Promotion ended up being a pay cut.

Anonymous

May 13,2023 at 5:40PM UTC

Welcome to Fairygodboss!

We’re the largest online career community helping women achieve their career goals. Gain access to articles, jobs, events, and a supportive network of women and allies. Membership is free, always.

Promotion ended up being a pay cut. After I received a promotion, my company decided to increase hourly pay, which made my salary position less than if I hadn’t received the promotion. I mentioned this and eventually (many months later) received a small increase. The problem is, I still feel unmotivated with what happened and the knowledge that the next hourly increase will likely make my pay less again. Getting another job wouldn’t really be easy because I need the schedule I work currently but it’s tough going to work feeling unmotivated and unappreciated.

Why women love us:

Daily articles on career topics
Jobs at companies dedicated to hiring more women
Advice and support from an authentic community
Events that help you level up in your career
Free membership, always

7 comments

Share your insight

Join an authentic community that helps women support each other at work. Share your professional experience or ask for advice — you can even post anonymously.

7 Comments

Join the conversation

AnonymousMay 13,2023 at 6:56PM UTC
You’re in a pickle because I don’t get any sense that you’re putting together a plan to extricate yourself from this job.
Suffering is a choice and what I don’t see in your post are any action items like: updating your resume, networking or applying for new jobs.
Your employer shifted their pay schedule without consequence. You stayed, despite your promotion actually resulting in a pay cut. Your employer has been quite transparent with this new salary schedule so listen to them. This will either be satisfactory to you or you’ll eventually get so fed up that you decide to take action. Chronic complaining won’t change a thing about your situation. One of my favorite sayings: if you’re not changing it, you’re choosing it. Best of luck in your next steps.
AnonymousMay 14,2023 at 12:42PM UTC
I definitely agree with you. Suffering IS a choice, and if anticipation of being dissatisfied is not (enough of) a motivator to change/improve a situation, that's a choice as well.
AnonymousMay 13,2023 at 9:14PM UTC
If you are deciding to remain (and that is a decision and choice you make) for whatever reason, you can decide not to put in any additional effort and view the job as a means to build an amazing personal life.
A life filled with interest and joy and meaning. View your job as a means to finance that wonderful life.
Otherwise staying would be a horrible decision for an empty shell of a life.
Kristin BurnsMay 15,2023 at 1:16PM UTC
Are there additional benefits (tangible like healthcare or intangible like flexible hours) that come with the salary? If not, I'd look for hourly roles at similar companies if you can get a higher hourly rate. I have worked in places that included retail roles at hourly rates but people were interested in moving to the corporate side for salaried roles for the benefits above. It's a tradeoff and you will know which fits your career goals.
AnonymousMay 15,2023 at 4:27PM UTC
Why are you making this about hourly pay. Are you salaried? If you are salaried and tend to work more than 40 hours per week then talk to your manager about work life balance if you are working way more than 40 hours per week. If you are a careerist and are getting promoted your base should be going up. If you are unmotivated think about what the unmotivators are, if its purely about money then you might have to go elsewhere to get the recognition financially that you seek. Do the math though and think about the totality of what you really want, job satisfaction is not only about cash unless you are in Sales and then it's the primary driving force.
AnonymousMay 16,2023 at 12:25PM UTC
Why not just ask to go back to your previous (hourly) position?
AnonymousJune 6,2023 at 8:08PM UTC
I think Anonymous alluded to this already: this was a strategic, cost-cutting move by the company.
At least be open to seeing what’s out there.