I do now feel the need to acknowledge the notable increase in the effort he has shown since he returned from his latest bout of sickness.

This does not however soften the blow that I am now expected to work for another year on my entry level salary (current remunerations are perceived as relative to National inflation), which I accidentally found out yesterday was less than anybody else on the team - including those with far less work experience and far fewer educational qualifications. I think that this is a disgrace and I fail to see how it can be considered at all acceptable. I wonder from where I am now supposed to draw any enthusiasm. All suggestions would be gratefully received at this time.

Currently I feel disenchanted, deeply disappointed, dissatisfied and deflated. If I were able to neglect my responsibilities - start the day at 9am for example, finish at 5pm, take a full hour for lunch and do the absolute bare minimum in between, perhaps I could draw some solace from this. Unfortunately I am conscientious by nature and would find it difficult to behave in such a way. My only option, as far as I can see, is to take some time for reflection and contemplation before making any hasty or steadfast decisions about my future.

To sum up, I would like it known that I do not see any Reward or Recognition demonstrated in the promotions that were announced last week. Rather I see a negative message portrayed to those perhaps seeking promotions in the future and I envisage a damning impact on morale within the team as a result. I also do not believe that I have been rewarded in any sense of the word for my hard work and commitment over the past year. My unashamed disappointment makes it incredibly difficult for me to accept this.

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns.

Amy

*Names have been changed to create anonymity - Or have they?

Time for an email I think

After stewing over my situation for a few days, I decided that I had to send an email to my boss. I had to let him know what I thought about my promotion and my subsequent lack of pay rise. I felt that I had to let him know what I think about his poor management skills.

It was either that, or go a little stir crazy.

"Comp Day"

Last Wednesday was what is affectionately known as "Comp Day" at work. It is that day that all promotions / pay rises / bonuses are dramatically unveiled.

I work for a bank, a pretty damn big bank. I think that I can say that without giving too much away. I will have been there for two years in May and this "Comp Day" was the day for my hard work and commitment to be recognised (with a promotion and a pay rise). I knew that the promotion was in the bag as I have been performing a role above my grade for the past 5 months. The excitement for me was to find out how much of a pay rise the promotion would lead to. I had already accepted that I would not be receiving a bonus.

However, my luck being my luck, when I was called into his office to be told what I was getting I was asked by my boss if I wanted the "good news" or the "slightly crappy news". I went for the slightly crappy news, already fully aware of what the supposed "good news" was.

"The good news" he said, despite my request for the slightly crappy news first, "is..." he continued. Then, before uttering another word, he slid a letter across the table towards me. "Congratulations!"

The letter said that I had been promoted to a Senior something or other. It ever so kindly thanked me for my commitment and said that they hoped that I would would continue to produce similarly impressive results in the year ahead.

I said "Oh", then thought about my reaction and thanked my boss.

"Now here's the slightly crappy news" he continued.

Across came another piece of paper. This time minus the eye contact. The paper detailed my old salary, had a blank space for my new salary and a blank space for my bonus. I looked at it, in shock looked at it again. Fought the sudden need to swear at him or kick him in the face. And looked at my boss. Silence.

"I know" he said.

Of course he knows. He's the one who decides who gets what. And he is the one who decided that I would get nothing. Of course he bloody well knows!

"You got the promotion and that's the most important thing" he blurted out, quickly making things a million times worse, and increasing my blood pressure ten fold.

He gave me the obvious spiel about there being a 'big pot'. The pot however, can only contain a certain amount of money. The money can only be shared out to a certain number of people. As my eyebrows raised and couldn't possibly raise any higher, I imagined pushing my boss backwards on his black wheelie chair with both my feet and all my rage, out the window and watching him fall 21 floors into the fountains below. Me waving as he fell, smiling and thanking him for all the wonderful opportunities he had offered me.

As I picked up my letters, very ready to leave, he dared tell me that the reason my salary will not be changing is because of the 'current state of the market' and said that all banks are in the same position at the moment. I couldn't have looked any more disinterested if I had tried. I thanked him (disappointed by my politeness) and I left.

To bring you up to date...

...as it has been a while. I no longer go to work and get paid to do nothing. I now go to work, am absurdly overworked (believe it or not), and my new bug bare is that I don't get paid enough.

This is so much worse than going to work and getting paid to do nothing.