by AvocadosfromHell
I had a really great year with my company (very large 50000+ employees), deployed 2 new initiatives and was a major part of my department’s bi-annual audit. We got the best scores ever, and both my boss and his boss stated that it was in large part due to the information I was able to provide.
My department is broken up into teams, and the team that I’m on consists of my boss and 4 others. I have the highest rank of the other team members, although some have been here longer than me. I am also the only woman on my team, and the highest ranking woman in the department.
When the written annual review came up, my boss marked “exceptional” or “outstanding” for all of my categories. This week, we got our raises, and mine was very disappointing. With the scale being 0-4%, I got exactly 2%. In the past years here, I’ve never gotten lower than 2.5%, usually 3%, and I’ve never had a busier or more productive year than 2018. I honestly thought the past year was my best ever here, and that my raise would be at least 3%.
In recent calls, my boss has made comments along the lines of how he has such a great team, and how everyone has exceeded their goals. I used to be a manager (at another company), so I understand the whole “pool of percentages” and that things have to be divided fairly (from the manager’s perspective). However, I have always believed that each employee is an individual and should be evaluated as such. If everyone had an outstanding year, then everyone should receive and “outstanding” percentage increase.
We do not work in the same office or even the same state. I call at least once a week (usually goes to VM), send weekly updates on progress, and email every day (about something or nothing), just to stay in touch. I’m pretty sure he’s going to use the remote aspect and lesser communication as part of the reason – however he is the one who consistently cancels our weekly calls and does not answer emails.
He is going to call me later today to discuss. I know there is no way to change this now, but please help me calm down and determine the right things to say.
Update: First, thank you to every single one of you for taking the time to respond. I have been reading through all of the posts and seriously appreciate your opinions.
My boss called a little while ago. I told him I was surprised and disappointed in the increase amount, given the exceptional work “we” had done. He said that everyone on our team was given 2%, that the amount was set by our CIO and the only way to give anyone more would mean someone would get less.
He also “reminded” me that I am the only one on our team (besides him) that gets a bonus. That comment has led me to believe that I in fact was given more than 2%, and he took my extra and divided it among the others on my team. Whatever. Today has been an eye-opener for me, for sure.
I’ve updated LinkedIn and turned on recruitment. At my age and in my circumstances, changing jobs isn’t a picnic. It may all come to nothing, but who knows.