tl:dr My boss thinks that because I am “allowed” to work part-time, I shouldn't expect a pay rise. That the flexibility should be enough. Looking for some good ways to counter that argument.
Let me set the scene.
- I have been in my job for 3.5 years.
- In that time I have not had a pay review and no raise, and nor have I asked for one.
- Our rem policy is that salaries are reviewed max every six months and a raise is only granted if you can show in the last 6 months you have consistently exceeded in your role/gone above and beyond.
- I have been told by the boss I am a valuable part of the team in performance reviews and other times
- I am at a fairly high level in the business so am aware of remuneration reviews and payrise but not necessarily the amounts.
- I have a neuro-divergent child in early schooling and late last year, due to behavioural problems, I was granted part-time -so now working 25 hrs a week (essentially school hours).
- Base salary remained the same, paid pro-rata
- I will be covering an important role (I have previous experience) for maternity leave, starting in 6 weeks
- Was told that I would be paid for any extra hours I work during this time
- I regularly work extra hours where I can so that if I get a call to pick up early, I can go without feeling guilty (business is strict on work hours) (not paid for these hours – so far this year I have worked an additional 45 hours.
- I can and do work from home (I take that up maybe once or twice a fortnight) because boss doesn't like WFH
- Boss is a co-owner and controls all spending
Found out yesterday a new starter (2 months) was given a raise. I asked for the rationale behind the decision making as three weeks previously we had a company strategy meeting and the decision was made that we are not in a strong financial position and need to resource development more than commercial teams and that financial decisions would be made with this in mind. The rationale for the payrise is that they made sales, which goes above and beyond the expectations for the role (the role is customer service).
I said I was hurt that I had never had a pay review, that been there for 3.5 years, yet someone new gets one in the first 2 months. The response was that the company has gone out of its way to provide me with the flexibility I need and that I was 'next on the list' for a remuneration discussion – I do not believe this last part was true.
I have a meeting to discuss tomorrow. I know the boss has already discussed this with a colleague and said that I have lots of flexibility so shouldn't be asking for more.
Does anyone have some ideas of how to counter this argument?