I'd start looking for other jobs and, in parallel, tell the boss that you value the lack of the commute quite highly and that if they want you to commute you'll be happy to consider their offer for what is essentially a new job. If they suggest "Your current salary" you say "Hah, good one. No seriously, what is your offer, knowing how valuable of an employee I am and how difficult I would be to replace?"

More generally: most engineers who feel they are getting screwed are indeed getting screwed. (And many engineers who feel adequately compensated are in fact getting screwed but have psychological issues and asymmetric information which makes this less than obvious.) People will NOT fix this for you. You have to take responsibility for your own career.

P.S. Ducking meetings with you is a negotiating tactic! And it is working! You have to summon a modicum of intestinal fortitude and say "Boss, the fact of the upcoming move means my salary is going to get renegotiated. You get to pick whether that renegotiation happens in your office or not."

http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

It really helps put things into perspective.

This part of Patrick's article is still great advice in that regard:

"This means you need what political scientists call a commitment strategy: you always, as a matter of policy, negotiate all offers. (In this wide world I’m sure you can find a company who still makes exploding offers, where you get one yay-or-nay and then the offer is gone. You have a simple recourse to them: refuse them and deal with people who are willing to be professionals. You’re not a peasant. Don’t act like one.)"

This I find to be a sticking point, and never forget: "You’re not a peasant. Don’t act like one."

Which is great for an employer who doesn't care about his/her workers/

You hear about things like "negotiation tactics" but I've never experienced this, so it's hard to recognize.

Thanks for the advice.

I gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of salary for nothing more than a smile and a thank you. And that's not counting the present value of that money had I pooled it with the rest of my investments (nor the opportunity cost of those extra hours worked). In fact the amount I "lost" by being my company's bitch dwarfs my investment returns. And I could have had it without taking on the much larger risks of the stock market. That's maybe the most important lesson.

So don't make the same mistake as me. Get out there and look for a better job. Always be looking for a better job[1]. Give each employer your full effort... And don't hesitate to to jump ship the minute something better comes along. Just like how they would not hesitate to lay you off if it made financial sense to them.

[1] where we define "better" as "job that pays a least the market rate; that you enjoy; learning something that makes you more valuable to your next employer."

You are a business just as much as your employer is. That means you promote your service to potential buyers; understand the value of your service; and charge what the market bear for your service

This is the piece of advice I wish I knew early in my career. Tape it to the bathroom mirror and ask "What did I do yesterday which increased the enterprise value of Me, Inc. and what is my plan for doing more today?"

--

The first, small, step is to realize that you are the captain of your career. Your boss might care a little bit, but is mostly concerned with his or her own career prospects. Your company is a legal fiction that doesn't care about you at all. If you want your career to be good, you either float along and hope to get lucky, or you take charge of it yourself.

Personally I think you're likely to be ok. Even if you need to make some career choices for long term strategy and taking the short term hit (like accepting a smaller, or 0, increase than you're happy with so you can continue paying your bills while looking for a better job)

If they are already planning to replace you then nothing you do is going to help and you might as well start looking for another job.

If they are NOT planning to replace you, then I believe it's totally reasonable for you to talk to them about level setting your salary to (at least) the high end of what they currently pay plus offsetting your commute costs (gas + wear&tear)...

AND start looking for another job. (Keeping in mind that you are not morally or legally obligated to accept any job offers.)

For negotiating, the most important things to remember are:

- What happens if you cannot find mutual ground with your boss? What are you going to do? Walk out of your job or start commuting for the same salary? Can you live with that until you find a different source of income?

- Your own goals (eg, how much money do you want? What other perks are important to you?)

For money, consider what you would reasonably expect to be paid if you were coming into it with your current level of experience from a different company (assuming no significant commute)

Separately consider how much someone would have to pay you to drive your proposed commute, every day, during rush hour. How much would that need to be feel like it's a worthwhile use of your time?

Summing those numbers gives you an idea of the minimum baseline amount you should aim for. If you can get that much, then you'll be reasonably happy. you should, of course, try to get a higher number than that. DO NOT GIVE THAT NUMBER TO YOUR BOSS

- Your boss's goals. What does he care about? more importantly, what are you in a position to give him that would make him want to make you happy?

The dark side to that, or course, is "what does your boss fear and how can you take advantage of that" though personally I am unwilling to go there.

- What other alternatives do you have RIGHT NOW in your hands? Do you have significant savings? Do you have other sources of income?

Ok... this is getting too long and I'm enjoying the sound of my mental "preaching" voice a little too much. Time to stop opining :)

Good luck! I hope you end up in a happier situation.

This is a negotiation between you and employer and it comes down to supply & demand, market value and who has the upper hand.

If you don't have another job lined up at same (or higher) salary, then the company has the upper hand and you're too afraid to even ask for a raise because you worry that you'll get fired.

As others said, you need to at least try to get another job. You can always apply and not accept the offer but only by applying and going through the process to the point of getting an offer you'll be able to answer the following questions:

1. how hard is it for you to get another job ?

2. if you do get an offer, is it better or worse than the current job ?

If you do get a better offer then you can use it as a leverage to get a better salary at your current company ("Hi boss. I really like working here but I'm paid below my market rate. I have an opportunity to take another job paying $X but I would rather stay here if you can match that salary. Your move.").

But when you do that, you have to be willing to take the other job if your company says no. You can always wipe your tears with the additional dollar bills.

No one gets a raise out of niceness. You get a raise because they're Damn afraid you are going to leave.

If they don't push to promote you, then get out and promote yourself.

If they promote you, still get out and promote yourself harder.

Mind your own business.

In terms of job alternatives, if you feel that you would need to commute anyway, look around, I bet there are several open positions for which you would be able to work remotely (in some cases you might trade something like 1 day a week at the office).

At the end, give your boss another chance to understand your situation, go talk with him. It will be the ultimate way to know if that's the place you still want to work at or not.

Look at it this way: you're trading your time for their money. You're going to increase your job-related time expenditure by 25% or more (if you normally spend 8 hours working), plus incurring car expenses. It's going to take a hefty raise to make up for that.

I agree with several of the others: it's probably time to look for a new job.

My boss left as a result of corporate incompetence (not his, the company). I will not go into that, but as a very senior and generally well liked person in a very large company, with the ability to bring a lot of work in (100s of jobs per year, approaching 1000s), these were big shoes to fill. He was the greatest manager I'd ever had. He didn't manage, he led.

His role was filled by someone quite new to the organisation. I hated it for months, but 1.5 years later, I liked him a lot.

He needed to show his boss that he could fill the shoes. That meant exceeding expectations. New, out-larged goals, visible checklists for what should be done, regular follow-ups.

But after a few months I realised his vulnerability in still feeling vulnerable. We didn't chat explicitly, and in retrospect we should have, but on a particularly difficult challenge that all thought impossible, we were achieved a big result, and bonded on that.

This was a management role where it easy to hire 'workers' but painfully hard to find people with requisite domain knowledge and demonstrable management experience, in a location it was very hard to get people to relocate (internally) to. If the salary offers you're seeing are higher, it is likely you are in an equally illiquid market. I also never explicitly asked for a raise, but after some time and trust had developed he bumped me up quite a bit.

It may be the case that the new incumbent in the role feels they do not have control. Let them feel they have control: document your work, stick to deadlines, and see each other face-to-face to discuss. They could well feel more vulnerable than you do now, despite a position of authority. Make it a partnership.

No harm in circulating your CV around headhunters to learn your general market worth.

In a situation like this, the fact that you are infrequently on site has probably contributed to your ending up on the short side of the stick wrt office politics. You have likely missed important social cues related to the new boss' style and expectations. You have not been physically present to make sure you get credit for your work, and to counteract any negative karma that might have been thrown your way.

No it's not exactly fair, but employment is generally 'at will', there is no guarantee of fairness or bulwark against capricious or petty treatment.

This is a good thing and a bad thing - Good thing: since it is the lowest amount for this position, you have an upper hand. Its difficult (and costly) for them to replace you.

Bad thing - why did you not get a raise and why you are at that lower end - does it have something to do with your performance, or is it just some crappy office politics keeping your pay down?

If you performed well you deserve to get a raise - at least to compensate for the move to office. So definitely ask for it.

Also, do you go to office for 1-2 weeks in a period of about 6 months or so - It is also important to get a feel of your office environment if you all were not a completely remote team.

Can they make an exception for your being in the office, or make it a day per week or something like that? I agree with someone else who said that three hours/day driving wouldn't be worth whatever they're likely to offer.

There's an attitude and posturing element to this, you're The Prize. He's lucky you're on the team. Not arrogant, but self-assured.

You should always have your eyes open for a better opportunity, especially if you don't feel all that happy with your current situation (that's one small luxury we currently have in the software development industry—take advantage of it!).

On the flip side, if you're satisfied where you are, and you're on a great team, feel free to stay, but know that any kind of raise would be an uphill battle.

Well, one day a year is more than none. You could make the trip once and talk face to face.

In that meeting, you could reveal what you've learned about your salary relative to new hires, ask for a raise, and schedule another trip for 6 months down the line.

Maybe that can be a starting point for negotiating a raise.

That said, if you want to know your legal options, you absolutely should talk to a lawyer.

Still probably not binding though.