Is it reasonable to ask for a mid-year salary review after taking on responsibilities much earlier than expected?
I work as an engineer for a semiconductor equipment company. It's a customer facing technical role where there's a steep learning curve, and engineers are expected to become increasingly independent as they gain experience.
I joined the company in May 2025. Over my first 6 months I was brought up to speed quickly and I inherited the workload from an exiting employee without issue. At my salary review in January 2026, I received a below average increase because my manager expected that most of 2026 would be spent shadowing a senior employee from oversees for a new project which I would be expected to inherit full responsibility for in January 2027. He explained that if everything went to plan, I should expect a larger increase at the next review.
Instead, due to staffing and resourcing issues, I haven't had the level of formal training that was original planned. I've largely had to train myself while taking on a much broader workload, and I'm already carrying out work that wasn't expected until next year. My responsibilities are expected to continue increasing over the remainder of 2026. I accepted the below average salary increase in good faith at the time, understanding that my workload would be increasing gradually this year. Instead, I'm now working significant overtime, unable to use PTO, and experiencing bad burnout.
I feel the assumptions behind my 2026 salary review are no longer valid. I'd like to ask for a mid-year salary review based on how my role has evolved. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is this a reasonable request, and how would you approach the conversation with your manager? Has anyone had success negotiating a salary review outside the normal review cycle?