For context:
I’ve (29M) worked at my company for over 2 1/2 years. Started in the warehouse as a Parcel Coordinator and after 1 1/2 years earned a lateral promotion to MRO Buyer in Maintenance. I was happy to make the move since it meant a slight pay increase and a better job.
Two weeks into my onboarding, my senior buyer quits. I go from having the chance to learn and familiarize myself, to being the person who has to do everything. We don’t have a planner, so most of our supervisors just dictate the things that I need to buy and I try figure it out from there. Almost every maintenance tech or electrician is pretty short with me, since stuff is missing and I don’t know part numbers.
We don’t have a fully rolled out parts system, since no one has put entered our parts lists into the CMMS. Finding those is hard enough since they’re spread throughout a shared file. Not super easy to navigate.
Fast forward six months and I’m starting to get things a little better. I own the entire MRO buying process, for better or worse.
We just offered a buyer, with 20+ years experience, the job to work with me. Things are looking better. I’m going to take a vacation to visit my GF’s family and offered to work a couple hours a day to help the new hire settle. My manager agrees to that while still clearing my PTO for 6 hours a day. Big mistake on my part, I know.
First day for the new hire. She sees how hectic things are, realizes that we don’t have a functioning parts system. She quits at lunch, but not before she tells me that they’re paying her nearly $20k more than me. I’m not super gutted, I expected that, but now I’m thinking I have considerable value.
Friday before I go on vacation, I talk to my manager about a raise. Had already asked him for one based on the fact that I’ve done the job unassisted for 7 months. Now I’m asking based on having to wait for help again. I’ve been reached out to by recruiters, but I like where I live and I know they could afford to pay me more.
He tells me that a bartender makes six figures in a year, no insurance. My company is giving me stability and that if I really want more, I should try that. Suffice it to say, I’m not happy and I do not work during my vacation. Great trip though!
Bunch of shit goes sideways and things are left unpurchased and our production line almost goes down. When I get back to work, I even drive 30 miles to pick up some ink that they didn’t even need, since all the emergency orders arrived. Which I placed.
Doesn’t stop manager from trying to write me up. Conveniently leaving out that there were shipping delays from the vendor. Despite me placing the order two weeks before critical inventory.
We do eventually get a new hire, also paid more than me, who hates the job even more than me. He already wants the heads up when I leave so that he can quit too. He had a week alone when I went on another vacation and already thinks that I’m severely underpaid for what I’ve been able to handle.
So now what I’m asking is: how can I expose how overworked, underpaid, and fed-up I am in my annual review? I’d love to point out that almost nothing has improved in terms of our process and workload, because it feels like a lot of things fall to me. I’m the newest and lowest paid in the department.
Tldr: How do I turn the tables in my annual review?