ASK HR: Why won’t my boss compensate me for these extra duties?

Q. I work as a data entry person for a manufacturing company. About five months ago, I requested my manager for a pay increment. He told me to be patient, that he will look into it. Two months ago, one of my colleagues left and I took over his responsibilities. Is this the right time to ask, again, for a salary increment?

Yes, it is a good time to revisit the discussion. You now have additional duties that need to be formalised. At the time your colleague left, there must have been a discussion between you and your manager about undertaking the extra work. In situations where your work changes in scope, it is expected that either some of your old roles are delegated to another person, or your salary is reviewed to accommodate increased responsibilities. This is the approach you should take when raising the issue.

A standard contract should give an indication of your next salary review date, and unless the work you were employed to do has changed significantly, it is expected that you would wait until the review date. A salary discussion is a negotiation matter, and when that time comes, you need to equip yourself with the right information. Analyse your achievements to demonstrate your value to the organisation. In addition, investigate what other employees with skills, qualifications and experience similar to yours are paid not only within your company, but across peer organisations, then approach your discussion from a fairness point of view. If the duties you signed to do in your contract have significantly changed or become complex over time, this is another good reason to renegotiate your contract.

I have advice to the manager who made a promise that has not been kept for seven months. This is highly unprofessional. Salary discussions are usually quite sensitive to the employee and can easily affect morale and productivity. Leaving such a promise open-ended is not only detrimental to performance, but is also likely to cause disengagement, and a good manager knows how costly that can be. Further, when an employee is assigned more duties, a good manager should proactively see the need to compensate for additional work without being prompted.