Speaker 1: Hey, va fam, It's time for the v a qa A,
Speaker 1: the v a qa A with b a qa A
Speaker 1: with man Day all by herself, and y'all know how
Speaker 1: awkward I feel singing that song. So I had to
Speaker 1: bring a friend today because I don't want to be
Speaker 1: alone in the studio while Tiffany is living her best
Speaker 1: life in Egypt. I am here with y'all for this
Speaker 1: week's b a q and A, and I am joined
Speaker 1: by one of our BA fam, one of our BA listeners, Yasine,
Speaker 1: who is not that far away from me. We're actually
Speaker 1: both in New York. She's calling in from the b X. Hey,
Speaker 1: y scene, Welcome to Brown Ambition. Hi, thank you, happy
Speaker 1: to be here, so excited to have you. The melanin
Speaker 1: is popping the team like everything is just like, Wow,
Speaker 1: you should do Colgate Corres what. But that's not why
Speaker 1: you're here today. So let's take a listen to your question.
Speaker 1: I love this question. It's one that actually I have
Speaker 1: gotten a lot from people who had their annual reviews
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty at the beginning of twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: and we're just a little underwhelmed by what happened in
Speaker 1: terms of their pay. So let's take a listen to
Speaker 1: Yasine's question. So, I started recently at a financial firm.
Speaker 1: It's a big one, so I don't want to say
Speaker 1: the name just in case. But it's been almost nine
Speaker 1: ten months and we just went over our like our
Speaker 1: end of year review and everything, and they were handing
Speaker 1: out bonuses, raises, and promotions. I did not expect a
Speaker 1: promotion or like, you know, I was happy that I
Speaker 1: got a bonus, but I did kind of expect a raise,
Speaker 1: just because it's been almost a year that I've been
Speaker 1: there and inflation is crazy. So I wanted to know,
Speaker 1: am I being kind of a little extra for expecting
Speaker 1: something or is there like something that I can say
Speaker 1: or do that would kind of like have me be
Speaker 1: able to you visit the conversation with my manager. Okay, yeah, see,
Speaker 1: so paint the picture for me. You've been at this
Speaker 1: job for a little less than a year now, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: And where are you at in your career like early
Speaker 1: career mid I just started, so three years in, but
Speaker 1: this is my third job. So because you know, Blacktone cracks,
Speaker 1: you can be twenty two or like sixty two, and
Speaker 1: I would just want to be clear on that. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're very young, early in your career. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you've been there lesson a year. It's totally not uncommon
Speaker 1: to get a so so raise when you're newer to
Speaker 1: the company, especially when you've been there less than a year,
Speaker 1: and like, you're not working for a small company. This
Speaker 1: is like a big bank, you said, right, a big
Speaker 1: bank during challenging economic times, they're gonna be very stingy
Speaker 1: with their budget for compensation increases, adjustments, bonuses, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So it's not shocking to me that you didn't get
Speaker 1: a significant raise. Can I ask, did you get like
Speaker 1: the standard annual increase and if so, how much was
Speaker 1: So I didn't get a raise at all. I got
Speaker 1: a bonus, and I was surprised that I did get
Speaker 1: the bonus. But I was hoping for a raise as well,
Speaker 1: because inflation has been a little crazy, so I was
Speaker 1: hoping that at least they would kind of raise my
Speaker 1: salary so it will match inflation. But I guess that
Speaker 1: was the crazy part. Or your friend's like, here's a
Speaker 1: tiny violin for you. You got a bonus, not raise. Yes,
Speaker 1: they're like, okay, girl, you need to calm down. At
Speaker 1: least you got something. No, that is true. We want
Speaker 1: to be grateful for that. But I don't believe in
Speaker 1: playing small. I think what you could what you could
Speaker 1: do in this situation. So you got a bonus. What
Speaker 1: was the percentage of your pay that your bonus was?
Speaker 1: Was it like ten percent? Five percent? It was a
Speaker 1: little under ten percent. I think it was like eight percent.
Speaker 1: Really freaking dope, dude, that's pretty great. And here's what
Speaker 1: I'll say, here's why they'd prefer to do a bonus
Speaker 1: over a raise, because a bonus for them is a
Speaker 1: one time It's a one time hit to their budget, right,
Speaker 1: And whereas give you that ten percent annual raise, they're
Speaker 1: promising to do that for the next forever as long
Speaker 1: as you're there, right, So, and you work for a bank,
Speaker 1: so you probably understand like this is just going to
Speaker 1: hit the books a little bit. Differently, I think that
Speaker 1: bonus says a lot about probably the quality of the
Speaker 1: work that you're doing, the fact that they want you
Speaker 1: to be happy and stick around. I'd almost even call
Speaker 1: that like a baby retention bonus, like we can't give
Speaker 1: you a raise, but here's some money, Like just be
Speaker 1: happy for now. But I wouldn't necessarily say you have
Speaker 1: to take that money and be silent about it. I
Speaker 1: think you can absolutely, even though it's been how long
Speaker 1: since you had the initial conversation with your manager. So
Speaker 1: we had our conversation in December, right before we left
Speaker 1: for the holidays, and she wasn't sure that I was
Speaker 1: going to get the bonus, actually, because in my contract,
Speaker 1: it's not a given. It's something that's I forget the word.
Speaker 1: There's a specific word for it. I forgot it. But
Speaker 1: it's it's only by their discretion I guess, by my
Speaker 1: managers discrestionary. Oh yeah, intercretionary. Ya, bonus that doesn't exist
Speaker 1: unless they decided to exist exactly. Yeah. So she wasn't
Speaker 1: even sure if I was going to get the bonus.
Speaker 1: So I was happy. That's why I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: so happy, and I'm still grateful that I did get
Speaker 1: the bonus. I just I was a little, you know,
Speaker 1: let down that I didn't get a raised, because a
Speaker 1: lot of my friends who are also in the same
Speaker 1: industry did get a raise to match with inflation and
Speaker 1: also a bonus. So I'm just like, maybe I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm asking for too much. No, I don't think you're
Speaker 1: asking for too much. I mean, you've you've been there
Speaker 1: less than a year. So in terms of like it's
Speaker 1: you're in a lot better position than someone who got
Speaker 1: hired five years ago at that company, because like their
Speaker 1: pay that they started at, you know, with inflation, it's
Speaker 1: eating and eating and eating away at that. Your pay
Speaker 1: is on a newer level, like you are getting paid
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two dollars twenty you know, so I
Speaker 1: wouldn't feel as much urgency around like, oh I could
Speaker 1: be making a lot more in like inflation's eating up
Speaker 1: my money. That being said, it sounds like even with
Speaker 1: your manager, there wasn't a lot of clarity around how
Speaker 1: compensation would happen in compensation rewards. So in this case,
Speaker 1: and I actually think I have. I came up with
Speaker 1: a four scripts that workers can use. In December, I
Speaker 1: published it. It's called Ultimate Year End Review Scripts, but
Speaker 1: really there are four scripts that anyone can use to
Speaker 1: open a dialogue with their managers when they want to
Speaker 1: talk about compensation, Like you're underpaid, you're given a bunch
Speaker 1: more responsibilities, you want more money, or in your case,
Speaker 1: you just want to understand like how does this how
Speaker 1: do y'all decide, like what goes into these decisions? But
Speaker 1: what I would say is why not have a conversation
Speaker 1: with your manager and say, you know, I'm super grateful
Speaker 1: that the bonus came through. That's awesome, but I'm curious
Speaker 1: what the company's you know, process or policy around annual
Speaker 1: raises is because I was a little I was surprised
Speaker 1: to not have received any pay raise. You can say surprised,
Speaker 1: you can say I was a little concerned or a
Speaker 1: little disappointed, you know. Make it clear that you're grateful
Speaker 1: for the raise and all of that, but you're really
Speaker 1: asking just to be so that you can get more
Speaker 1: transparency and insight into what went into that decision. And
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if what you hear from her
Speaker 1: is like, I don't know, you've seen I didn't get
Speaker 1: it raised either. I don't know, But like that just
Speaker 1: means that maybe then it's a question for her manager,
Speaker 1: you know, or maybe it's a question for hr. Like
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we assume that our managers are going
Speaker 1: to be like the badasses and they can get answers
Speaker 1: for us and all of that, but sometimes they're just
Speaker 1: one of many, many in the long line of like
Speaker 1: you know, chain of command, and they may not feel
Speaker 1: confident asking those questions. But if you push and you
Speaker 1: advocate for yourself, it's more likely you will get those answers.
Speaker 1: And if she ends up being a dead end, you
Speaker 1: could go to an HR. Do you have like an
Speaker 1: HR business partner, You could go to them for sure
Speaker 1: and ask for some clarity. I wanted to ask, I
Speaker 1: guess the side question. It's it's the same thing. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to bringing having this conversation, should I
Speaker 1: wait till my media review, which which is in like
Speaker 1: about two three months, or should I just have that
Speaker 1: conversation now? I wouldn't wait. I mean you at this
Speaker 1: point that you and I were talking in early March,
Speaker 1: you guys had your review annual review in December. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't wait because, like what I would rather you go
Speaker 1: into the mid year review understanding better, like what your
Speaker 1: chances are of getting a raised even maybe she might
Speaker 1: even tell you, well, for people who didn't get a
Speaker 1: bump at the end of this year, then we're considering
Speaker 1: that for you know, midyear, and then it kind of
Speaker 1: gives you peace of mind. There's I feel like you
Speaker 1: have more to gain by asking now than to lose
Speaker 1: if you phrase it in the right way, like you know,
Speaker 1: I've been giving it more thought. I know it's been
Speaker 1: a couple of months since we, you know, talked about
Speaker 1: the annual review and compensation changes. The bonus was unexpected,
Speaker 1: and I'm very excited about that. But since I wasn't
Speaker 1: given a raise, do you think it'll be possible to
Speaker 1: revisit that at the midyear point? Could be another way
Speaker 1: for you to ask about it versus like just what
Speaker 1: I recommended earlier, which was, do you have any idea
Speaker 1: like what goes into those decisions about who does and
Speaker 1: doesn't get a raise? And you know, what can I
Speaker 1: expect moving forward? Now you have this the fact that
Speaker 1: I now I know that you have a midyear review
Speaker 1: coming up, you can literally say, like, could we revisit
Speaker 1: that at the mid year? You know, don't talk about
Speaker 1: inflation though that was how argument, but yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: don't don't talk about inflation. Talk about the quality of
Speaker 1: your work. You know, you've been there a year, a
Speaker 1: little less than a year. Just the bonus itself, unless
Speaker 1: they're just giving money to anybody out there, the bonus
Speaker 1: itself tells me that you're good at your job and
Speaker 1: they value you. Would you agree, I would like to
Speaker 1: think so yes, Yeah, So you can say that bonus
Speaker 1: clearly tells me that I am I'm making an impact,
Speaker 1: I'm being valued. That's really exciting for me. And like
Speaker 1: make it clear that you're asking because you want to
Speaker 1: understand that you were valued and what that will look
Speaker 1: like in the form of a raise instead of just
Speaker 1: the one time bonus. All right, ba fam, you are
Speaker 1: listening to the ba QA A. We are going to
Speaker 1: take a quick break and be right back with more
Speaker 1: of your questions and our answers. Okay, ba fan, we
Speaker 1: are back answering more of your questions for the BAQA
Speaker 1: Let's go. The reason you don't want to mention inflation
Speaker 1: is because companies they everyone's going through inflation, right, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure that they have. I'm almost like positive that
Speaker 1: this big bank had a talk with the board, all
Speaker 1: the senior leaders had, you know, head of compensation hr
Speaker 1: all of them, and they decided, in light of inflation,
Speaker 1: how are we going to do raises this year? And
Speaker 1: in light of the economy and all of that, and
Speaker 1: they made the choice that they made and that's not
Speaker 1: going to change just for one person. You know, when
Speaker 1: it comes to like standard raises, if you feel like
Speaker 1: you warrant a merit based pay increase, then you need
Speaker 1: to make that case based on what you believe. You know,
Speaker 1: what the merit is, like, what have you done to
Speaker 1: deserve more? And so going into this conversation with your manager,
Speaker 1: you might want to take some time and you know,
Speaker 1: just look at your highlight reel from twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: and maybe you already have that, like did you put
Speaker 1: that together for your Yeah, for the end of your review, yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you can mention that and again reiterate the
Speaker 1: bonus was nice. But I'm also interested in what type
Speaker 1: of merit based salary increase I can expect, especially heading
Speaker 1: into the mid year reviewpoint given my performance you know
Speaker 1: this past at this at that point will be a
Speaker 1: year and a half ish. Yees, yeah, like that, because
Speaker 1: merit based is just that's like something that they can
Speaker 1: you know, push for, not just like well your scenes
Speaker 1: got inflation going on and everybody else and then like
Speaker 1: at this point you're early in your career, like you
Speaker 1: like getting in that habit of being able to articulate
Speaker 1: your impact and articulate you know, what your performance like,
Speaker 1: how what the value is that you've brought to your team.
Speaker 1: Is such a good skill to learn And it may
Speaker 1: feel hell like how scale of one to ten? Like
Speaker 1: how nervous are you maybe going into this conversation that
Speaker 1: I'm recommending like a six? Sex? Not that? Like? Wait nervous?
Speaker 1: Is that the ten? Or at the versus a ten? Okay? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Like a six okay? So you're nervous? Such, right, Like
Speaker 1: it will get easier the more often you give yourself
Speaker 1: practice advocating for yourself. So that's why I'm like, go
Speaker 1: ahead and have the conversation now, and also think about
Speaker 1: from your manager's perspective, even though your review is in June.
Speaker 1: In June year, it should be Yeah, they may start
Speaker 1: having conversations around budgets for raises and bonuses in April
Speaker 1: and may you know, so if you get in there
Speaker 1: now and she knows that, Yesine would really like a
Speaker 1: little pay bump, maybe she'll be able to think about that,
Speaker 1: you know, as she heads into those compensation conversations heading
Speaker 1: into the midyear point. I can't wait to try. I'm
Speaker 1: still nervous, but I can't wait nervous is good. I
Speaker 1: mean it really is. Like you said, you've only been
Speaker 1: in this job, Well, you've been working professionally for a
Speaker 1: few years now, yeah, three years. I've kind of been
Speaker 1: a part of that home millennial like job hopping thing
Speaker 1: where it's like so plentnially graduated three years ago. I
Speaker 1: don't know what there is. I don't think I'm gen Z.
Speaker 1: I don't think I know I'm not gen Z. I
Speaker 1: think I'm a older My cousin she's like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I call her a zoomer because she's got like boomer tendencies,
Speaker 1: but a gen Z birth date anyway, club, Okay, I guess.
Speaker 1: I mean I was born in the nineties, but like
Speaker 1: late nineties. So I'm a nineties baby, not a nineties kid,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense, gotcha, got yeah, I'm an eighties baby,
Speaker 1: not an eighties kid. Yees, late eighties. Yeah, so we're
Speaker 1: on the same page, we understand. But yeah, so I'm
Speaker 1: a part of that. You know. I had a job
Speaker 1: and it was great, and then I saw another job
Speaker 1: and they were paying more. So I left that job
Speaker 1: and went to that job, and that's how I kind
Speaker 1: of raised my salary for the past three years. I
Speaker 1: stayed at a job for almost a year or so,
Speaker 1: and then after that I would like transition into something different.
Speaker 1: Started off in nonprofit. It was great. The money's not
Speaker 1: that great, but you know, helping people is great. That
Speaker 1: I'm transitioned to sales and that was great, but it
Speaker 1: was all about like the numbers, numbers, numbers all the time.
Speaker 1: So I transitioned into marketing and I love it here.
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm like this whole thing about like
Speaker 1: asking for a raise. It's kind of like the first
Speaker 1: time I'm kind of doing this because it's usually I'll
Speaker 1: just leave a job and they'll give me more money
Speaker 1: at the next job. Which I talk all about quitting
Speaker 1: your way rich, and how quitting was a key strategy
Speaker 1: for me too. No, I'm not kidding, like I quit
Speaker 1: six times in ten years. But when you really enjoy
Speaker 1: a workplace and you like to work there and you're
Speaker 1: making an impact, it can be really rewarding to stick
Speaker 1: around and grow in that. And of course, you know,
Speaker 1: I am of the opinion that like job hopping doesn't
Speaker 1: ultimately it doesn't have it doesn't have to be like
Speaker 1: super detrimental as long as you maintain your networks. You
Speaker 1: have a good reason for leaving, and I can already
Speaker 1: hear you, like you've tried different industries, different types of places,
Speaker 1: and you're figuring out what works for you and it
Speaker 1: wasn't nonprofit and it wasn't sales, and like you can
Speaker 1: tell that to an interviewer and they're gonna get it,
Speaker 1: Like they're gonna understand. And the more clarity you get, like,
Speaker 1: the less likely you will be to leave as frequently
Speaker 1: because you're going to be right, like your bar is
Speaker 1: going to be higher for your next role, and you're
Speaker 1: going to be more selective, and yeah, you will get
Speaker 1: to a point where I'm pretty I like it here,
Speaker 1: you know I do, which just agree And then in
Speaker 1: that case, then it's about building those relationships, continuing to
Speaker 1: advocate for yourself. And what was key for me is
Speaker 1: what I told you about is understanding, like how the
Speaker 1: hell the sausage gets made? Like how do these compensation
Speaker 1: decisions happen? And I've recognized I really rather that you
Speaker 1: can ask and maybe the answer is we don't know,
Speaker 1: but that's kind of an answer, like, oh, it's a
Speaker 1: little vague and ambiguous, and maybe I should just ask
Speaker 1: for whatever the hell I want, cause there's no rules
Speaker 1: around here. I'm a firm believer of close mouths don't
Speaker 1: get fed, so I oh yeah, So I like advocating
Speaker 1: is something that I like to do for myself and
Speaker 1: other but others. But I just didn't know the right
Speaker 1: way to go about it. That's why I was like,
Speaker 1: let me ask you guys, cause you guys are kind
Speaker 1: of that explained. If I had your teeth, I'd be
Speaker 1: like smiling and talking, open my mouth all the time.
Speaker 1: Everybody listen to me, you have going to smile. But yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: close mouths don't get fed. And again, it's all about
Speaker 1: like practicing, asking those questions, having those conversations, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, if you're aiming to be
Speaker 1: a leader yourself one day or manage a team, remember
Speaker 1: what this lack of clarity, how it made you feel,
Speaker 1: and like that will help you be a better and
Speaker 1: more effective manager down the line as well. So this
Speaker 1: is all great experience for the first three years, you know,
Speaker 1: just after graduating college. So I'm in kudos to you.
Speaker 1: You're kind of killing it. Thank you, I'm trying well,
Speaker 1: Thank you ya scene, Thank you so much for submitting
Speaker 1: your question. Ooh, I didn't remind y'all, how can you
Speaker 1: be like you seen and be in the virtual studio
Speaker 1: with us at Brad Ambition. You can head to our
Speaker 1: IG page we are at Brian Ambisson Podcast and submit
Speaker 1: a voice note. So you got sixty seconds, so tell
Speaker 1: us your question, submit it and you may get a
Speaker 1: fun email or DM. I don't know how it happened,
Speaker 1: someone contacted you from Team Brand Ambition and got you
Speaker 1: in the studio, So submit your questions, y'all. We would
Speaker 1: love to hear from you, and I just want to
Speaker 1: say thank you again for all the love and to
Speaker 1: ya scene my BRONC sister, thank you for joining me
Speaker 1: today and I hope that y'all have a great week.