Some facts of life.
Each year management estimates how much money the company made in excess of what the spent.
Each manage has to forecast his next years costs for a variety of things and is concious that if he keeps his demands down some of the money he saves may come his way.
Similarly the directors will want to keep the shareholders happy because then they too will be able to pull down.
Your manager needs to know when he puts his budget proposals in which of his people is going to prove an awkward sod.
If for four years you have simply accepted no pay rise as the norm then he expects the same again this year.
Announcement of pay awards is way too late to start asking for or demand more money. He sure as hell isn't going to go back to management and ask for more money after they already spent the available budget on other things. It makes him look bad.
Especially if it turns out he misjudged you.
The usual time to do this is at your annual review when he gives you the BS about how good you are. This is when you have to hint/imply that you need some money this time around.
Afterwards is too late.
If your boss is going to tell you that your performed above average then he ought to go to bat for you.
But he won't unless forced to and you missed that chance. Now you have to finesse him into doing this of his own initiative after the event.
As often as not bosses will lavish praise instead of salary increases.
As often as not they will tell the same little lies to everyone about how times are hard, business is depressed, the markets are tough and how he went to bat for you, and only you, to try and get you something despite the current embargo on pay rises for anyone but that for whatever reason top management, while understanding, just wouldn't go for it.
If there was some money set aside for pay rises (usually a lump sum budget nominally shared out equally as an across the board rise) they will usually say that not everyone got a rise but by going out on a limb they did at least manage to get you a small award simply because of how well you worked. This is strictly conditional on your not telling anyone about it because then those that didn't get anything will cause all sorts of problems and how won't be able to repeat this next year.
You will only get even this pittance this if he thinks you are valuable to him AND there is a risk of you leaving.
This BS they feed everyone serves to do two things:
1) it makes everyone happy to accept a BS rise or nothing at all and you should be glad to have any job at all.
2) it makes everyone think that by working even harder they will do better next time.
It is surprising how many employees believe what management tell them. These guys could sell perpetual motion machines to physics professors.
Now, he may even have had some money to divvy up and he will not give it to everyone.
He will prioritize giving it to someone he thinks he might lose otherwise.
He may have a brown noser or two he needs to take care of.
But he simply won't squander what largesse he has on people who, no matter how good or bad they are or how "valuable" they are, he thinks they will (a) believe everything he tells them and suck it up and (b) look likely to live out their days working for the company come what may (or as near as he is going to get to this in today's world).
If he didn't give a rise but gave you the "I went to bat for you, and there are very few I would do that for, but I couldn't shift them." speech and you took it again just as you have for the last 4 years, coming back at him and asking/demanding a pay rise (or else) you will simply hit a brick wall and it may even frighten him into doing something stupid.
He may promise to "See what he can do" but the reality is he is going to use the time he buys to plan for your leaving or being canned.
What you have done is essentially make him think he made a misjudgement. He thought you were a safe bet for no rise and you now make him look like he misjudged you after he has already shared out what budget he had, if any. (If none it is probably because he didn't fight for a budget in the first place).
Managers don't like that. Because to keep you he really does have to ask top management for money over and above that budgeted.
On the other hand, you could ask for a one to one meeting "whenever you can find me 15 -20 minutes of quiet time"
"What's it about?"
"Oh, nothing urgent. I just need to take advantage of your experience and get your advice."
Make the request casual and be busy so you can terminate before he asks too many questions.
He will think that whatever you say, this is going to be about pay. SO he is going to rehearse more soft soap and be ready to pretend to go back to senior management etc etc.
But at the meeting (be sure to have a single sheet of paper with you and use it as an aid memoir which you can simply tear in half and bin in the room when the meeting is over as if it has served its purpose so he can sneak look and see what you hd written down.
You make the notes on this as rather/direct simple bullet points which will relate to much more carefully and neutrally phrased points you raise in discussion.
Pay is not mentioned nor is the idea of pursuing jobs elsewhere.
What you do is say you want his help and advice because you have been thinking about your future with the company. (It helps to suggest this is because your significant other is pressing your about advancement because significant others are the cause of much grief and always like more money).
You make sure you tell him that you enjoy working for the company, you are glad to have a good boss (even if, no especially if he is actually an idiot)and then you ask him what the prospects for career advancement and learning new skills to get as broad a based foundation for your future as possible within the department or the company as a whole (this makes him think you might want at some time to change departments) and you are not sure how realistic it is to expect to be able to advance much without you take on extra task that build new skills and if there is a chance the company might help in some way of you takes some external training etc.
And:
What does he advise? You would really appreciate his help and advice in this.
You need to make him think you are ambitious and that in the long run you obviously want to earn the big bucks.
The real objective is to make him think that you are even more valuable than he may think you are and make him believe all the BS he fed you at pay review time.
But the real objective is to get him to think that if he can't help you achieve your objectives (which should all be realistic but set a little beyond what he thinks the company can do) that you will go elsewhere to get that experience.
He has to believe the BS he fed you at pay review because he also has to belive/pursuade himself that if you go he will have a big hole in his department and a HR on his neck for increasing the employee turnover figures and making their life difficult by having to replace you. (On the other hand a frontal assault demanding money and suggesting you will go elsewhere, he will set about seeing how he can make your job superfluous, share out your responsibilities amongst the others and make some brownie points by cutting overheads by reducing his head count.)
You do all this in a brief non urgent meeting where he expects it to be about demanding a pay rise with menaces, and you wrong foot him by studiously avoiding pay as an issue (it is implicit in the quest for advancement and interest in your progress from your significant other etc) and building a foundation to advance, and by not mentioning shifting to any other companies.
You play up how you enjoy working there and for him and how you really think that this company can be where you really can achieve these things.
He will of course realise that your ambitions are more than the company can deliver on and he will for himself realise that at some point you will start to think about going else where.
But he has to want to keep you and he has to be the one to think you might leave.
He needs to frighten himself a bit.
Paradoxically, the way management solve these problems is to offer a bribe. A special pay rise wrung from management under entirely different terms. He will not ask for more money for you necessarily but may employ exactly the same tactics on upper management saying he has a really valuable employee and that he is concerned that he might lose him.
They will satisfy themselves it is ambition and your boss will assure them you are valuable and what can he do.
They may then ask if a little more money might help keep you while they see what can be done. If so, then you are home free and your boss will come to you and say how he called top managements bluff and demanded more money for you. He will promise to help further your career anyway he can.
He/they hope that if he throws some money at you, he can solve the short term problem.He will worry about yoru ambition later on when he has to.
You don't ask for money after the pay wards announcements and you don't threaten to go elsewhere.
Managers are well skilled at managing demands for more money and threats to go elsewhere.
Usually to your disadvantage.
On the other hand their solution to all other problems is to throw money at them - if it is their idea.
Of course, you have to reckon this may all fall on deaf ears.
You also should recognise that you will only get promises if you ask for more money and BS.
Threats to leave will only start them looking for your replacement straight away and then forcing you out when they find someone. And not necessarily at a higher price. They will simply farm some of your responsibility onto the other employees and employ someone less skilled to pick up the slack.
In tough times we have all be denied pay rises, seen redundancies on all sides and the survivors end up doing two peoples work for less than one persons salary.
So in any event you should be looking for a job elsewhere as insurance and because if this happens next year you will fall further and further behind the market and your take home pay will be devalued yet again.
Plus if your significant other is like most, no pay rise and a lack of progress will not go down well.
JMW
