Here’s our advice regarding the most common challenges you may face at your current job:
I Need A Raise!
We all do! BUT … an emotional appeal almost never works. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. You might get lucky!
What does work is data driven:
- You have done your homework, both inside and outside the company, and have found data showing you are at least 20% under the market going rate. How do you find the data? Just Google “best salary calculators”. There are at least eight online salary calculators covering nearly every conceivable job.
- When you were hired, for whatever reason, you were brought in at the minimum despite more than 10 years of relevant experience. You have had great increases but they are all off an artificially lower base so you have a great case.
- One of the easiest ways to get more money is to get more responsibility. I know this sounds like a “DUH.” However the subtlety here is, rather than going after a promotion directly go after more responsibility. Once you have more responsibility the money almost always follows.
My Boss Is A Jerk
This is one of the more popular complaints in industry. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet for this situation. There are tons of really great articles and practical advice if you Google it.
Fundamental questions to ask yourself are:
- Am I better off at another company? The fight isn’t worth it.
- Have I shared my feelings with my boss?
- If yes and nothing happened, did I go to her boss?
- Does everyone think my boss is a jerk? In well managed companies being a jerk will get you fired BUT never as quickly as you would like.
- If HR is strong, have you gone to them? Especially if there has been a history of turnover with this manager.
Toxic Or Challenging Work Environment
Again, no magic bullet. Some fundamental questions:
Some key questions:
- Will it change?
- Is there new leadership that knows this needs to be fixed? And will fix it!
- If the answer to these questions is no, then to protect your mental and physical health you need to develop your exit strategy.
- There are a ton of great articles on Google about toxic work environments. Sadly, the issue is more common than you might think.