Asking for a pay raise

Cartoon by Larry Pitman


It may well be that you deserve more money than you presently receive. Many factors come into play when you ask your boss for an increase in your salary. Just as with any other business decision, you will have to be ready to prove that you deserve more money. You have to prepare well. Here are some suggestions to consider before you ask.

TIMING IS IMPORTANT


Most companies have a cycle for making annual increases. If you want a pay raise above normal, you need to contact your boss well beforehand.

DO YOUR RESEARCH


Before meeting with your boss, find out what is the going rate for people in your position. You can use resources such as Payroll, Glassdoor and Salary.com on the internet. In addition, you could ask recruiters and others in a similar position.


PREPARE YOUR PITCH

It is important to be ready to make your case to your boss. You need to show that you are producing well beyond the expectations for someone in your position. In other words, you have significantly added value to the company. For example, you earned more profit, cut costs significantly, got a fat new contract, etc. In this regard, it is useful to keep a record of your significant accomplishments to use when you need it.


PRACTICE YOUR PITCH

This is important. You need to prepare by practicing what you will say in this meeting.


ASK FOR A PROMOTION INSTEAD

It may be that you are performing functions well out of the requirements for your position. Therefore, instead of asking for a raise, you could ask for a promotion to a new level or a new position.


KNOW HOW MUCH TO ASK FOR

Find out what is the normal increase that is given every year. This could come from fellow employees. For example, maybe everyone receives a 2% increase. You want to ask for more than this, perhaps a 5% increase depending on the situation.


BE PREPARED TO RECEIVE A “NO”.


There are many reasons why you may receive a negative response to your request. If that happens, don’t argue, but do ask what you need to do to receive a pay raise for the next time.


KEY POINTS:
⦁ Know how to approach your boss.

⦁ Do your research.

⦁ Organize your presentation

Published by pitman

I am a Business English Coach who works with managers and other professionals helping them to perform at their best when it is most important: such as a presentation, meeting with an important client, or a job interview. I am also a resource person for teachers of Business English.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: