Happened to You? -When Your Coworker Gets Promoted, While You Do The Extra Work.
A professional colleague came to me with a sticky office situation I have unfortunately seen before: what do you do when you are assigned extra work but someone else gets the promotion?
Here’s how it played out most recently:
- A key team member leaves, but instead of rehiring for the role, the responsibilities are distributed to the rest of the team.
- The colleague in question, let’s call her Jane, is asked to take on all the departed member’s responsibilities, in addition to her initial role.
- Jane asks for a promotion to account for the added work, but is told that the team doesn’t have approval for any promotions.
- Shortly thereafter, another colleague, let’s call him John, gets the promotion Jane asked for.
- John and Jane used to be peers, and John hadn’t taken on any of the additional work that fell to Jane.
What should Jane do?
1 – Gather the facts
The above bullets are Jane’s retelling of what happened, and she paints an unfair picture. However, as a first step, Jane should dig deeper to see if her career has stalled, or if there is more to the story than she realizes.
While it’s true that John didn’t take on the responsibilities that Jane accepted, maybe he took on other responsibilities or did something else differently since his promotion. Maybe the initiatives he’s responsible for are higher priorities for the company. Maybe Jane thinks she’s doing all this work, but the company is not satisfied with her performance.
If you have been passed over for a promotion, make sure you’re worthy of a promotion—schedule a performance review if it’s been a while since your last one and you’re not sure how you’re perceived.
Make sure your employer knows all that you do—sometimes restructuring happens, and higher-ups don’t realize everything that fell on your plate. Make sure you’re working on things that matter—while John and Jane are peers, they serve a different client base, so there might be a difference in the significance of their work.
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2 – Bolster your own case for a promotion
Let’s say that Jane schedules that performance review, and her boss is happy with her work, aware of all that she does and confirms that her scope of responsibility is a priority and on par with John. If that’s the case, then Jane needs to renegotiate her promotion. Just because her boss said no before does not mean she needs to wait a full year or promotion cycle to ask again.
If you asked for a promotion and were declined, prepare to renegotiate and ask again. The no you heard before was either about: what you asked for; how you asked for it; when you asked for it; or who you asked. You need to change one or more of those factors to get a different result, so prepare to ask differently this time.
3 – Enlist outside support
Your boss is the logical person to ask for a promotion, but what if they are not a supporter? In Jane’s case, what if her boss favors John for illogical reasons and will never make things right? Jane needs to cultivate allies outside of her boss who are peers or even senior to her boss, so that she has influential and powerful advocates in her corner. Jane’s boss may change direction after prodding from their boss. Another source of support could be an employee resource group, such as one focused on women, emerging leaders, military veterans, etc. If other people in the company can’t or won’t help, Jane could still raise her profile in her own industry through publicity, public speaking or writing for trade journals in her area.
To make an end-run around an unsupportive boss, you need outside support, which includes support outside your current employer. Establishing yourself as a thought leader within your functional area or industry is a way to develop support in your field. Cultivating relationships outside your immediate department ensures that you are not solely reliant on your boss or immediate coworkers.
4 – Get creative about what you ask for
Just like you want to expand who can help you, you also may need to expand what you ask for. Some companies have a set number of promotions they approve at any one time or for any one department. You still want to be rewarded for your extra work, so how else can your employer compensate you? I once blogged about 100 items you can negotiate for, so a title change isn’t the only thing you can ask for. Getting creative about how your employer can make you whole is one way you can still get something of value for your work.
An important caveat, of course, is that you only negotiate and accept things you actually value. If your employer offers you a raise but no title bump, and you really want that change of title for future career prospects, then push for the promotion (you can accept the raise too in the meantime!). If your employer offers you more vacation but you normally don’t take all of your vacation anyway, that’s a worthless trade. Before you go into a renegotiation, brainstorm alternatives, and get clear about what you will and won’t accept.
5 – Launch a job search
Jane might do everything I recommend and still not get what she wants. Therefore, even while she’s taking all the steps to renegotiate a promotion, she should still launch a job search. If she gets another offer elsewhere, she can still decide to stay put, but it gives her leverage when she negotiates. Even the effort of researching companies and roles might give Jane clarification on what she wants from her current job (she might find that her employer is better than she thought and feel better about staying).
You want to have options. You want to know your market. You want to be ready because career management is all about people (people hiring people, people promoting people), and this makes career outcomes unpredictable. Don’t lock yourself into a bad situation by not putting yourself out there.
When you get passed over for a promotion, your employer has made its move. The next move is yours.
I don’t advocate quitting out of hurt or protest or principle. Take your time to conduct your due diligence on what happened. Try to make it work where you are – renegotiate, or stay put without the promotion (there are other ways to grow your career). However, if you really want that promotion and your employer won’t give it to you, your ultimate leverage is to leave. You have multiple moves available as your next step. What will you do?
Forbes.com | December 13, 2019 | Caroline Ceniza-Levine
