So, you received a promotion without a raise. Should you celebrate or negotiate?
And other times, biting the bullet could mean your company is taking advantage of you—which will ultimately lead to resentment and distrust in your team. Only you can truly understand all the factors playing a role in your decision.
So, I’m going to give you my best advice based on this fact: Without a doubt, you’ve worked hard, gotten results for your company, and received the well-earned promotion that you’re excited to take on.
This does not include situations in which your company is taking a chance and letting you transition to a new department, join a one-time project, or any other situation where there is a change to your role—where it’s more to your benefit than the company's.
For example, we're not talking about the instance where you're eager to move from HR to marketing and your company offers you a new role or job title to help you pivot your career. We're also not referring to a case in which the company allows you to “job share” and offers you a new job title but not a new salary.
What we are talking about is when you receive a natural promotion after clocking in hard work for your company—and they don't accompany that promotion with an increase in salary.
Okay, I think we’re on the same page. Here’s what you can do if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of earning a promotion you want to accept—without the accompanying bump in compensation.
The 5 Benefits of a Promotion, Even if There Isn’t a Raise
At first glance, it may seem like a promotion without a raise isn't worth it. However, there are some amazing career-growing benefits. Let's go over five of them.
1. Add an Impressive New Title to Your Resume
One of the most valuable perks of accepting a promotion without a raise is having the ability to add a new, more impressive, title to your resume. This will help your resume to stand out to future recruiters and hiring managers.
Use your new title as leverage to apply to more senior roles at other companies. Not only are you going to be able to apply to new positions at other companies, but you will also be able to negotiate higher starting salaries that are often associated with senior roles.
In this sense, accepting a promotion without a raise at your current company feeds into a longer-term strategy that will be beneficial when you apply for new jobs.
2. Grow Your Skills in Your New Role
With a new title comes new responsibilities. As you take on new tasks and projects, you will gain new skills or even sharpen skills you already had. For example, if your promotion comes with a team that now works under you, you are most likely learning new leadership, delegation, and management skills that are great assets to your long-term career.
By having additional responsibilities, you are exercising new skills and learning more about your strengths and weaknesses in the process. Plus, you may discover new tasks that you enjoy doing or rule out things you absolutely don't want in your next position.
3. Meet and Connect With New People at Your Company
Accepting a new position at your company means you will most likely collaborate with new coworkers, attend new meetings, and have more opportunities to work and mingle with your boss and other senior-level executives.
Networking and growing connections within your companies is invaluable. Not only are you growing your work experience, but you are also expanding your internal network and potentially meeting mentors. These connections can be hugely beneficial in the long term, well past your time at your current company.
Plus, if your new title gives you the ability to work with higher-profile clients, you have the opportunity to expand your external network. Whether a raise is included or not, a promotion gives opens doors that may have previously been closed.
4. Broaden Your Work and Life Experiences
As you take on new tasks in your new role, you will be able to add new experiences to your resume. You will be able to work on new projects and assignments that may have not been offered in your previous position. For example, maybe that means you get to travel for work and visit cities you're never been to before.
These experiences expand your perspective and may help you focus on what you really want out of your career.
5. Have More Leverage the Next Time You Ask for a Pay Increase
Just because you've received a promotion without a raise at this point in time doesn't mean that the next time around you won't get a pay increase.
If you accept a promotion without a raise and succeed in your new role, you'll have a lot of data to back you up the next time you do ask for a raise. And by the way, having proof and data to support your raise ask is extremely important. It can make or break the decision on whether or not you get a salary increase.
So, when you accept a promotion without a raise, note certain milestones that you accomplish and plan a date on your personal career growth timeline to revisit a conversation with your boss about a pay increase. When you're ready to make that raise ask, we've got a ton of guidance on asking for a raise.
Why Companies Offer a Promotion Without a Raise
When a company offers you a promotion with no salary increase, they may have valid reasons for doing so. However, if their justification for not giving you a higher salary is murky or lacks substance, it may actually be a red flag of a bad workplace. Let's dive into the good and bad reasons for offering a promotion without a raise.
Good Reason: They Appreciate + Recognize You
It may simply not be in the budget for a company to offer an employee a salary increase. Instead of giving a hardworking employee nothing, the company may offer a promotion without a raise. This offer reflects that the company is doing the most they can to show that they appreciate and recognize you. Typically, it also means that they intend on giving you a raise as soon as possible.
If this is the case with your employer, we recommend accepting the promotion offer and then setting a meeting to get a verbal (or written) agreement on a date or benchmark to institute the raise. A good workplace will appreciate your cooperation and the fact that you're planning for future growth with your current company.
Bad Reason: They're Overworking and Underappreciative
On the flip side, a company may offer a promotion without a raise because they are overworking you while being unappreciative. Plus, they're hoping you won't notice the extra workload for no extra compensation.
This is a red flag. If your company is unwilling to negotiate and is pressing you to accept the promotion with no raise then it might be time to start looking for new roles. Salary transparency is extremely important, and if you find that your company won't be transparent with you about salary concerns, then it's best to walk away if you can.
What to Do When You’re Offered a Promotion Without a Raise
So, you've been offered a promotion without a raise. What's your next move? As we mentioned earlier, the first thing you should do when offered a new title is to determine whether your company is offering you the promotion as a gesture of appreciation or disregard for the amount of work you do. Then, you can assess whether there is room to negotiate for other forms of compensation.
Here are four steps to take when you're offered a promotion without a raise.
1. Have a Direct Conversation With Leadership or HR
Let’s start by giving them the benefit of the doubt and having a direct conversation about why there isn't a raise included with the promotion. There might be a very good reason, like salary increases are only given out at a specific time of year—and maybe that’s when your salary will change.
Make sure your salary is changing to an amount that truly reflects the new job duties. It can be especially helpful if the promotion you got was to fill an open role the company was recruiting and interviewing for.
In a respectful way, ask the questions to determine if—and how much—compensation will be included before you accept anything. Lastly, if the compensation increase won’t happen until bonus/raise time in January, and that’s six months away, see if you can negotiate the salary change taking place closer to three months.
2. Think of Other Forms of Compensation
Patty McCord, former Netflix chief talent officer, has described three types of compensation: salary, job title, and equity.
Keeping that in mind, is there a better job title you could ask for that could be leveraged into a bigger job next time? Maybe you work at a company where cash is limited, but you can negotiate equity in the company. Consider what’s happening at the company and which option offers you the most benefits.
3. Consider the Resources Surrounding You
If you’ve received a "promotion" but all that really means is that you’re doing your old job and your new job without any additional support or compensation, you’re setting yourself up for burnout. Before you accept, negotiate for the company to give you some support in terms of an assistant or online resources like software programs that could save you a ton of time.
4. Negotiate Other Benefits
Money isn’t everything, and I know I personally would forgo a raise for other benefits that I value even more—like ownership over my own schedule. If you’re being offered a promotion without a bump in compensation, it's a great time to ask for other benefits. Some ideas include work-from-home one day a week, a 100 percent flexible schedule, moving your workload from 100 percent to 70 or 80 percent, more PTO days, a sabbatical, or opportunities to enroll in skills-based learning classes either in person or online.
If all of this fails, I would still encourage you to take the promotion. Why? Because now, the writing's on the wall—very clearly—that this company does not deserve you in the long run. And, a pass on the promotion could jeopardize your job security and impact your relationships at the company.
Take the promotion, learn some new skills, take on responsibilities that you can talk about in your future interviews, and start preparing for a job search. If your company is unwilling to negotiate on this, they’ll be unwilling to negotiate with you when you want more time off, a higher salary, another promotion, etc.
Go find a company that respects and values your contributions.
