Get what you’re worth and how to ask for it!
Getting a pay raise is a perfectly normal thing to ask for in life! It’s totally acceptable to believe you are doing a good enough job in your work that you feel perhaps that you deserve a little more monetary compensation. It is not abnormal or selfish to do so, it’s a pretty ingrained part of business culture.
Yet so many people out there either don’t know they’re worth to their company or think asking for a pay raise would make them appear greedy or overestimating themselves. Neither is true! This reluctance to press for increased salary that is commensurate with the tasks they are performing – in both size and responsibility – has led them to instead stay quiet, wait for management to give them the rise/bonus, and have left themselves, if anything, earning far less than they in actuality should be earning.
Some of the most successful names in business started from very humble beginnings, but were bold enough to know their worth and advance steadily as they ascended up the business ladder. The trick is to be both bold and wise, to know your value to your employer, what to ask for, when to ask it, when to bargain, and when to accept an offer made.
With this article, we’ve compiled 5 tips on how best to argue for – and win – that pay raise you know you deserve.
1. I Deserve It
Most companies either have an annual salary review for employees, some even have contractually-mandated salary rises over certain designated time periods, but many don’t have any defined regular salary increase policy.
If you do not yet feel that your hard work over the last year has been exemplary and deserving of a raise, then you should take the initiative and ask for one. But there are one or two things you should be mindful of before you do.
If your salary was already increased in the last year, now is probably not the best time to ask for more. Nor is it prudent to ask for a raise if you’ve been in the job for less than a year.
There’s nothing wrong with believing you deserve a raise, but be smart about asking for it.
2. Know Your Worth
Before you ask for a raise, you should know the approximate salary that your particular job gets in the wider marketplace. Also, the region in which you work can play a big part in determining how much you earn or should be earning. For example, working in a company located in a capital city tends to pay more than a smaller regional branch sometimes.
If you feel that you’re being underpaid relative to your job and location, then do some research first; ask around, check vacancies with jobs similar to yours and see what they’re offering salary-wise, even check professional job recruiters to see if they possess salary data.
Figure out the job landscape in relation to your position and that will give you a better idea of what you should be earning.
3. When To Ask
First of all, and as mentioned previously, asking for a raise is a perfectly normal thing to do so don’t think you are doing something untoward or inappropriate. Management deals with salary issues almost every day, trust us when we say it will be a routine conversation for them.
In choosing your timing you need to be particularly careful. If your manager seems to be having a bad day, is under the weather somehow, or you just made a mistake in their view, asking for a raise at that point would not be recommended to say the least.
However, if you have completed a task in an exemplary manner and received words of praise from the manager, it would be an opportune time to suggest your case for a raise.
4. What To Say
Many people balk at asking for a raise either because they’re wary of what the manager might say or because they think they will need some detailed analysis to convince that manager they should get a raise. The truth is, most times just a brief conversation is enough to start the ball rolling.
The conversation shouldn’t be too pushy or forced, just a brief and civil explanation why you believe you’re due a raise, and possibly, if you feel it appropriate under the circumstances, even suggest a figure for how much you feel you might receive.
Be tactful and think of what you will say in advance before you approach the manager.
5. Take ”No” For An Answer?
If your manager gives a non-committal answer to your request, suggest he think it over and perhaps also suggest a date to follow up the request on. If your manager is generally reliable with dates, then leave it with him until the agreed time. If the answer is a definite “no”, inquire into what you need to do to attain that raise.
In other words, for every kind of answer, keep the manager engaged and ‘on the hook’ somehow for future discussion.
If the manager gives off the impression that a raise is not just unlikely to be imminent but might not happen yet for a while, start considering your options about whether to stay in that job or not.
We hope this article will help you in your search for a raise. Good luck!
