HN Explorer

Discovered some of my teammates got a pay raise and not me, what to do?

1 points by trtobe ↗ HN
Today, while talking to my teammates about promotion and pay raise, some of them said they were happy when their salaries were lifted to match the market price before the CTO has gone.

To give you some details, last year our CTO told us he was going to ask to get pay raise as our salary don't match the market. However I didn't get any news since then. But today I discovered some people got it and not others, why I have no idea, I could go to ask the CTO himself but unfortunately he just left.

So, I feel like I am betrayed and leftover mainly the pay lift is not work related, my feeling is I have to get pay raise too as I deserve it as much as my teammates and at the same time feeling it's not worth it, even it's better off to move on "to quit".

Any advice is welcome.

Update:

I cannot agree on "underperforming issue" as the monthly and annual report show I am doing a real good job and got the annual pay raise related to work performance.

What I did not get is the exceptional pay raise to match the market and even to be fair comparing to 2 teammates that got the pay raise they don't do at all a better job than mine and we know it.

And why I was told to get a pay raise in the first place if he knew I won't have it. I would be happy to accept it if the real reason was due to the performance but all signs don't show that.

10 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 11.5 ms ] thread
YuriNiyazov
That's interesting.

On the one hand "just quit" is an option.

On the other hand, if the CTO that just departed was the reason you got shafted (he didn't like you personally or thought you were a poor performer professionally) then you might have a good opportunity to build a new relationship with whoever the new leader is.

If you find out that the way it was decided who got the raise and who didn't is "we asked the team members individually about other team members" and you got shafted because of the opinion that the rest of the team has of you, then definitely quit.

trtobe
What's annoyed me a lot is, the CTO had a meeting with most of us and I was there to tell us he is going to ask for pay raise to match the market and he did not mention any relation with work performance however the happy ending was not for all of us.
johng
I hate to be the one to bring this up, but seeing as how I've been a "boss" before who decided pay raises... perhaps you are underperforming your teammates?

The pay that we've given out has always been related to performance and determined by market value/supply and demand.

The coddling answer is to say: Oh, that sucks... maybe he doesn't like you. And that may be true. But it may also be a cause of you needing to work harder/longer, more efficiently, less mistakes, etc... we can assume there is always a nefarious reason but it is just as likely that there are very real performance reasons for the raise.

I'm sure there are people out there who have worked alongside people that are lazy and get paid just the same, and it irks them. That isn't fair. Pay should always be based upon performance.

DanBC
> The pay that we've given out has always been related to performance and determined by market value/supply and demand.

Every employer says this, and then it turns out that many of them pay women less, and they then say "oh but women don't ask for pay rises".

Eliminating bias is hard.

johng
I've never had an employee ask for a raise... but we've always been proactive with bonuses and raises. I agree with you 100% that eliminating bias is hard.
sharemywin
Start interviewing and get market rates.
trtobe
As I read your comments you may be right it's may be related to the performance and I don't want to face it.
minipci1321
You could quit and get a raise (and probably to lose or to gain other perks). Or you could stay and learn to solve this sort of conflictual things. The latter involves many skills absolutely indispensable if you want to succeed as employee -- self-evaluation, sober look at things, ability to persuade people on the subjects they don't even want to talk about with you. I have been constantly doing the first, always getting a good raise, never having a career. I once hired a young dropout who in his first year managed to get his salary to the level everybody else was having (big he wasn't because he dropped out). It took him 3 projects terminated 40% ahead of time, and 7 times talking to an unwilling manager. He went a long way since then.