Now, a new trend is also catching on. It's called dry promotion. Congratulations, everybody. We did it. We've had quiet quitting, quiet firing, quiet promotions, rage applying.
But what on earth is a dry promotion? Should I get my usern out? Should we all do that?
Because after I found out what this was, they should just call it a dry rub. It does not feel good at all. What does it mean?
Imagine you get your increment letter. You open it in anticipation. You see a brand new designation, your heart. jumps with excitement.
And then you looked at your revised salary. No change there. It's the same as last year.
You may think it's a misprint, but chances are it's not. What you've got is a dry promotion. This shouldn't be confused with a quiet promotion when your boss slowly piles up tasks and responsibility over time until one day you realize you're doing the job of six people and aren't getting anything for it. A dry promotion, they just say, here you go.
I'm taking this too. You can't have that. Employers try to sell the positives.
Greater professional development. A loftier title to put on your resume. So in simple terms, a dry promotion is actually a slap in the face.
Because it's not a promotion at all. It's actually a demotion. Let's tell you about the latest trend. It is called the dry promotion. So here to explain and provide tips on how to navigate an offer like this.
Here to help you navigate an offer? What offer? That was almost too easy. Today's offer.
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So go support the people that support what I do. and see what the internet has on you. Jumping back to dry promotions, we're diving headfirst into the best mental gymnastics routine you've ever seen. And this is straight out of a talk show on YouTube called The Social. They bring in a wealth consultant and keynote speaker.
Robin Thompson, welcome back, Robin. All promotions are not created equal, right? So a dry promotion is essentially a promotion, which is an increase in responsibilities, increase in title, no increase in pay. Maybe it's just me here, but the people telling us why a dry promotion could be good for our career also seem like the people who would never take one.
Oh. Right? So it can be an awkward situation where you're like, well, I'm good enough to get a promotion, but I'm not valuable enough to get paid any more money. Yeah. No, it's called being taken advantage of.
I'm good enough to get a promotion, but not enough money. That's not what anyone's thinking. They're thinking, oh, you just want me to do more and you don't want to pay me for that. And if I agree to that, you'll just look at me and go, wow, you have a great future here and laugh all the way to the bank.
So it can start to feel a little uncomfortable. And it's actually more common than you might think. So what do you do if you get offered a dry promotion? No, I think the first thing that you want to recognize here is you want to have a conversation around acknowledging where you are.
You have just received a promotion. No, you haven't. They can tell you whatever they want. And if you believe it, that's on you.
Start getting your makeup out. Go ahead and get your clown wig. It means that you actually have the trust and confidence of your employer, and you want to take that as a win.
Yeah, yeah. If your company's offering you a bunch more work and responsibility and a brand new title, it's because they recognize you. They don't have the money, but we recognize you.
We see you. We know what you're doing here. We trust you. That's why we're offering you all this extra stuff for free.
Regardless of the financial compensation that's not tied to it. The second thing you want to look at is you want to make sure that you understand what the potential benefit of this is for you. So what is this going to do for you? How is it going to create longstanding wealth for your career? It won't create longstanding wealth for your career.
So you want to think about that before you decline. Because presumably there's got to be something in it for you. But we're going to get to that. There's nothing in it for you except a carrot on a stick in front of you with promises that may...
or may not be empty. They're probably empty, though. Let's say you accept the dry offer. Can you negotiate the terms? Yeah, 100%.
You are absolutely going to negotiate. You want to stand up and be like, this is my value. This is my worth.
Okay, so pay me. Well, not like that. That's not what she means.
I've already told you there's no financial enumeration involved. So what else can you negotiate? Six different areas that I think you can look at. You want to look at professional development, additional vacation time, fitness memberships. performance bonuses which is a really big one vacation time that's compensation to work from home if you weren't doing that before and they're offering it to you now you were played flexible schedule and they weren't giving you that before and they are now you've been played professional development is so vague doesn't mean anything additional vacation time that's paid time so just pay me fitness membership that costs money pay me salary review is not more money that's just saying we'll look at your money and talk about it.
You want to make sure that you are sitting down with your employer and you're saying, okay, what does the timeline look like for this? Yeah. You can ask that question all you want and they can say, well, six months, we'll check back in.
And then six months goes by and they could say, well, actually we haven't figured out a way to stabilize the situation. We're still working on it. Give us another six months. And they can do that forever.
And remember, this is a negotiation at this point. So you're going to sit down and you're going to be saying, okay, I believe that the company is in this position and I can do this for the company. Why is the company in this position to offer you a bunch of unpaid work and have no money to give you for it?
In order to do that, how about we tie that to my performance? So if I crush this because I'm going to crush this, how do I get compensated from a performance perspective? So no money out of their pocket until you put money into their pocket. Companies love to say that. And it's nice to think about, well, if you make the money, they'll give it back to you.
Maybe. Yeah, same thing with vacation days or mental health days. I mean, how often do we get our best ideas when we're not sitting behind a desk?
Vacation days and mental health days are paid days off. So you have money to pay me. Pay me. Frame it in a way that gives them and you both a leg up. No one's getting a leg up except the company.
And if you believe this. What are the circumstances under which we would decline a drive promotion? Yeah.
The answer should always be no. unless you're going to get fired or reprimanded. There are ways that you are going to decline this promotion. So the first one is you have to understand, does this actually align with my long-term goals?
They can tell you that it does. They can convince you that it does all day long. You're still working more for nothing. If they want to promote you in a marketing avenue and you actually love operations, then you're probably going to be a little bitter and a little resentment about working more hours.
So the key for companies is to offer things that they think you might like to do for fun, for extra, for free. So that would be one place I would say no. The next one you want to take a look at is how much time is this actually going to take? Anytime we increase our work, we're going to have that steep curve where we have to work more hours.
You should also consider the market rate that these titles you are being dry promoted to are paid at. You might be like, my life is pretty great the way that it is. I make a great living.
I have a great lifestyle balance. I travel. I get to cook class. I mean, this may just not be for you right now. And that's okay.
So it feels like turning down a dry promotion with your boss in front of you could be awkward. Why would it be awkward? I feel like... It should be awkward for the boss asking their employees to do more for nothing. How would you navigate that?
Yeah, so the first thing you want to do is you want to acknowledge the fact that you have been received an acknowledgement or promotion. So be very. If I was a CEO and I want to take advantage of my employees, I would go tell every single one of them I'm recognizing them and what they're doing for me and offer them more for nothing.
Of course, that's what I'd tell them. It doesn't mean I actually recognize them. It just means I'm trying to save money and be.
the most profitable company I can. If you think they actually care about you, employee B051, just tell me what size clown shoes you wear. Grateful that you are seen in a light where you deserve a promotion.
You're seen in a light where you deserve it, but we can't pay you for it. And like, we see you, we don't see you enough to pay you, but we see you like, what is this? But I think at the same time, you want to have a conversation that's respectful. And if you're going to decline the promotion, it's disrespectful to offer that to someone. Unless you really know them and you're really friends with them or some one-off situation.
Run the line something like, you know, I've given this a lot of thought, but this really isn't the right time for me and my family right now. Why not respond with, well, can you explain why there's no compensation for this position? I'm going to continue to work on this and continue to give everything I have, but it just doesn't work out for me right now.
So, but thank you so much. Another one might be about, you know what? I really love what I'm doing right now.
And I'm doing a really great job at it, so thank you for-Why do you have to fill it with a bunch of fluff? Why not just say, no, seriously, why don't you have compensation available for this position? Why do you need all this work done, and why can't it be paid for? Why do you have to be the one that's like, well, please don't fire me, and I really appreciate you, Mr. Bossman, and like, I-Thank you for seeing me, but right now, me and my-Why do you have to act like that? Why do you have to be in that position?
They're trying to take advantage of you, and you have to-Oh, thank you, but no. What about the repercussions of turning down that dry promotion? Because I think a lot of people would be really worried.
Although you mentioned all these other great things that you can ask for, in this economy, people need money. They don't need extra vacation time. They need cash so they can buy a house and put their kids through college. But they're afraid that if you, you know, turn it down, it could be a negative thing towards your job. So how do you handle that situation?
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like we're sugarcoating it, because frankly, we are. They just admit to sugarcoating it. There you go. I think it's about understanding and really putting yourself in a position Where you feel like you can decline that promotion, but you're still going to continue to show up at work and do the best job that you can. Because if you take that promotion or don't take that promotion and you come to work bitter and resentful, it's going to show up in your work.
And if that's the case, you're going to do yourself harm, you're going to do the company harm, and it's not going to work out very well for you. So when you decline their attempt to take advantage of you as the employee, don't let any of that bitterness show up. Put a smile on. Bring your mouthwash and keep showing up to those one-on-ones with your executive.
If your company offers you this, offers you this, start looking for a new one. Let's say you're the person who's actually doing the offer of the drive promotion. What should you keep in mind?
Okay, so this is for bosses to try and better take advantage of you as the employee. So first, put yourself in their position. How would you feel if you were being offered a position where you weren't having an increase in pay? And second, talk to the employee about the bigger vision of what it is the company is up to.
Yeah, yeah. Convince them with the bigger vision. We have huge plans for our company.
And by you working more for free, you can be part of those plans. Where do they see you going? What is your trajectory? And how do they see you getting there?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's exactly what I would try to do to convince them to work for free too. We see you going places.
We see you moving high up in this company. As long as you just do a little bit more for no money. Think about the...
big things we're doing here. Because you really need to sell them on this because they're going to go home to their family and friends and be like, guess what? I got a promotion.
I'm going to be gone a lot more. I'm going to be making the same amount of money, but don't worry, it's going to be okay. Who's going home to their friends and family saying, guess what?
I got a promotion. I'm working a lot more with no money. They're going to go home and say, you know what they tried to do to me today? They tried to offer me a promotion without any money. Can you believe that?
Because if you don't really have them land in the fact that. They are doing this great job, then they're going to feel undervalued. They're going to feel terrible. They're going to feel that way if there's no money, regardless. Anything else is just an excuse.
It's not negotiating. It's sugarcoating it. That is not what you're trying to do. So honor them. Honor yourself.
You're not honoring them to begin with by offering them that. But set them up for success all the way around. Robin, thank you so much for this. You're so welcome. It's been fascinating.
Now what's funny to me is that when you look at dry promotions, it seems to be targeting a specific generation of people. Younger people. Employers seem especially prone to offering dry promotions to Gen Z workers.
I wonder why that is. Is it because they're new to the workforce and are easy to take advantage of? Could it be because they're desperate to start living on their own, pay off their student loans?
If they start to realize you're taking advantage of them, you can just replace them, again, for cheap, with the line of other Gen Z people that just don't know any better. So here's an article on LinkedIn trying to convince us how a dry promotion can catapult our career to new heights, doing more for nothing. How can you leverage the power of doing more for nothing? Volunteer for even more tasks that align with your career goals and demonstrate your ability to do even more.
A dry promotion is not just about taking on more work. It's about strategically positioning yourself for growth and advancement. As the employee, you don't really have that kind of power to strategically position yourself.
By actively seeking out new opportunities and challenges, you can demonstrate your potential for leadership and pave the way for future-Yes, that's not up to you. A new word beautifully explained. Positivity for those who want to grow.
Now, I know the media loves to push this corporate propaganda, but never before have I seen it like this. Three different videos from the WeOn channel, all with the exact same script. This one, what is a dry promotion decoding the new workplace trend?
And there's this one, dry promotion explained. And there's this one, decoding the new workplace trend. This workplace trend is currently gaining momentum worldwide.
This workplace trend is currently gaining momentum worldwide. It's called dry promotion. This workplace trend is currently gaining momentum worldwide. But what exactly is it?
A dry promotion is when workers receive more responsibilities without a corresponding increase in pay or benefits. In other words, your workload grows and your responsibilities increase. You do not receive any monetary compensation for these changes. Have a discussion with your boss and set a timeline or milestone where the issue of salary negotiation will come into effect.
Now, I also found an HR article that's directed at bosses when it's Inevitable. Be transparent. Clearly explain to employees the reasons behind not receiving a raise alongside the promotion. If budget limitations are a factor. So you're telling me that they just do it just because?
Even if budget's not a real reason? Provide a clear roadmap. It doesn't mean anything. They can just change it. Think beyond cash.
No. Document the agreement. They can just change. What do you think about this new buzzword?
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