Overworked and Underpaid what to tell your Boss
Trust. Talk. Feel. Three important things to remember when having any kind of intimate conversation. When speaking with your manager, these three items should be used with confidence when discussing your employment situation. A career is part of who you are and where you're going in life, so it is important to perform an inventory every now and again.
A common syndrome in the workplace is the overworked and underpaid syndrome. In these lean times, less and less people are doing more during the average work day. It may be of some merit to you to discuss your salary and workload with your manager. There are some caveats to doing this. In a shaky job market, expressing raw displeasure with your employment situation can land you in the unemployment line. Using tact by remembering the trust, talk and feel rule, you can freely talk with your boss if you feel that you're overworked and underpaid.
One on one conversations should include a measure of confidentiality. There is already a level of trust established, since your boss had the confidence to appoint you to your current position. Start off the conversation by asking for confidentiality. If your demands need to progress past the two party stage, grant position for your boss to take your demands to a third party. Be sure to use the word trust when discussing your needs. Trust in your own confidence and speak clearly and concisely. Be assertive with your demands and avoid being passive or passive aggressive as this can violate a boundary of trust you have with your boss. Your boss has an expectation of professionalism. Passive aggressive behaviour tends to violate the boundary of trust you have with your boss. Passive behaviour betrays the trust you have in yourself to assert your views and feelings about your current working situation.
Talk about your documented job description if one is available through your human resources department. Have a human resources manager sign and date your official job description before taking it into negotiations. Talking with confidence and pinpointing out of the ordinary tasks that you regularly complete on top of your current job description is evidence that you need to provide if you're establishing a case of being overworked and underpaid. If this generates an on the spot change in your (HR signed and approved) job description, your employment conditions have officially changed.
If available, search for evidence on employment websites. These websites contain vast amounts of information about jobs like yours. Produce copies that match your job description to salary. Compare similarites of your job to the documentation you're able to find. Anything you can show on paper is valuable. If you belong to a professional organisation, talk about standards you've gathered over years. Most professional affiliations advise that you perform the job that you're receiving compensation for and point out any deviations from your specific job description.
Discussing feelings at or about work is very challenging. If your job has you feeling physical signs of stress, your feelings are being affected. If you know that the long hours and under-compensation make you feel a certain way, you must express these feelings with your boss. Be sure to link your feelings with the evidence you provided as detailed above. Use "I-statments", such as "I feel", "I want" and "I believe". You are not showing vulnerability by doing this. In fact, you are assertively showing where your professional boundaries have been violated. Showing that you have feelings about your career now, and where you want to be in your career, tells your boss that you care a lot about your work.
If you can be assertive and remember to trust, talk and feel, you can tactfully talk to your boss about being overworked and underpaid. Be sure to keep the discussions professional and prepare for any negative results of your discussions. Keep your resume up to date and be sure to include that you've gone the extra mile even if you know you haven't been compensated correctly. Just be sure to make the right decision and stay true to yourself.
