Salary quandaries and resignation rules

Resigning gently

I've just accepted an amazing job and now I have to tell my boss that I'm leaving. How do a resign in a way that won't burn bridges and doesn't make me look like the bad guy? They've been really good to me and I want to tell them gently. - Keegan

Dear Keegan,

Thank you for your question. The fact that you are worried about letting down your current employer is admirable and shows a lot about your character. However, in order to do it as smoothly as possible you need to take emotion out and be as professional as possible. Call a meeting with your direct manager and in your meeting you can formally thank them and resign.

The content of your meeting can go something like: "Firstly I would just like to thank you for all your support and motivation and teaching me so much. I have loved working here and grown immensely. However, I've been offered an incredible opportunity which I've accepted and I would formally like to hand in my resignation. I have a written resignation letter here which I will leave with you. I would like to assist as much as possible with training someone to take over from me and I will make sure that everything has been taken care of before I leave, as I do not in any way want to leave on a bad note." (Discussion) "Thank you so much for your time."
It is very important that you have a written resignation letter that you give to your manager, you can even follow it up with an email version so that you have back-up should they decide to not pay you etc.

A respectful boss will appreciate your honesty and professionalism and it should go rather smoothly.

Good luck!

Overpaid or underpaid, so confused!

I'm very confused about my salary. I've been asking around and people in the same role as me are earning far more than me. Is it me, my company or the job I'm in? - Pearl

Hi Pearl,

Thank you for your question. Salary is always a difficult one as there isn't really a standard across industries and companies. There will always be a general bracket and you may fall in the lower or higher end depending on the size of your company, your level of responsibility, your experience and your qualifications. What often happens is that a company will look at your current salary and, if they want to hire you, will increase that by 10%-15%, depending again on the role and your experience.

In this case you may fall completely out of the bracket that they had in mind, either too much or too little, and hence the discrepancy between you and your colleagues salary. A lot of companies, however, are very fair and will put all their account managers, for example, on the same salary regardless of their previous salary. If you are feeling drastically underpaid, I would suggest doing as much research as possible with concrete facts.

There are myriad of salary surveys online e.g. www.mywage.co.za; www.payscale.com and www.cji.co.za. Have a look at these and gauge realistically what you should be earning. You can then approach your employer with the details and ask if they would consider increasing your salary to put you more in line with the market. Be sure not to do this in a threating or intimidating way, but respectfully and honestly, else you may run the risk of merely annoying your employer.

Good luck and I hope you get what you're looking for.

Always love what you do!
Juliette

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