Bridging the Gap between Payment Range Tiers at Work

Getting it Done!

Let’s be honest, we would all like to be paid more money for time and effort at work. Very few would ever say they are being paid what they feel they are worth. Most of us are being asked to do more, with fewer people, and an unwillingness by our employers to properly provision us in the workplace environment. My case in point is that I had to buy my own tape dispenser, and use my own wireless mouse because I couldn’t get approval, after asking, to order them, or have them ordered for me.

That aside, when we are hired into a job, we know that our salary falls within an industry standard pay range. All employers are going to shoot for the bottom of the range and hope we don’t do a lot of negotiating to get more money. My thought? It never hurts to ask as long as we know what the given range is for the job we are applying for, and are willing if the answer is no to accept what is offered. Additionally, we all have our lines in the sand, we have to know what that is for the money being offered.

Once in a job, how can we make more money faster? A lot of employees expect that money isn’t back on the table until their annual review. This is simply not true. Working for a large Midwest Health system, I found out what I needed to do to get raises. In one year I got 3 raises, two tied to promotions. One of those raises was tied to performance in the form of a performance raise. I got some really good advice from my boss when I accepted the job offer and started. She told me the company has a diary system that would allow me to document everything extra I did, all ideas I suggested to benefit the company, and what value I was adding corporately. She told me to use it often, and always be looking for things to add that value. She told me to make sure that, as I documented, I could back it up with verification so that if asked, I could prove what I documented.

The first time she went to the director of my department and recommended me for a performance raise, he fussed. He didn’t want to give it to me. After all it wasn’t a one time bonus, but an increase in my annual salary. She then shared with him all of the things I had done in the first six months of employment, along with the documentation to prove it. I got the raise. I then asked that same boss what next. What could I do next to get both a raise and a promotion, an upgrade in my position. After smiling at me, she told me that I was this position, and if I wanted to become that position, this is what I would have to do. We crafted a plan, and 5 months later I got both the promotion and the raise. By this point other managers and directors were watching me so that when it was announced that our department was being downsized, I was quickly snatched up. The third promotion, a significant one to a Regional Manager, came my way with a significant pay increase.

I first climbed departmentally within the low to high range of my current role, jumped up a role, and therefore increased the range I was working with, and finally jumped up over a couple of role pay levels to park where I was at before leaving the organization a year later due to a relocation to another state. Most companies today have all kinds of ways you can increase your salary, and they have tools for career development to help you see where you can and want to go. I have seen a lot of employees not use the tools available, or have any kind of plan to increase their wages other than the yearly performance review. I am once again employed for someone not myself, and so, I am back at it. Working my plan to increase my yearly wages. My next question to my boss? What do I need to do for a promotion to the next tier up in my job profile category.

Original Reveries

Original Works that Pursue my Daydream of a Life of Writing!

Elise Welburn Martin

Written by

Writer, Photographer and Life-long Learner. I love exploring life, and writing about it. I write every day because it is part of my heart and soul.

Original Reveries

Original Works that Pursue my Daydream of a Life of Writing!

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