I was promised a raise for doing a lot more work … and it didn’t come through by Alison Green on March 26, 2024 A reader writes: I’m feeling bamboozled by how my compensation situation has shaken out. I am a non-exempt salaried employee and have been the entire time this all went down. I joined my current company almost two years ago at a salary that was slightly below market for my level of experience and competency. At […] Read the full article →
why ask my salary expectations if you’re not going to meet them? by Alison Green on March 20, 2024 A reader writes: I had a recent situation that left me pretty frustrated, but now I’m wondering if I was just completely unrealistic in my expectations of how salary conversations go. Backstory: I applied for a role, which stated the salary range in the job listing (required by law in my state). The range had […] Read the full article →
can I threaten legal action to get a better job offer? by Alison Green on March 12, 2024 A reader writes: TLDR: I was given a lowball job offer. I said it was less than my previous total comp, which it was. I was asked my previous salary and, stupidly, gave it. Asking salary history is illegal in the nearest city and that may or may not cover me. Can I use the […] Read the full article →
what are the ethics around asking an employee not to talk about her raise? by Alison Green on February 8, 2024 A reader writes: I have an employee, we’ll call her Mariah, who worked at our company in a different department for over a year before she applied for an opening in my department. She was stellar in her original role, so I was thrilled to take her. When the transfer was final and she showed […] Read the full article →
can you negotiate a raise if your boss knows you won’t leave if you don’t get it? by Alison Green on September 14, 2023 A reader writes: Is it possible to negotiate a raise at the one-year mark if your manager knows you won’t leave the company over not getting it? I started at Company 1 in 2019, my first job in my new field, and was promoted in 2021. In 2022, a recruiter I know personally contacted me […] Read the full article →
the federal government has proposed new overtime rules that could boost your paycheck by Alison Green on September 7, 2023 Last week, the federal government announced a big proposed change to the rules that govern who must receive overtime pay. If it becomes law, your employer would be required to pay you overtime (time and a half for all hours over 40 that you work in a week) unless you earn at least $55,068 annually – […] Read the full article →
a real-life salary negotiation success story by Alison Green on August 31, 2023 A salary negotiation success story from a reader: In all the years I’ve been reading your column, I have never ever managed to get the gumption up to negotiate salary. I was laid off in February (just after closing on a house!) so I knew I’d need to get something quick. Severance didn’t last long […] Read the full article →
my coworkers want me to turn down my raise by Alison Green on August 23, 2023 A reader writes: I work for a company with about 30 employees. We used to have five people in owner/management roles and things ran pretty well, but four left in the last year mostly due to the difficult personality of the remaining manager, Mo. Mo became the sole owner but did not want to pick […] Read the full article →
here’s a real-life example of an email asking for a raise by Alison Green on July 27, 2023 I recently received this letter from a reader: I’m a long-time reader of your site. I’ve got several part-time jobs — some of which I’ve been with for a very long time, and I’ve known that I was very underpaid relative to the skills I bring. And I finally reached the point where I was ready […] Read the full article →
I just found out I’m seriously underpaid — now what? by Alison Green on July 11, 2023 A reader writes: I think I need a reality check because I just don’t know how I should be feeling about this. I work for a very large company (100,000+ employees). I started nine years ago as an intern and have been promoted twice since then. I’ve been considered a top performer, earned a stellar […] Read the full article →