Salary Story Company Loyalty Paid Off In Promotions

Illustrated by Vesna Asanovic.

In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions and job loss, with the hope it will give young women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

Been in the workforce for at least five years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here. Published stories receive £100.

Age: 33
Location: Brighton
Current industry and job title: Director of strategy at a digital marketing agency
Current salary: £67,500
Number of years employed since school or university: 11

Starting salary: £16,800 in 2010
Biggest salary jump: In October 2017 I jumped from £40,000 to £48,000
Biggest salary drop: I took a voluntary 20% pay cut for two months at the start of the pandemic (April and May 2020) when we weren’t sure how things would go (£55,000 to £44,000). This money was paid back when we came out the other side. I worked full time though, it wasn’t furlough.

Biggest negotiation regret: I rejoined my agency after a really great intern experience. I had to go and work for a charity for a month or two because there wasn’t work to keep me on but I stayed in touch and when they offered me a permanent role, I was so happy to go back that I was incredibly transparent about the salary I was on at the charity. I accepted their offer to match it without any negotiation. I was very naive. Looking back now, there was huge scope to negotiate: they knew and liked me and I was moving from a charity to an agency.

Best salary advice: Two things… You don’t have to move from company to company (or agency to agency) to get to a good salary – and remember to view salary as one part of an overall package when weighing up a job offer (albeit a big part). I feel like it might have taken me longer to get to what I consider a really good salary compared to some of my peers as I’ve stayed with the same company throughout my career but I love where I work, I love the work I do and, most importantly, I’m well looked after. Genuinely. In my early years they helped me get treatment for depression, they’ve helped colleagues buy their first homes, they’ve made me a shareholder – and that’s on top of perks like unlimited holiday, a health cash plan, proper flexible working, sabbaticals and lots more.

Basically, I could have gone elsewhere for a better short-term salary in my early years but I don’t think it would have been worth it for the hit to my overall happiness.