Q. Would you discuss the risks of promoting a deserving employee (title change) but not increasing salary due to current economic conditions?A. A promotion is when an employee is moved into a job with greater scope and responsibility than his or her current job. Promotions in and of themselves do not mean a monetary increase in salary. But in general, companies adjust salaries with promotions when the monetary value of the new job is higher than the value of the job the incumbent currently holds.It is understandable that a company might not be able to afford to offer an employee more money in ... view article details

Michelle Babineau of Boston, Mass. has been laid off three times in seven months. The dot-com veteran has been through it all: the conference with a terse manager and human resources representative; the company-wide announcement led by a weeping CEO; and the 'let-go' meeting at an offsite location. Her third job lasted five days. 'The CEO quit on the day I started,' Babineau said.Can they do that? Unfortunately, they can - and do. There are a few protections for employees, however. Understanding the implication of laws your employer has had to consider helps you to position yourself as well as... view article details

Many employers will be conducting their annual “focal” reviews over the next few months, which in layman’s terms means the time in which you sit down with your boss and go over your achievements against goals. For most people, it is an uncomfortable conversation that produces as much anxiety as going to the dentist or asking for a raise.For the majority of companies, the annual review is the only formal conversation employees have with their boss about their performance and usually ends with an overview of an employee's new compensation package such as merit increase, bonus payout and stock gr... view article details

People Relate to Themselves Whether you know it or not, most hiring managers have a hiring style that is more reflective of who they are as a person, and not necessarily reflective of the companies for which they work.However, like a duck drawn to water, people will feel naturally drawn to a culture that aligns with their value system, and thus, they hire accordingly. Over twelve years of recruiting for a wide-variety of companies, industries and alongside highly effective hiring managers, I have outlined below the top five hiring styles.To the extent this helps you better understand ... view article details

If the true measure of a person is how they act in the face of adversity, then how you react when you get turned down for a raise request speaks volumes. Look, no one likes rejection. It’s not easy mustering up the courage to put in a request for a raise in the form of a pay raise request letter, and potentially put your self-worth on the line. Doing your utmost to convince someone you’re worth it and then having your manager disagree isn’t an easy thing with which to cope. Once you’ve been turned down, you now run the risk of becoming bitter, detached, and disinterested at work – and that ser... view article details

Figure Out Which of Your Employees Are Causing a Problem Interested in good employee morale, team chemistry, and improved retention. Then you'd better realize your employees don't have to be best friends, but they do have to at least get along for productivity's sake. Quality coworkers can be the reason some people stay at a job, while horrible colleagues can make every day in the office a living hell from which they'll almost certainly want to escape. If you’ve spent any time managing employees, you’ve no doubt experienced a cornucopia of annoying workers. But have you ever wondered which one... view article details

When Early Isn't an Option How does a night owl who arrives at work after noon each day succeed in his career?The first story in this series covers the basics about a type of circadian rhythm disorder called delayed sleep phase syndrome (also DSPS, or delayed sleep), which half a million Americans suffer. In the second story, a writer with delayed sleep says she felt like death holding down a 9-to-5 job, and ultimately felt better when she began freelancing. In this third story, you’ll meet Tom Lemmon, a software engineer at a top Internet company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lemmon, ... view article details

Q. Where did you get the salary figures for news reporters in Wheeling, W.Va.? When I worked at a nearby television station, a starting reporter could expect to make much less than the Salary Wizard says. Even our senior people don't make as much as you say a reporter would make. And our competitors in a nearby town didn't pay as well as we did. I'd love to know who your sources were.A. It is quite possible that the data in the Salary Wizard does not reflect your experience in Wheeling, W. Va. However, the Salary Wizard is based on published private and public survey data from a wide range of ... view article details

Before negotiating an executive salary with a current or new employer, take some time to reflect on where your pay falls given the market data, the opportunities you face, and your current compensation.How little is too little?If you are making too little, assess yourself and your performance as honestly as possible. If you discover that your data is accurate, but you're underpaid - and that there are good reasons why you are underpaid - determine how to remedy it and create a plan with your current employer, or figure out what to do differently in your next post.Perhaps it's that someone else... view article details

Pay Yourself Right When Being Your Own Boss The dream of working independently is a reality for almost 10 million people in the United States, or roughly 10 percent of the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rewards of self-employment include independence from supervision, the ability to set your own hours, and the satisfaction of knowing you are writing your own ticket. And yes, if you want, you can often work in your bathrobe. Technology makes it easy to work wherever you go. With an up-front investment of a few thousand dollars in a computer, bandwidth (telephone,... view article details