ASK HR: Don’t threaten to resign unless you are ready to leave

Q. Do you think resigning due to financial reasons is unprofessional? Or advisable?

I have been working for this company for four years now and I am yet to get a pay raise.

I want to threaten to resign to see whether I will get the pay that I deserve.

Resigning from a job on account of financial considerations cannot be faulted without examining the context.

Is your pain only at the financial front or do you find other sources of significant discomfort in the organisation?

What has been the most satisfying part of your work in the past four years?

Is your organisation going through financial strain? What is the policy or practice of awarding salary raises in your organisation? Have your colleagues received pay increases in the recent past? How has your performance been rated in the past four years? What has been your contribution to the organisation?

What do you hope to achieve by threatening to resign? Do you wish to stoke a conversation about why you deserve a pay rise?

Have you considered the possible drawbacks of issuing such a threat to your boss? Have you thought about other means of starting such this conversation?

Even if you possessed unusually special talent and had an exceptional performance record, a threat to resign could undermine the working relationship between you and your boss or yield the rude shock of you being asked to actually issue a resignation latter. Are you ready to resign?

Consider what your contribution to the organisation has been and whether you have set a good example not only in terms of work results but also the extent to which your character has been a reflection of the organisation’s values.

Meet your boss, seek feedback concerning your performance and express your frustration with the stagnation of your pay, then listen.

There might be a reasonable explanation for your situation.

For those to whom money is the soul of career aspirations, resigning on account of financial reasons is a straightforward choice.

Those who seek greater career meaning than the waist of their bank accounts will consider factors such as experience at work, personal growth and opportunity to make a difference.

If despite doing your best you are convinced that you have been unfairly consigned to indefinite salary stagnation, do not issue threats, prepare yourself and issue a resignation letter.