I was hired by a big software company last year but agreed on a salary that was lower than market rate. At the time I didn’t want to negotiate that hard because I was a bit green and the big name will help me down the road. So I decided to focus on building up my experience and adopted the put your head down do the work type of attitude.
Fast forward to one year – contract is up – I have a 1 on 1 with my resource manager, he knows about my underpay suitation so I ask just to get my salary back to market rate but alas, he cannot do it since they have to go by the HR Policy and cannot just readjust like that. Which I think is total bull.
The best he can do is a measly 2%, which is billion of light years away from the market rate. How could he do this to me? Knowing how much I put up with the s.h.i.t at the customers, given crap projects. I thought my contributes were noticed, apparently this doesn’t mean jack.
Also, how is this going to effect me? I know my colleagues, who have been in the company for about 6 months who are on the market rate. I thought things were going to be sweet alrite when my contract is finished and renewed with what should be the market rate.
Why am I always being the outkast, why do I have to put up with shit. You know, I would never expect this from a well known company. A COMPANY WHO created the most popular browser called Windows. I should never need to be put in this situation in the first place because I thought they cared about their employee’s work ethic.
Maybe things work differently in HK. Why would they ever bring themselves down to the level of smaller software companies. Its just stupid, what happened to the spirit of wanting to work for a reputable corporation? At this moment they are not different to any other crappy firm.
Things better turn out for better. Or else more trouble will start to happen down the road.
Another thing, I feel so gutted when I think of this, I reckon our admin assistant is making around the same amount of money. Heck, I might as well be the person who brings around the fruit every afternoon.
Firstly, people treat you the way you let them. If you accept being treated badly, it will continue.
Secondly, you’ve got the experience, your code/blog speaks for itself. SharePoint is huge at the moment, there are plenty of opportunities, word-wide. You’ve done the right thing by approaching your manager 1-on-1. You’ve politely informed him of your very reasonable requirement: market-rates. Next step is to let him know that as a result of him turning you down, you’re going to leave. He either needs you at market-rates, and pays you fairly, or he doesn’t. It may feel personal at the moment (young?). But, really, it’s not that big a deal.
Ask yourself, how much are you worth, and are you prepared to work for less than that?