Explain a pay or promotion decision to a disappointed employee
Prepares an honest, specific explanation of a pay or promotion outcome with a clear path forward and talking points.
The prompt
Help me (or a manager I'm supporting) explain a pay or promotion decision to an employee who is disappointed.
Decision: [e.g. not promoted, smaller raise than expected, no bonus, different level than hoped]
How the decision was made: [criteria, process, calibration, budget constraints]
Where the employee fell short or what limited the outcome: [SPECIFIC evidence against criteria]
What the employee expected and why: [THEIR VIEW - e.g. promised by a former manager, compared with a peer]
What we can offer: [development plan, timeline for review, stretch project, nothing more this cycle]
What we can't disclose: [e.g. other people's pay]
Give me:
1. Key message - the decision and the main reason, in two honest sentences.
2. Conversation outline - acknowledge, explain the criteria and how they applied, invite their view, agree on a path forward, close.
3. Answers to hard questions - "Why did my peer get it?", "My old manager promised me", "Is this about pay budget?", "Should I be looking elsewhere?" - without disclosing others' confidential info.
4. Development path - 2-3 specific, observable things they'd need to show, and when it will be reviewed.
5. Follow-up email summarizing what was discussed.
Rules: no vague reasons ("not ready yet") without examples, no promises of a future outcome, and flag if the explanation reveals inconsistency in how criteria were applied that HR should review.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Leadership & Management prompts
What to fill in
- criteria, process, calibration, budget constraints
- SPECIFIC evidence against criteria
- e.g. other people's pay
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
Related prompts
- Build a board skills matrix and recruit new board membersA board composition analysis that shows skill, network, and lived-experience gaps, plus a recruitment and orientation plan.
- Map stakeholders and plan how to influence themWho matters, what they care about, and how to engage each one.
- Prepare for an internal interview with another teamInterview prep tailored to internal candidates: using insider knowledge, answering "why leave your team?", and avoiding overconfidence.
- Audit the quality of our HR data and plan the cleanupA field-by-field audit plan for HRIS data, the checks to run, an issue log, and a governance plan so the data stays accurate.