Is it common to demote a new employee due to low salary?

Question

Recently, I was interviewed for a senior position in a well-known company. The interview process was smooth and pleasant but challenging from the technical perspective. In the end, I received an offer with the salary that was exactly the minimum of the salary range I had asked for.

However, the surprising part was that in the contract, the title did not mention the seniority of the position. When I mentioned this to the hiring manager, he said that is because the company does not actually have a senior level in its organisational chart but instead, there is an internal ranking system for employees and in that system, I will be given a senior rank.

Honestly, I saw this as a red flag but because of the pleasant recruiting process, I accepted the offer. Upon joining, I checked that in the internal ranking system, I was actually given a senior level rank but after a month, the hiring manager contacted me and told me that because of my low salary, they have to lower my rank.

And basically, in the new company, I am not at a senior level and I am not paid well. But the worst thing is that I feel I have been cheated and I cannot shake the feeling that I cannot trust the company and colleagues anymore. Am I overreacting and this is a common thing (first time it happened to me though)?

Answer 1

This question is a bit subjective - in general, we are not allowed to advise on specific choices such as "should I quit?" on this forum. However:

The title not including a senior position is a little weird, but nothing to be alarmed over. And titles themselves should in general matter very little to you. However, they chose to pay you a certain amount when they hired you for this role, and now they're claiming that the pay is too low for this role so instead of increasing your pay they're demoting you and assumingly reducing your responsibilities?? That is a major red flag to how this company treats its employees, and now that the trust is gone I do not see how you could stay there and be happy. Separately, it sounds like you are now in a less senior role than you were originally looking for with lower pay so... based on that alone yes, go look for a new role that reflects what you want to be doing.

Answer 2

First, I get that you feel cheated. That feeling is an important thing, and you should consider if you want to work at a place where you feel unhappy. The way the job market looks now, you probably have other choices.

Second, it is my personal impression that the semi-formalized use of junior, intermediate (or professional), and senior positions came from the English-speaking world and that it had belated and uneven adoption in Germany, in part because what the US calls salaried contracts were used even for very junior positions (fixed number of hours per nominal workday, but the monthly payment does not depend on the number of working days in a given month).

For a big German company, check if they have a Tarifvertrag and which, if any Tarifgruppe you are in. One may also be in a Tarifgruppe with negotiated extra pay on top. Is this the internal ranking you refer to? That would be somewhat separate from the level of responsibility you get in day-to-day work.

Answer 3

In the end, I received an offer with the salary that was exactly the minimum of the salary range I had asked for.

Never give a range. When you give a range of low to high, you are telling them that the bottom of the range is good enough.

after a month, the hiring manager contacted me and told me that because of my low salary, they have to lower my rank.

This is mixed news.

If they have decided to pay you X as a new employee, you want to be at the bottom of the pay range for that job description. There is more room for growth. If they are paying you 50K, and the range for one position is 50K to 60K and the other is 42K to 52K. I would prefer to be in the 50K to 60K position.

But they put you in the lower position. You might be up against the top of the band. You raise next year could be limited by this.

You will have to work harder to get the position at the higher level because they will see it as a promotion. Promotions frequently see a larger bump in pay to get you to the next pay band.

It is possible when they set your pay you were doomed because it was below the lowest level of the band.

Answer 4

I actually would see this as a positive thing;

You accepted an offer at a salary you were prepared to accept, at a "senior" level. Then they have moved you onto a lower level of seniority with the same salary.

This means that there is now scope for you to be promoted to that senior level, and get a pay rise with the promotion. This would not be possible if were still at the higher level.

Answer 5

IMHO Offer, in most cases, are on the lowest side in consideration of upcoming negotiations. It`s industry trend and have no bearing on any particular company. One of the reasons recruiters are so rampant in the industry :) You didn't negotiate and in this particular case, I can suggest 2 options

1. In case you like the job and company - Raise the issue of salary and title with HR or your superiors
2. Search for another job and negotiate, given you have current position, leave current company when receive a desired offer and mention "deception" on exit interview if you like

Answer 6

To me, it sounded like you cheated yourself. Why did you accept such an offer? Its kind of terrible. Find a new job and negotiate better with the next offer. Do you have a friend that is good at negotiation? Seek them for advice or read some books.