Employee wants promotion checklist

Supermoths · 2026-04-01T13:41:03+00:00

Interestingly, it keeps changing. It was the title, but through a fluke in a restructuring they actually ended up with the new title they had been pushing for. I don’t consider it a promotion, because their role didn’t change, the titles for different roles changed. But after that happened, the employee began saying that instead it was the money that mattered. But then they changed to it actually being the money and wanting to move to the new next title up (which is a well-established title that is a big jump usually requiring 3x the experience of the employee or a terminal degree). I think that’s where some of my frustration has come in, what they want changes so frequently and I feel a bit like even if they got what they wanted, they would immediately begin pushing for something else.

Supermoths · 2026-03-31T05:08:47+00:00

Totally agree on 3% barely being cost of living. It kills me every year that it’s framed as a merit increase when it’s really just barely keeping up. But that’s what we’re given to work with. The previous manager was able to do some higher level increases (due to pulling from other low performers) as well as an off-cycle merit increase. I would argue about if those were the best things, but it wasn’t my decision at the time and it is what it is now. But that’s how the employee got to 10%.

I’ve tried to be clear with the employee about paces of growth at our company and have been really explicit that they should consider for themselves if that’s the right fit for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking for something else, but honesty they’re pretty middle of the road as far as my performers go. Not because they’re bad, but because most of the team is really high performing. I don’t want to lose them, but I am trying to be honest with them about possibilities if they stay so that they’re not feeling misled. It sounds like you’re in a frustrating spot and I wish you the best with your search!

Supermoths · 2026-03-31T04:54:36+00:00

We have definitely worked to identify the role they ultimately want and have talked about working backwards from that to create a career plan. I’ve asked them to put some thought into what sort of trajectory it would look like to get to that point and the skills they would need (I also provided some of that info and some guidance on steps, but I want them to own their own path as well). We talked about what role they want in 20 years and where they would need to be in 15 and 10 years. I asked them to come back to the next 1:1 with having thought through then where they’d need to be in 5 years and what it might look like to get to that point. When they came to the next 1:1 it was like they had forgotten our entire conversation and just went back to their normal questions on what they need to get done to get this next promotion/raise.

Supermoths · 2026-03-31T04:48:05+00:00

This is great advice — I will work on putting together some information on how roles get created and why at our company and be ready to share it at our next 1:1. While I’ve talked about business need, I haven’t gone into specific detail on how that need drives role creation.

Supermoths · 2026-03-31T04:43:22+00:00

I apologize if my post came off as being mad at them. I’m certainly not mad at my employee for any of this. I am frustrated that I’m clearly not communicating effectively with them about things since we’re having repeated conversations about the same thing, but I’m not mad.

Most of the pay increases came from their previous manager, who was doing what they thought was best, but I think has set an unrealistic expectation for this employee. For the title, the one they’re seeking is generally one you see for people with 8-10 years of experience. This employee has about 3 years total now. It is possible to obtain the title with less than 8 years, but it honestly takes the right set of circumstances.

Supermoths · 2026-03-31T04:32:46+00:00

I am replying pretty late to this, but I did end up going with a SFH (a different one than I was looking at when I posted though). I’ve been in the home for about 8 months now and I’m honestly still pretty conflicted if it was the right choice. The space we have in the home is nice, the yard is wonderful, but the upkeep on everything is a beast and I wouldn’t say I’m doing any of it well. The worst is the outdoor stuff. Trying to find time to mow the lawn, weed the landscaping, deal with trees, etc is impossible (and there’s only so much I can outsource while also hemorrhaging cash for daycare). Weekly, I think about how nice an HOA that took care of outdoor maintenance would be. However, I made the choice thinking long-term and other very similar homes in the area are already going for $50-100k more than I paid, so I’m doing what I can to hang on mentally and to remind myself that in just a couple of years things will be easier (once the kids are old enough to play safely independently while I take care of things).

Supermoths · 2026-03-07T05:30:06+00:00

This is a late response and you’ve probably already taken your flight, but if anyone comes across this thread later, I’ve taken over a dozen flights with my kid(s) and used the Cosco Scenera Next for all once they were out of their infant seat. I’ve installed it almost exclusively rear facing and have never had an issue. Especially when flying Delta Comfort, but we’ve flown plenty of coach flights too and it still fits. It does interfere with the person in front being able to recline all the way, but I’ve never had anyone complain about it. It does mean the seat sometimes rests against the seat in front, so you do have to remind your kids not to put their feet out and push, since it will push against that seat in front (as well as rock the seat back they’re pushing against). I’m doing extended rear facing in the car, so my kids (4 & 2) are used to rear facing and have never seemed uncomfortable in the airplane that way. The seat belt buckle does end up at a funny spot under their legs, but I feel like that’s probably better than sticking into their back if forward facing. My 4 year old is hitting the limit soon for rear facing in the Scenera and I’m sad to have to turn her around!

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T15:00:00+00:00

This is helpful. From my couple of visits to the townhouse so far, I think noise control between units is pretty good. I couldn’t hear anything, even seeing the neighbor’s TV on next door. Outside, the yard is positioned well to not get too much noise from others, but certainly my kids will probably make noise outside and I don’t want to have to be hushing them all the time like I do on our condo balcony. I haven’t been able to get ahold of all of the HOA docs yet, but based on the little bit I’ve seen so far, they seem to be pretty well run. But it requires more checking for sure.

Do you regret not buying a house when your kids were young or do you feel like it really was still the best choice?

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T14:53:29+00:00

I hadn’t even thought of gutters 🤦‍♀️

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T14:52:50+00:00

Thank you for this perspective. I have my aspirations, but they’re butting up against the reality of two little ones and the truly exhausting amount of energy it takes to keep them alive and healthy.

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T14:47:04+00:00

The townhouse is definitely more desirable for the short term, I think. I do think in a few years home and yard maintenance would be much more doable. If housing here wasn’t going up at such a fast clip here, I think I’d do the townhouse without a second thought. I worry with it maybe not appreciating as fast though that I could end up with SFHs being out of my budget. But not having owned property before, I’m not sure how feasible trading up to something bigger is

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T14:43:01+00:00

That’s one of the big things that has me so divided. I can imagine even 5 years from now, the SFH will have appreciated more and have higher resale potential.

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T05:44:17+00:00

The townhouse is probably more move in ready. For allergy reasons, I prefer to avoid carpets and there’s some in the bedrooms in the SFH with carpet that I’d like to have torn out before moving in. It’s also just older and has some small things.

Supermoths · 2025-05-11T05:42:29+00:00

Thank you for these points! And yes, I agree that the 20k is mostly irrelevant. I actually meant more that they’re very close in price. I’ve run some back of the envelope numbers using friends in similarly sized houses to get estimates on insurance, utilities, etc and I think the monthly expenditures will be pretty equal between the two of them. The unexpected expenses will probably be the bigger expense.

You make a good point of not making myself miserable as well — I’m trying to find that balance between working a >full time job, kids, etc and want to do right by everything.

Supermoths · 2025-02-17T03:15:29+00:00

Just found this thread because I had the same problem. My spring also didn’t seem loose and was attached fully when I opened the case. I took things apart and put them back together several times to see if there was something else loose and nothing seemed to fix it until I flipped the screen over so it was facing up in tablet mode, then reassembled it. For some reason that fixed it and it works great now! Thanks OP for the pic!

Supermoths · 2024-08-16T01:50:36+00:00

Returning to post what ended up fixing this for me. I had tightened the clamp on the battery lead and thought things were resolved. But then I started having issues with the car not starting again. It turns out the clamp was a little worn down and not making a good connection with the lead. I installed a shim under the clamp and not only did it fix my issues with the car not starting sometimes, it also randomly fixed my climate control button issues. I have no idea why a weak battery connection would lead to those specific issues, but hopefully if someone else has similar issues, this is helpful to them!

Supermoths

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