SINGAPORE: When a promotion comes to mind, most people assume that getting a fair promotion increment goes with it. However, an employee took to social media on Sunday evening (Mar 9) to share that such was not the case for him. “Got a promotion, but the company did not give the promotion increment due to budget cuts,” the post read.
“Has anyone also gotten promoted recently, but the increment is below expectations?” he asked. “I recently got a deserved promotion at work but did not get the typical/fair increment expected from a promotion, just a yearly increment.”
According to the post, the employee currently works at the Singapore office of an MNC. “The CEO has announced some major revamps and cutting of budgets (and likely headcount) to focus on profitability,” the employee claimed. “As a result, HR has told me they are currently unable to accommodate my promotion increment but mentioned that it will be tabled and reviewed if and when the company’s financial health improves. The estimated promotion increment percentage and promises of future review are added to my contract in black and white.”
The writer then shared that his performance at work has been very good. “I’ve easily been the best contributor in my team for the last few years since joining and am acknowledged as such by my colleagues and superiors. One of my colleagues is also going to be let go soon, and I am expected to be taking over their work and role. Therefore, it feels very unjust to have worked so hard and expected to be working even harder but (lack) the proper financial progression.
“I am already doing the usual job searching, but I am also considering forcing HR’s hand in giving me my promotion increment via an ultimatum (increment or quit), so I would like to hear from people who have had similar experiences: 1. If you stayed on in your job, did it work out in the end and did you get your deserved promotion/increment? 2. (For) those who gave an ultimatum, how did things pan out? I would think this is a rare scenario in Singapore’s workplace culture, but my company would basically waste more money hiring an adequate replacement than just giving me my promotion bump.”
The writer then summarised his entire post, saying, “I got a promotion, but the company did not give the promotion increment due to budget cuts. Wondering if it is better to stay on the job with more workload and if HR will treat me fairly in the next salary review and give me my increment, or just take a gamble and give an ultimatum to HR to get my increment now.”
Many online users responded to the post, with a handful doubting whether giving HR an ultimatum would actually do anything. Others encouraged him to look for a different job, while a few suggested being daring enough to resign to see if the company would try to counter.
“If they wanted to increase your pay, they would have,” said one. “I was in your exact shoes before. Got an offer two weeks later and submitted my resignation. My boss immediately called me within 30 minutes to give me a much higher counteroffer plus a one-year retention bonus on my new base. Wanna find out just how ‘valuable’ you are? Try resigning and see if they counter.”
“If your company is really not doing well at the moment and is doing heavy cost-cutting measures, then maybe they couldn’t justify the additional percentage. An ultimatum might not even work—in a sense, your leaving will help them save more cost. You either be prepared to jump ship or when the company performs better, then request for an earlier review of the said promotion increment.”
According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), there is no set promotion increment as salary increases are usually determined by the company based on individual performance and market factors, but they do support the “Progressive Wage Model” that aims to increase wages through skill upgrades and improved productivity, potentially leading to larger raises upon promotion.
See also: 27-year-old employee feels lost and says, ‘I truly don’t know what I am looking for’
Featured image by Freepik (for illustration purposes only)