I read a lot of negative stories here so I thought I'd quickly share a positive one that happened to me today.
So I've been working in this company for a while as a junior accountant, but ever since I joined, I was told that moving up the ranks is an opportunity for everyone to grab and I just need to excel at my job and all. I was told this crap before so I was like aight whatever.
7 months in and I've learnt the job from the inside out. And not only that, but all my ideas for improving and automating the processes that we're wasting a lot of time in were welcomed, discussed and the better ones implemented. It actually made me feel like I matter in my job for the first time in my life and that my opinion has some substance to it.
I built some good relations with management and followed the saying of stfu and get your job done. I was however very eager to learn the job and get better at it, so I was always asking questions, reporting back and keeping the communication channel open and clear. After 7 months, I started feeling like my responsibilities are getting more and more critical. My leader was entrusting me with increasingly challenging tasks as I got more proficient in my job. I've become very familiar with a handful of suppliers from a certain region in Europe because I speak their language (an asset they expressed is valuable in the company), I developed a comprehensive understanding of their needs and such, and at this point I'm really working independently from everyone else kinda on autopilot and instead of having shit to do with these suppliers, I started becoming distracted with the junior tasks I did when I first got here.
So naturally, the question of getting a raise came to my mind. I prepared a report of how much money I've saved the company through my efficient development ideas, my delivery of products and reports and such, and politely highlighted that my current responsibilities are becoming more and more critical to the company and to this particular region and demanded a 30% increase in my payment and probably having me focused 100% on this region with minimal interference from them.
I was not hopeful at all about this. I have a really bad experience with this, that I already have a few interviews lined up for next week. Last time I tried to do this I was rejected and ended up leaving the company because I was overworked with not enough compensation. However, today after sending the email and then having a meeting with my leader and general manager, they told me that they noticed my good work, they appreciate my efforts, and that they were ready for this conversation and they reckoned a 40% increase would satisfy me, to which I was freaking flabbergasted. I almost teared up. I requested 30% but in my experience they negotiate it down to 20% which would be fine but not ideal. These guys told me that they appreciate my work, they will pay me more and asked me to keep it up.
My first reaction was gratitude for the increase. The money will keep me around for a long time. I'm liking the job, I like the people I work with, and finally the money is good. I just read all the shif in here and I wish people in companies enabled their employees as much as my company does. Doing something you like is one thing, but doing something you like and being compensated for well enough is entirely a different story.