Whoops! Raise-related

[santorini]

I just started this job 4 months ago.  It is a lower position than I am used to but the job market here stinks.  I took a big pay cut but had negotiated them up alot from their original offer.  Shortly after I started, the company loaded on alot more responsibilities.  I don't mind the experience but am now def underpaid.  I approached them a month ago about giving me a title that is more representative of what I do and they completely balked, saying titles don't matter. (seriously???)

Fast forward, all annual reviews  were done in January.  My boss asked me to write down if I felt I should get a raise, how much, and why.  I had a heck of a time not knowing the previous raise percentages.  Google says 3% is average for 2011 so I asked for 2.5% based on length of employment and what I do now.

So I just found out that raises are maxed around 2.5% for 2013.  I am hoping that I didn't insult them, given how they reacted to the title request.  I must say I truly hated being asked to write that down and ask for a raise. No other employees had to do this. I know this because all of the other employees work under me.

What is a "normal" raise?

[sadlebred]

"Normal" varies. In my field, you usually only get a COL (cost of living) raise every year. It might be .5% or 2%. The raise would be more significant for a promotion or moving into a higher level job. The biggest raise I ever got was 8% one year when an old company I was with did really well, and it was to bring what I made closer to what the average salary was for my job at the time in my city. My average raise has been 1-1.5%, and there have been several years where we received nothing.

[drloretta]

This post confuses me.

You say you negotiated a higher initial pay, but then you're upset that they gave you more responsibility. That's pretty par for the course no matter where I've worked.

You asked for a 2.5% raise and then you say raises are capped at 2.5% for the year. Why do you think you insulted them? It's not like you asked for a 10% raise.

You were likely asked to write that down because you asked them for a raise before review time. Typically we advise people to put together a list of why they should get a raise before they approach their bosses. Your bosses just asked you to do it after you already asked. That doesn't seem that out of line.

To answer your question, typical raises vary. The variables can be anything from how long you've worked there, what your job duties are, how much of an advocate your boss is, how the company is doing, how reviews and raises are established at the company, etc. DH works for a large company that has done pretty well this year. Last year he got 3% and he's not even sure he'll get that much this year. The last company I worked for, 3-5% was typical, depending on how well they did that year. And my boss had to put in suggestions for raises to the powers that be in January, even though reviews were whatever month you started. So while my boss asked for my raise in January, I didn't see it until my review in October.

Another factor in their reaction to you is that you've only been there 4 months. We typically advise people to wait at least 6 months, and often a year, before trying to negotiate a raise. They may be waiting to see how you do with your new responsibilities before they give you a raise. Esp after only 4 months.

[santorini]

To clarify...
*When I negotiated for a higher salary, it was based on the title they were hiring me for and, if I knew how much they were going to add on, I wold not have accepted the job at this salary level.
*I didn't ask for a raise first. I had a 30 review in December (when the title conversation came up) and they asked me to fill out an "annual" self-eval since everyone else does their annuals in Jan. Then in mid-January, when we were scheduling the reviews for all employees, I asked when they wanted to do mine and was told they weren't going to do it. As I was leaving, my boss said "if you think you should receive a pay raise for 2013, write down why and how much". I wouldn't have brought this up at all given my length of employment. However, since it was put out there, I did want to ask b/c my duties constitute a higher salary.

I'll just wait it out.
Thanks for responsing though