So I've been with my company for a year, and I started with no relevant experience. I'm fact one of the managers CC on my interview email accidently replied all asking why they were even interviewing me because I only have a bachelor's of music, and I used to work at FedEx (where in less than a year was awarded employee of the month) and was an assistant manager at a downtown bar/restaurant. Why would the company waste their time interviewing me for a position at a call center in the finance industry. The position requires no relevant degree just any bachelor's, it doesn't require licenses and experience is encourage to increase your chances of getting hired. That manager quickly recalled they're email, but not until after I had read it. But despite that I was interviewed and hired by my manager who has been a joy to work for. And in the last year I made a point to be a good, dependable employee that the people calling into our department trust, respect, and are relieved when I pick up the phone. They know they're going to get intelligent help from someone who knows what they know and will work hard for them to find out the answers to what they don't know. Misinformation costs time and in this industry more than others time costs money, and often that money is being paid by the clients and not the company. So I work very hard to insure that when I give a caller an answer that it is the correct answer. In the year that I have been there I have been placed on every available queue that cover any of the potential issues that callers could be calling in about. Including supplemental calls from callers into the high earners queue which are the top of the department in terms of training and capabilities. Callers to that line who have been on hold for to long will be funneled to me and other employees at my level. But none of my advancement has come with a raise as this is the expectation for you to get to once you're fully trained in the position. If you want to get your license the company will pay for the cost of that, but when I asked if obtaining a license would lead to a raise, I was told it would not as it is not a requirement for the position. But obtaining one would make potential future movement to positions that do require a license. So in the year I've been with the company I have been given one raise of 3.5% back in January. Bringing my salary to 41,400 w/benefits. And due to an increase in hiring salary when I was hired that wasn't compensated for with the current staff I am making the same amount as my friend who's been with the company four years.
We just had a new hiring class and I was asked to mentor two of the new hires. I said yes immediately. I felt recognized for my hard work becoming a successful dependable member of the department. And I immediately hit it off with the two trainees they assigned me to. The head trainer knew my personality from the year before and thought we'd mesh well and she could have not been more right. I felt like I was just introduced to an instant set of best friends. They spent a week listening to me take calls, and heard me solve issues they hadn't been trained on that sounded like greek to them and by the end of day one I had gained their respect and trust that I would be someone they could open up to. So on the second day of training one of them says he feels comfortable with me and was wondering if we could talk about a salary issue that he's having. He said in his interview they had verbally agreed to a salary 10% higher than what they ended up starting him at. He had already talked to management and there was no way of getting it corrected and he was wondering how long it would be until he was making what he thought he was going to be making, so I told him likely it would be 3 years or so. Thinking he had asked for 45k and they ended up starting him at 40k. Turns out he had agreed to 60k and they're paying him 54k. He has a degree in finance and several different levels of licenses so I was expecting him to make a bit more, but then I find out the other person I'm training who has no degree or licenses only experience is making the same. A 35% pay increase in starting salary for the position, with non of that increase being because of licensing or education. With 0 increase to the tenured employee salary to make up for it. I let my friend that got me the job know and she blew it up for me telling nearly every employee in the department. Turns out their starting wage is higher than nearly everyone else in the department including the person who runs the training department and our most senior members on our employee help line. Everyone is rightfully pissed. Including at least one of the managers who argued with hr about the fallout this will cause without first reconciling current employee pay. Management is currently in talks with HR about what kind of raises they can give their tenured employees, but all I got out of my conversation with my boss today was that it won't be anywhere near 54k but they're going to work on restructuring the pay increases and raises within the department. And he made a remark that this kind of salary issue is common in the industry and it will exist anywhere you work. But at this point I feel like anything less than a 35% raise for everyone is going to result in a mass exodus that will likely be happening in the next few weeks. What other choice do we have if only the hiring wage is going to increase? There's no better means of getting a raise within the company than to leave it and find that raise somewhere else. If this is what it's like everywhere and you're only going to conform to industry standards then I suppose we should adapt to the times and try to grab one of those sweet new starting wages the other companies they're trying to keep up with are offering. Things are going to get interesting next week.