Internal promotion -- advice from the trenches?

[lhamo]

I'm in a bit of an awkward position at work, and would appreciate advice/feedback from those who may have dealt with similar things (or who just have great ideas to share :))

My boss submitted his resignation several months ago. I was almost immediately asked, and agreed, to start taking on some of his duties during the transition and to eventually step in on a temporary basis, with the possibility of promotion to his position depending on how the search went. Management knew from the outset I intended to apply for the position, and the feedback I got was very positive. However, in the meantime, the decision was made (I'm not sure at what level) not to directly replace my boss' position but instead to bump it up one level in the institutional hierarchy and add some significant additional responsibilities. I was a very strong candidate for my boss' position, but the higher level role is more of a stretch. I think I can do it, and I hope they will give me a chance, but it is more of a long shot now.

My dilemma relates primarily to how to handle the issue of my pay and benefits during this transition period as well as the negotiations for the position, should they offer it to me. I have basically been taking over my boss' duties over the past few months, though the official title change only went into effect this week after his official departure. I have also been continuing to manage my own program during this period. I have asked my immediate supervisor twice how my compensation will be handled going forward, but have only gotten a vague answer that HR prefers to handle these situations by giving bonuses, rather than raises. I am fine with that, and was holding tight until September 30th to see what my bonus would be -- that is the end of our fiscal year and typically when we get our bonuses. But there wasn't any bonus on September 30. That isn't necessarily awful -- we are changing our performance review system/timetable and I believe raises are now going to go into effect on Jan 1, rather than Oct. 1, so it is reasonable to assume the bonus has been pushed back, too. But I'm struggling with how to frame the discussions about this in the coming weeks and how assertive to be. I have been warned by colleagues who were in similar positions in the past about letting them give me more responsibility without being compensated for it. But at the same time, I am afraid that if I am too assertive it might give them a bad impression as we enter the interview/negotiation stage. If it were just a few weeks of waiting, I'd just try to cool my jets. But my organization has a pattern of taking a LOOOOOONG time to make hires. So I'm afraid I will get stuck in this position for several months, doing significantly more work for less pay than the level of the position warrants.

Adding to the complication is that I was pretty woefully underpaid in my previous position, and the jump in salary benefits to my former boss' position would be almost double my old package. I think I deserve that, and am willing to fight for it. Just not sure when to start fighting. Do I stand up for myself now and let them know that I'm not going to allow myself to be taken advantage of in this transition phase -- push a bit to find out what form exactly my compensation is going to take while in my new, more senior, position (at least temporarily)? Or do I hold back and wait until I at least know what role they see me in long term?

I am definitely in a strong position here -- if I quit (which I could, as we have substantial savings and a nice "lottery ticket in the sky" in the form of our apartment), they would be up a creek as we have significant issues that need to be resolved in the next few months that would be difficult to bring someone else in to do on short notice. I have excellent relationships with our staff and local partners, and it would reflect very badly on the organization if I left suddenly. But I don't really want to go into this in an adversarial way. I do want to be sure I get what I deserve, though -- this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and sort of the equivalent of the career brass ring, so if I don't grab it now I may not get the chance again.

Any suggestions about how to handle this? I see several possible options, all with potential risks/benefits:

1) Push again for an answer to how they are going to handle my compensation during the interim period.

Risk: They think I am being too assertive/aggressive and this puts a negative cast on my application for the long-term position.

Benefit: I know more clearly where I stand and can use this new level of pay/benefits as a platform to argue for another substantial increase if/when they offer me the long term position.

2) Hold off until I have been interviewed for/offered a new position. This might be a more intermediary role, not the one with stepped up responsibility.

Risk: I get stuck doing substantially more work for a lower level of pay than is warranted, and I weaken my position in terms of the long term negotiations (no two-stage negotiation process, which means the leap to the higher level would be really major)

Benefit: I don't ruffle feathers with management now/give them concerns that it is about the money for me.

Appreciate any advice/suggestions!

lhamo

[SteveinMN]

lhamo, I don't know how cultural issues (both Chinese and those of your organization) will play into this, so that is a very important disclaimer.

I think you need to sit down with the people in your organization -- your supervisor, his/her supervisor if (s)he is not high enough in the organization, the appropriate HR rep, whoever -- and have what is often referred to inelegantly in the States as a "come to Jesus meeting". It's great that they gave you an opportunity to pinch-hit and that you were able to slug the ball. But do that for too long and you are being taken advantage of.

Without trying to write a book here, I think the meeting should include the following points:
- You have appreciated the opportunity to do this and hope you have lived up to their expectations.
- You have stepped into your boss' position and provided the company fluidity in the transition while essentially continuing your own job.
- Your boss was compensated the way he was for the value he was able to bring to the company. If you are bringing similar value to the company, you deserve similar pay. The fact that you are underpaid at your current position is irrelevant -- and don't let them use "too big a jump" as an excuse to lowball you. You probably don't know exactly what your boss was making, but you should have an idea. You may have to do a little research. What you earned before does not matter. If the company prides itself on offering competitive pay, this is their opportunity to prove it.
- You want to set a timetable for a bonus/promotion-with-raise/whatever the company can do to recognize your substantial additional contribution. Nail down the October 1/January 1 discrepancy.
- You want to know all this because you've done the job long enough to be past "probation" and you want to be able to make some career decisions.
- You need all this in writing. No vague sub rosa promises. It is time for specifics.

The idea is not to hold them over a barrel (even if you can). Your overriding theme should be fairness. You want to work at an organization that treats its best performers appropriately. You've proved you can do the job. So now what can they show you?

You have some serious chips you can play here. The walking-away card is the most powerful one. But I would not play that card unless you're ready to walk away at that moment. You don't want to make yourself a lame duck unless you truly are ready to move on and the job means that much to you. Aim for compromise. Just know that you have substantial value to the company. Don't let them tell you otherwise.

[Tammy]

Fully agree with Steve

[Tammy]

And this ... When getting my MBA, I did some reading on women in leadership. The trends are that women hold back from promotions due to doubting their abilities, and that women are not assertive enough in negotiating pay.

[Tradd]

lhamo, I have no suggestions to make, but just wanted to send along best wishes as you navigate this.

[lhamo]

Thanks for the advice, Steve! Part of the challenge here is that both my direct supervisor and my HR rep are several thousand miles away, so a sit down "come to Jesus" meeting would have to be held via Skype. I may have invented a new meme here -- HWJS (How Would Jesus Skype)?

Complication #2: My direct supervisor and my HR rep are also the first people who will be reviewing my application for the new position, and who will lead the interview process for it. I'm just feeling uncomfortable with the closeness between these two things. I'm really afraid that if I come across in the wrong way it might work against me in the long run. If I could argue for an increase in benefits/pay for this temporary role through a different channel it would be much easier. I think in this challenging context it is important for me to be viewed as someone who solves problems, not someone who creates them. Hence my hesitation to be as aggressive as I would be in another context.

I think what I will do is first raise this again with my direct supervisor, putting it in terms of "ok, I'm now officially in this role, and even though we all understand it is transitional, I really need to know what the terms are and what to expect."

[Tussiemussies]

I am not in the workplace but what I noticed about your posts is the issue whether or not you should be somewhat passive or a lot passive or aggressive. I believe from past posts that you are in another country. What is the norm there and are the people you would be interviewing with from there are they more passive and how do thy feel about women being aggressive? I think that puts a slant on things...good luck no matter what path you take!

[SteveinMN]

lhamo, I guess the question that raises in my mind is what happens when that new person is hired. Do you go back to doing what you were doing (i.e., just your job)?

You can be more neutral about this situation by asking about timelines to select this new higher-level person (whether or not it is you) and what will happen to your current interim position afterward.

It may be that, if you are not selected, you go back to your old job and this experience becomes bonus points at your next performance review and you've had a positive impact on people who can advance your career.

If you are selected, my recommendation stands that you try to find out what such positions pay and then angle for that compensation yourself. My experience is that organizations (especially bigger ones) don't like to jump people too many grades/too much of a raise at once. But if the job is substantially different, then the pay should be, too, and what you earned before (even at the same company) is immaterial.

I would be very careful about letting them quote informal company policy to you and I would require anything they offer to be in writing in your HR files so no one can develop convenient amnesia later. (Sorry, I don't want to sound paranoid. But once bitten, twice shy.) You might aim for the old manager's salary and a short review period for evaluation of your work at the new higher-level position, with salary adjustments as the reviews merit. Whatever works; the point is negotiation. You bring significant strengths to either of these new positions and they should not be discounted because their previous experience with you has not been at this level, nor should their pronouncement be the last words on the subject.

This way you look like a team player, though at the potential expense of getting no more than a pat on the back for the extra work done so far. But they should not perceive you as being too aggressive in responding to the situation.

[lhamo]

lhamo, I guess the question that raises in my mind is what happens when that new person is hired. Do you go back to doing what you were doing (i.e., just your job)?

This is unclear at the moment. I think what is most likely to happen is that if they find someone else for the BIG new position, then I will get moved into my boss' old position, or maybe a slightly stripped-down version of that. I think I have shown over the last few months what an asset I can be to the organization by working at a higher level. The informal comments my new supervisor made when he told me about the configuration of the new BIG job lead me to believe that they are planning to at least bump me up a bit, if not a lot.


My experience is that organizations (especially bigger ones) don't like to jump people too many grades/too much of a raise at once.

This is EXACTLY what I am concerned about. My organization is that kind of an organization. Which is why I really must push a bit to get bumped up now, so that I can get bumped up more when the dust settles and I figure out which seat on the bus I'm going to be in.

Tussiemussies, to answer your question I work in China but all the people involved with this decision are U.S. citizens. My new supervisor is male, about my age, so there may be some gender dynamics involved there -- probably more so on my part than his. Really I think it is more just typical organizational dysfunction stuff, though. He seems like a good guy, but this is a negotiation and his bottom line is going to look better the less they can pay me. At the same time, my departing boss has made some pretty candid comments about how much new supervisor needs me in this position, so I do have leverage.

I have decided to raise this issue one more time in the message I will send out tomorrow suggesting agenda items for our conference call the following week. I will suggest that if it would help to have HR in on the discussion we could schedule a separate call. If that doesn't move things along then I am prepared to take it to the head of HR. It is inappropriate for an organization to be asking people to take on significant new duties and not be prepared to discuss compensation. So I will be helping her solve a problem, while also solving my own.

Ultimately a lot of this comes down to learning to deal with the PTSD-ish reactions I still carry around from my career meltdown phase at my previous organization. There are shadows of that here, but so far it is being handled very differently, so I am optimistic. I am very much in a holding pattern, though, and where I land long-term depends a lot on how they handle this transition.

[lhamo]

Quick update: Turns out our conference call was YESTERDAY not next week (yes, my brain is so overloaded it might explode...). Thankfully I realized that on MOnday and put another discussion of this issue on the agenda. It went well. We're in the middle of performance review season and HR just sent out a memo about how merit raises/performance bonuses are going to work from now on, so I was able to segue into the discussion from that angle. Kept it simple. Pointed out that I appreciate this is challenging but that if they had hired someone in from outside the organization to do this job the terms would have been clear with the offer. New boss agreed and committed to raising it in his next meeting with HR (which is supposed to happen today). Did also say that my bonus should be "not insubstantial." Let's hope it is enough to top the retirement accounts back up before the end of the year! Had to cut back on our contributions when we switched schools for the kids. If the market drops substantially in the next few weeks that might actually be a very good thing for us.

I also have started follow up with a career coach who I may engage to help me navigate the interview/offer process.

Overall feeling positive. I really liked MMM's blog post earlier this week about focusing on your sphere of influence and have been trying to apply that principal here. I can't really influence directly how our organization handles this situation, only how I respond to it and advocate for myself. So trying to do the best job I can while standing up for myself. So far, I must say, I am pretty much ROCKIN' this job. I'm good at what I do and capable of a lot. That has to be obvious to anyone who is paying attention.

[kitten]

Congrats, lhamo! Keep updating on this :) Would love to hear more about what working with a career coach is like, too!

[fidgiegirl]

Fantastic update, thanks for taking time to share it and glad things are looking good right now!

[lhamo]

Update to the update: Still in a holding pattern, though I know my supervisor has been discussing things with HR. In relation to another issue we are working on I found a way to make them aware of what comparable USG civil service salaries are for people posted in Beijing -- those are what I am going to argue for as comparable positions. They all come with substantial added benefits that I am not likely to get (full housing and school allowances, which more than double the cost of the entire package), and the salaries alone are also significantly more than mine for comparable levels of experience/authority.

Another interesting job opportunity has come up that I may just apply for to see what happens -- it doesn't start until next summer, though application deadline is mid-November. I think I would be very competitive for it -- I know the incumbent and we have a good professional relationship and I think he would tell them I'm a good candidate. It would not be at the same level as the position I am aiming for within my current organization -- it is more of a parallel position to my prior role. But there is a possibility that the salary/benefits might be better, and I could use that in my internal negotiations. Haven't totally decided what to do yet. Want to discuss it with DH. He is also potentially a good candidate for the position.

[RosieTR]

Congrats you're on the right track Llamo! I think Steve also had some good suggestions. However, I wanted to ask/add, have you or how have you been documenting your increased responsibilities and performance? Because when it comes down to the deal if you have a list of written items it looks really great both for negotiating with your current employer and potentially negotiating with this other one. Great job and best of luck dealing with this all-esp getting the new position!

[Tradd]

Lhamo, thanks for the update.

[Float On]

Those are some great updates Lhamo!