I'm an American marketing professional and have been working for 13 months at an Asia-based arm of a U.S. media company. I've worked in Asia for most of my life, but this new city — with its traffic, crime, etc. — hasn't grown on me.
After six months, I had a frank conversation with my supervisor about being paid more for what I consider an extraordinarily difficult and dangerous tour of duty. Quickly I was offered a promotion and raise. Though the raise was less than my stated bottom line, I was promised a similar boost and promotion in six months, so I redoubled my efforts. My supervisor has confirmed repeatedly that I've become invaluable and I had an extremely positive review a few months ago.
Unfortunately, our company was hit by the global downturn and the time for my next review came and went without mention of a raise. I'm upset because while revenues are down, the company is still very profitable. I finally confronted my boss, who said a new policy required that salary reviews be performed only once a year, so I'd have to wait. I reminded him of his promise, but he said that because times were hard, I shouldn't expect anything soon. His hands were tied.
I'm depressed. It's difficult getting up every day, trudging through the traffic and the pollution (not to mention kidnappings and random beheadings) to report to a job that now holds no real promise. I've been giving 150% (and working late nights and weekends) and am sure that everyone here now expects the same. I was doing it because I could just taste that promotion. What do I do now?