Over the past several years, I have been consistently lauded by my boss and their superiors for achieving excellent results. In each annual review, I have been told how my performance has been exemplary and that as soon as the opportunity arose, a promotion would be made available to me. Until recently, I have very much wanted to build a long-term career with this company and felt that my goals and aspirations were achievable.

Not long ago, I noticed an ad for a position with my company with significantly different responsibilities – in fact all the things that I have been discussing with my boss over the past few years. When I raised this position with my supervisor, the conversation didn’t go well. In the end, this role went to someone from outside the organisation. Am I misreading something? Do I have any realistic options, or is it time for me to accept that I need to move on?

Thanks so much for your articulate and thorough email. I’m sorry we had to cut so much, but I’m always eager to protect the anonymity of readers.

When any of us begins a job, we generally enter into two kinds of agreement. One is formal and outlines various rules, conditions, policies and expectations. The other is implicit; the ‘terms’ (if you can call them that) depend on all sorts of factors, but one of the overarching principles is always roughly the same: if you do good work, you get rewarded.

It seems to me that while your employer may be complying with the rules of your written agreement, something has gone wrong with the unspoken one. Perhaps there’s a difference between the two parties in their understanding of what constitutes a reward. Or perhaps your employer is flouting the agreement’s perfectly clear terms. (You could also be the one doing the flouting, but that would be completely incongruous with the long parade of glowing performance reviews behind you.)

A reward doesn’t always (or exclusively) take the form of a pay increase or a promotion. For some organisations – let’s say a not-for-profit whose operations are, to a large extent, dictated by the fluctuations and vagaries of government funding or private philanthropy – significant monetary bonuses or big salary upgrades are often (or always) unfeasible.

If you suspect this to be flat-out deception, feel safe in the assumption that there are fairer and more appreciative employers out there.

For others – let’s say a small organisation with low employee turnover – major and frequent promotions are simply not possible. But in such workplaces, a good employee will be offered something else: more flexibility, more say in important decisions, more opportunity for professional development, and so on.

When one party is thinking about one sort of reward and the other is thinking of something entirely different, the unwritten contract can cause angst. But I don’t think that’s happening here; I don’t think, to answer your question, you’re misreading something.