Recieving new offer but no matching title and salary

Question

Three years ago I started as a helpdesk employee. (salary scale A)

At my company we currently have 4 helpdesk employees and 3 application managers. I received good/excellent reviews 3 years in a row now. When I started there were 4 application managers, 1 of them switched to another role and most of his tasks were transferred to me. I do these things while still doing all the tasks I signed up for three years ago.

I talked to my manager and made it clear there is not much for me to learn anymore at my current position so we agreed I would help out our BI department to see if is my cup of tea. At the same time we agreed I would join our development team.

We spoke about it after a few weeks and we agreed that in my 'new' function my workload would look like this:

1 day resolving tickets for support that my other co workers cant figure out. 2 days working at BI 2 days at development

My manager will sit with HR next week to discuss my new role. But between the lines I read that she wants me to keep working under my current title but then under salary scale B with my new responsibility's (BI and development) listed as my job descriptions responsibility's.

This does not feel right with me. The people I will work with at the BI/development department do have appropriate titles (lets say BI developer, Application developer). Also I feel like for at least 1,5 years now I have done most of the work an application manager usually does. They also have a salary at least in scale C.

I think i deserve a new function(title) given the situation. The salary scale is debatable but honestly i will only be doing my 'old' job 1 day a week, and even then only picking up the niche/difficult tickets that would otherwise escalate to an application manager or supplier.

Am i being unreasonable?

I think i would be more fair if i would simply get multiple/a split title. Imo my 'old' title does not represent my workload and tasks.

FunctionA/FunctionB

Answer 1

This is pretty common.

Companies don't want to give you a new title and more money and then see if you can hack it as the next level up or not. Instead, often they want to see you perform at the new level prior to doing that. I don't remember the last time I got a raise directly with a job title increase either, it's usually in a later raise cycle or whatnot.

Now, sometimes this leads them to take advantage of you by not revisiting that in an appropriate manner. It's fair of you to set expectations with your manager. "OK, so if I perform this new position to your satisfaction, when would we be looking at formalizing the title and increasing my salary commensurate with that position?" The most likely answer is not "now!" The most likely answer is "After 3-6 months we can get you the title, and then you'll be in a new salary band so when annual raises come around you should get more."

That's the standard answer. It's not a great answer, as it can tend to leave you behind the curve if the company's not aggressive about it, which is why folks often change companies to get significant increases in salary.

Answer 2

It sounds like your manager may be trying to keep open the possibility of you moving back to your old position. Your question makes it sound like you are exploring different options, not committed to a particular path nor experienced with either of the new positions. Given that different skill sets are required between helpdesk employees and application developers, your manager may see this as a kind of informal probation to see if you are capable of doing the job and wish to continue in one of the new positions.

Depending on the company, once your title changes it may be difficult to go back to your old title and salary, so failure could lead to dismissal. They may not wish to lose someone with "excellent reviews", as you say.

In the long term it's not okay to be working under the wrong title, but for the short term I think a situation like this can be acceptable for someone trying to gain experience in a new field.

Answer 3

Am i being unreasonable?

No, you're not being unreasonable. Speak to your manager about what an appropriate and reasonable title change and salary increase would be. If they have no plan to adjust your title and/or salary then you should expect that they never will. You can choose to continue on at your current company, but my suggestion would be to start looking for other opportunities for a person with your skill and experience level.

My intention with this answer is not to be a pessimist, but a realist. Companies that value their employees and care about the growth and success of their employees will work with you to find a "happy medium". Companies that don't value their employees or care about the growth and success of their employees won't work with you to find that "happy medium" and will give you as much responsibility and duties as they can without also giving you the corresponding job title or salary.

Use this opportunity to figure out which type of company this is. If it's the latter then it's better to find out as early as possible and move on. Your career success is your responsibility. Never let the company you work for dictate your career to you.