What was the reason for my poor bonus this year?
How can I get promoted?
What can I do to get a higher pay increase?
You are not the only one who has asked yourself these questions.
Many companies are heading in to the mid-year review cycle, and this means salary increases and bonus payouts are back on the agenda. These are, of course, a great way to reward hard work, achievements and workplace contributions.However, if pay and bonus expectations aren’t met, this can demotivate and be disappointing for those who have less luck. Many employees also hope to get promoted during this period, but chances are often slim.
When you don’t get paid what you think you should, it is easy to place the blame on your boss, your employer, the economy or some other macro reason. For sure, these are all factors that have a direct impact on your salary and bonus, however, you can still take action! This article offers some advice on how to increase your odds of success!
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one)
You should consider your overall company context when attempting to improve your own personal results. When it comes to pay increases and bonuses, most firms are limited in their budget. It is often linked to a company’s performance. If your business has enjoyed a successful year, then you might expect to receive heftier bonuses. The flipside is, in the event of a poor or average performance year, less money will be available for staff to receive bonuses.
Both scenarios have a finite budget, and the managers must make decisions about how they will spend it to reward the employees’ efforts. Many managers choose the “safe” option and give the majority of employees a broadly similar bonus percentage, but with a few outliers on either side of the spectrum. The goal is to keep the whole team happy, but it can lead to no one receiving what they really deserve. It can make top performers feel resentful that they are not getting the recognition they deserve, and may inappropriately award sub-par performance. There are still some things you can do to ensure you receive the recognition that you deserve.
One of the most effective ways to address this problem is by ensuring that your manager knows exactly what you do! A good first step would be to agree on KPIs or clear goals with your manager at the beginning of the year. You should set goals that are not just a copy of your job description. Most bosses think that simply doing your job is what you get your salary for, and therefore simply delivering your job scope is not a particularly bonus enhancing activity. Your goals should therefore be a stretch of deliverables which help to grow your business, or improve the company in any other way. You will increase your bonus chances if you meet these challenging targets.
It is important to keep track of all your accomplishments throughout the entire year. Prepare for your performance review or any one-on-ones you may have with your boss and make sure to highlight your progress on a regular basis. Request these meetings if they aren’t held regularly in your workplace. Don’t assume that your manager knows how you progressed throughout the year.
When it comes to employee performance reviews, one of the most common criticisms that we hear is that they don’t think their manager knows exactly what they did. Many people believe that their manager should be aware of all aspects of the team’s performance and not have to ask. Even though this expectation may be reasonable, in a busy workplace, managers are not able to monitor every detail of the team’s performance. It is your responsibility to ensure that all of the good work you do in the workplace becomes visible.
You can help your manager make bonus decisions by focusing on your performance. This will prevent him from making them based on intuition, guesswork, or vague impressions. The manager will be able to tell exactly what you’ve done for the team and reward you appropriately.
Self-promotion
Employees may also be disappointed by promotions. People tend expect at least one promotion every two years, and they feel disappointed when it doesn’t occur. Most companies take care to award promotions in a way that is fair, as they usually include a raise in pay. It is also becoming less and less common for a person to get promoted based on their time spent in a role. In the past, tenure was often equated with grade advancement, particularly in public service, and long-serving staff would gain significant seniority. Employers now consider a variety of factors before deciding whether to promote a staff member. What should you think about if you’re looking to be promoted?
Your boss is going to be looking at whether or not your job has expanded and changed over the past year. Since you were hired or your last review, have you added any new duties or responsibilities? You may have been hired as an individual contributor, but because of business growth you are now managing a group of individuals performing the same function that you used to do alone. You could also be promoted if you have gained more responsibility due to an organisational reorganisation.
Your boss may not even have noticed some of the changes. You should be responsible for tracking changes to your role, just as we did with the performance evaluation. Examine the original job description that you received when you first took the position and determine how much it has evolved over the years. Talk to your manager about this during one-on-ones and tell them if your role has grown enough for a promotion. Discuss with your manager how to continue growing in your current role until you reach a level where he or she will consider promoting you. Make sure you agree on specifics which can be used to measure and as a basis for future discussions.
If your company uses growth paths, job levels or another similar system, your manager will be looking for evidence that you can regularly perform at the level above your current grade before making the decision to promote you.
Moving to an entirely different role within the organisation might also be a way to gain advancement. You should discuss with your manager what roles in the company you might enjoy and see if a personal development plan can be developed to help you prepare for them.
The Final Frontier
It is possible that your aspirations for your career will not be met by your company. While staying with an organisation for a long time is often beneficial, hoping that the situation will improve on its own may end up being detrimental to your professional development. In part, this will be because the lack of opportunities to grow your skills and capabilities will reduce your job satisfaction and future employability, but also because your engagement and motivation could be impacted if you feel stifled. This will have an impact on your long-term performance, which in turn can also affect your chances for advancement.
It can be difficult to resign, but it can a career-enhancing move if you do so for the right reason. Be sure that the new role is not just about higher pay or a better grade. Consider whether the new position will meet your career goals in terms of scope of work and opportunities for growth. You will be in the same situation again in the not so distant future if you don’t take action!
