Am I Entitled to an Increment During My Notice Period If I Was Asked to Resign?

Dear HR Professionals,

I would request your genuine feedback here. I am a professional with over 5 years of experience in this company.

Due to the company changing its technology software, they asked me to leave my current job. There is no performance-related, ethical, behavioral, or other issue suggested by the company. I obeyed the instructions and resigned.

After one month of resignation, I came to know that the company is giving increments (based on the previous year's appraisals period Jan - Dec 2020) to all employees. I served the company with good results during this period.

Here is a summary:
- 20th May: I was asked to submit my resignation. I am currently serving my 3 months' notice period in the company.
- 22nd June: The company declared increments effective from 1st May.

HR Managers are saying I am not eligible for this increment as written in the company policy: "Employees serving notice period are not eligible for increments."

However, I am requesting that I was in the organization on the day the increment is effective from (1st May). The company has delayed the declaration by 82 days, which is not my fault.

Please let me know, in your view, if I am eligible for this increment. Please also consider that the company itself asked me to submit my resignation.

Dear member,

Annual salary increment and eligibility

The annual salary increment is outside the purview of labor laws. Determining who is eligible and who is not are internal matters of the company. Nevertheless, the company's administration tries to achieve the "common good" by extending benefits to as many employees as possible while ensuring cost-cutting is done.

Interpreting your case

In your case, the company declared the annual salary increments retrospectively. The challenge is that your notice period had not started on the date from which the increments were made effective; however, your notice period had started when the declaration was made.

Recommendation for application

Since there are two interpretations of the situation, I recommend you write an application and put forth your case to make you eligible for the annual increment. You may write in the application that the company will not have to carry a big financial burden by making you eligible. Nevertheless, if made ineligible, you will have to settle for a lower salary base in your future job, resulting in significant financial losses.

Escalation and acceptance

If the authorities remain impervious to your application, you may still escalate your case up to the level of the MD. If the MD also remains unyielding, then nothing can be done. Accept it as your fate and make peace with it.

Approach for personal discussion

My last recommendation is on your approach in case you are called for a personal discussion. Be as polite as possible, and regardless of the outcome, ensure that the authority feels as if they are bestowing a great favor on you.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Understanding Annual Increments and Eligibility

As a matter of principle, increments are granted upon the completion of satisfactory performance for the previous year. Reportedly, there are no performance issues, making you eligible for the annual increment. To stake your claim, try to understand the policy of your establishment regarding annual increments and analyze it in the context mentioned above. Additionally, please check for any precedents. Your resignation when asked to do so does not hold much relevance in this regard.

Let me add a couple of points to what Dinesh Divekar mentioned. No increment process is completed in a few weeks—depending on the company headcount, it could take a couple of months to 3-4 months. So, my surmise is that you may have been asked to resign with the primary objective being to exclude you from the hikes process [you haven't mentioned if there were others too like you].

As far as your line "There is no performance-related, ethical, behavioral, or other issue suggested by the company" is concerned, your view of your performance won't really matter in the hikes process. It's your manager's or others above you. And it's a fairly common practice—however much we disagree with it—that there would be managers who don't discuss performance-related issues openly with their employees. And this also points out to another aspect—your manager obviously thinks otherwise about your performance.

I am not sure if Dinesh Divekar's suggestion to escalate to your MD would work in your case. It may be counter-productive if not handled well—please remember there will most likely be some sort of reference checks in your future employment. So better give this step a serious thought before implementing—at best, maybe you could informally raise it.

My suggestion is the same as Dinesh Divekar's—move on. Life is not just this company. Learn from this experience and move on.

All the best.

Regards, TS

Thank you for your input. I see that there seems to be no practical angle considered by HR, and they are just sticking to a policy that has many other clauses which are not adhered to by HR themselves. For example, it is clearly stated that the manager should reply to the resignation email with acceptance, yet there is no acceptance email sent by them. This situation still gives me the option to revoke my resignation and ask for a raise here, but I do not want to go to that level.

So, I think I need to continue and accept it as it is.

Dear Dinesh Divekar,

I reciprocate too. Frankly, I am not finding a lot of threads of late to participate with vigor. Let's hope things change. Sometimes I do miss the earlier avatar of this Forum 

Reconsidering Resignation and Pay Raise

Dear Avinash-Professional,

Technically, the option to revoke your resignation and ask for a raise here does exist. However, I am not so sure the response from the company would be in agreement with your withdrawal. I would tend to agree with your view that it may not be worth it now. Once you learn from this situation, it then becomes one of the many experiences in your life's journey. One clear learning for you is to read the subtle signals that are given out through behavior or body language—irrespective of what comes out of the lips. Move on. All the best.

Regards,
TS

Employee Termination Due to Technology Change

From the post, it appears that the employee was informed by the employer that due to a change in technology, they have been asked to leave. However, there are no other issues. The employee has also been asked to serve a 3-month notice period, which is uncommon as employees are usually released immediately in such cases and, if necessary, provided with 3 months' notice pay to make the separation less painful. At the same time, the organization is offering increments to other employees. The organization has taken a softer approach to negative communication.

Challenges in Employee Self-Assessment

Many employees may struggle to assess their own levels of intelligence, acumen, and other faculties while employed. Scoring 100 out of 100 is brilliant in an academic career, but in appraisals (performance, behavior, interpersonal skills, etc.) judged by any organization, scoring 100 out of 100 is just to maintain employment and receive a standard increment. Scoring 120 or 130 out of 100 is considered indicative of a potential candidate. This extra 20 or 30 points is something one must consider while remaining employed and interacting within the system. I have encountered such situations in my career in various MNCs, where engineers from IIT, Jadavpur, and Shibpur (currently known as IIEST) have faced similar challenges.

Increment Practices for Resigning Employees

It is a common practice not to offer increments to employees who have submitted their resignations—nothing special in this case.

Advice for Employees Facing Job Loss

I would suggest introspecting, being proactive, and giving your best effort to find a new job. Losing a job is not the end of the world. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

S K Bandyopadhyay (WB, Howrah)
CEO-USD HR Solutions