Feeling stuck, boxed in, and unhappy.

Anonymous

July 17,2022 at 9:08PM UTC

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Feeling stuck, boxed in, and unhappy.

I have been with my current employer for just over 4 years now. It is a great company and I can't complain too much. I just feel stuck in my role. I love helping my team and I was helping out in other parts of HR until recently. I was pretty much told to focus on my job until a pretty big project was complete. It has been complete now for a while. Without using the words, I was pretty much told to stay in my lane. We have silos inside of silos and very little overlapping or crosstraining.

We have a pretty large HR team, with a lot of new hires recently. I am frustrated that 2 of the entry level new hires are making more than I am. There was some restructuring done related to comp and jobs done recently and I feel like I got shafted. There are only a handful of people that have been there longer than I have. I only have to know what their job title is to know what the minimum pay would be for that role. I have tried to talk to my boss, but it has been pretty busy for everyone lately. My annual review is overdue. I am hoping that I will be bumped up to the next level with higher pay. To be honest, if that doesn't happen it will hurt because I feel like I am trapped by wage compression. If that does happen, I will still be boxed in to my specific tasks and duties with no opportunities to grow. I would appreciate any advice, new perspective, hope, or guidance. I have a great team, and my boss is easy to get along with. I just feel boxed in, underpaid, and bored.

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AnonymousJuly 17,2022 at 10:40PM UTC
Yes, you did get shafted, and if you are an old-timer after just a few years, there's a reason for that. You learned a lot in that period when you were outside of your lane, so you can leverage that to get a supervisory job or a role with a variety of job duties. You've been there long enough.
AnonymousJuly 17,2022 at 11:29PM UTC
I believe I can empathise with your situation. I managed 9 years in my first HR Manager role in a very prestigious firm and then something not dissimilar happened. It was quite devastating at the time, but now I look back and can see that I had outgrown my role and I wasn't a good fit for anything more senior. I was and am only happy if I can work with change, but the roles above HR Manager were about conformity, uniformity and delivering systems that were in place already at an organisation-wide level. They were and are excellent systems and barely needed innovation, and the leaders of the organisation did not trust their HR departments to do anything intelligent without their extensive input anyway, so I really wasn't in the right place. Now, 15 years later, I use loads and loads of amazing stuff that I learned during that time for a whole new audience, and I still have strong connections with some of the people I worked with, but I am exceptionally glad that I left when I did. If you gather together everything you've learned where you are, sort it into your many different competencies and think about what you really want to do, you'll see a lot of options.
I promise I'm not being mean, but I fear the chances of them saying "we've been wrong, here's your salary increase" when you yourself don't feel you have a clear role are slender. The way you describe the situation, they aren't actively trying to push you out, but it also appears that they don't know what to do with you. So, my suggestion is that, rather than steel yourself for disappointment, point yourself onwards and upwards before the disappointment comes and you'll transfer your weight onto the front foot.
Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistJuly 18,2022 at 2:46AM UTC
YOU SAID:
"It is a great company"
I've read your post twice looking for some evidence of this. Based on what you wrote, you're underpaid, you're overdue for your review and the I'm sure hoped-for raise that should go with it, you're not being challenged in your role and your company doesn't seem to have any interest in creating a career path for you.
I don't see anything great in any of that.
YOU ALSO SAID:
"my boss is easy to get along with"
That's nice I suppose, but being your manager and doing their job of things like doing your yearly review and helping you develop your career seem like better qualities in a boss.
Based on your title of this post: "Feeling stuck, boxed in, and unhappy. ", I would say it sounds to me like you have outgrown your position. I would suggest you start exploring your options - find a company that will pay you what you're worth and will help you develop the career you want.
GOOD LUCK and please let me know if you have any questions.
AnonymousJuly 18,2022 at 5:45AM UTC
Since the department is fully staff I would focus on just your situation and not guessing what others are making compared to you.
Attend your review fully prepared to speak to you contribution and growth since your last review or date of hire. Longevity is not a basis for a promotion nor salary bump. So focus on your "wins" and how you've earned a promotion rather than why your tenure should be a measure of growth.
Be as specific as possible and also make sure you ask for further steps you can take to keep your career moving forward. Be prepared to agree to stay in your lane as requested.
KatJuly 18,2022 at 1:35PM UTC
Sounds like it's time for a change. While you may like your company and boss, it seems like you're just coasting. You're bored, underpaid, and underappreciated. A raise won't happen just because you want it to, especially under the circumstances you describe. Time for some introspection on your part. How do you want to grow? What types of responsibilities do you want to take on? Do you want to manage a team, take on more/different duties, or move into a different area entirely? Does the type of role you want exist at your company? If it does, how likely are you to get it? If the type of job you want isn't available where you are, look elsewhere. Not all companies are interested/invested in employee growth and advancement. Sometimes the only way to grow is to go somewhere else to do it.