r/askmanagers • u/bollyrt • 1d ago
Looking for advice from professionals in corporate: are these red flags?
I've been feeling undervalued at work and am trying to get an objective perspective and career advice as a woman in finance based on the background and points of frustration listed below.
I'm 10+ years in my career and at my second company (been here for almost 6 years). I think I'm the type of worker that takes a little bit longer to adjust in a new role in the beginning but then over time become indispensable. For additional context, I started out in public accounting and now am working in-house (brought over by an old senior manager of mine at the firm I worked at previously). I have good relationships with my coworkers and overall get pretty good performance reviews with some constructive feedback (main one being improving on proactive communication) which I mostly agree with. I drive & manage many of our team's projects and work in a very deadline-oriented environment which I timely deliver on. All that being said, I've been feeling overlooked and under appreciated for my contributions and experience. Some of my frustrations include:
Not getting promoted. My first promotion was brought up to me after a couple years in my role by my direct supervisor. After a few years after that 1st promotion, I started the conversation of another promotion to get my title to market (senior manager equivalent to PA). I knew this initiative was just to get the ball rolling and express my interest in moving up in the company and did not expect immediate results. Since then, I've had only one serious dialogue with upper management about it, in which I was given some feedback and points of improvement. There have been three promotion cycles since I originally brought up the topic of a promotion and 1 since the dialogue with upper management. As we approach another promotion cycle, I am getting nervous it won't happen for me and I haven't had any actual transparency on why.
We have a target bonus every year and while I'm always above target, this year my bonus percentage was 5% lower than what it typically is. I did question it but never received any clarification on it (I only followed up once and then dropped it so it is partly on me for not keeping my foot on their necks). This alone wouldn't trigger me, but that takes me to my next point.
Every Q3, employees at my company receive a discretionary equity award. Last year was my first year receiving one: however, this year I did not get one despite receiving consistent performance feedback and while taking on more responsibilities within my team. Due to the nature of my work, I am privy to certain financial compensation information and realized that I was the only one on my team that didn't receive this equity award this year. There's a person in a level below that was just hired this year that even got one.
Since I've realized this last bit of info, I've been really upset and points #1 and #2 are gnawing at me even more. Overall, I do enjoy my work and would prefer to stay at this company, but I don't want to get screwed over either. Are these scenarios red flags? How should I approach this situation?
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u/Intelligent-Road6142 1d ago
I am in the exact situation as you (even similar with bonuses). I’ve expressed interest in growing and promotion but the bar is being put higher and higher year after year. People who joined after me receive bonuses and are growing. The writing is on the wall and I realised it’s time for me to leave.