Everyone wants a pay rise. A rare person will refuse an additional, and even a guaranteed monthly amount, which today, oh, how not superfluous. Of course, not everyone will refuse, but will they offer it? On the one hand, you can, of course, as in that Chinese wisdom, “sit on the banks of the river and wait for the corpse of your enemy to float by.” Or you can take more decisive action, gain courage, and … And when you have the determination to talk with your superiors about a salary increase, and you have even almost gone to his office, then it’s time to pause and think about what, in fact you can really ask for what you are entitled to, and which of your requests may not be quite adequate?
Therefore, before asking for a salary increase, I propose to do some preparatory work that will help you understand the relevance of your claims, tell you how not to sell too cheap, or, conversely, protect you from a rash act and the likelihood of being a “brazen upstart”.
So, for starters, let’s correlate our requests with reality. To do this, we determine how much we want to talk with the authorities. And then:
1. We find out the current situation with salaries in the labor market
What will it give? Perhaps this will give an understanding that the salary you want is simply not in the labor market. This means that your requests were too high for this industry and, instead of the desired increase, you may receive an answer: “Well, go and look for such a salary in another company.” The reverse is also true — the presence of such information will give you a guideline and help you not to sell too cheap.
How do you know if what you’re asking for is in line with the average salary in your industry? Very simple. Take any magazine, newspaper, site with job offers, and write out in a row all the salaries offered, corresponding to your specialization and your level.
Let’s say you wrote:
10 – 18 – 28 – 30 –29 –31 – 30 – 70
The easiest way would be to find out the average value between the extreme bars. (10+70)2=40 thousand c.u.
But not everything is so simple, because if you analyze the chain, then the two poles are strongly knocked out of the overall picture, which means they should arouse suspicion. Therefore, the most accurate figure will be obtained by adding together several similar indicators. We circle them, and — voila!
(28 + 30 + 29 + 31) 4 = 29,5 thousand USD
This is the amount of the industry, which you can fully focus on and with which you can correlate what you have now and what you want to receive. Among other things, this simple calculation will help you understand whether you will have fallback routes to other companies if you cannot negotiate a salary increase in this one. And third, it will help you have a clear weighty and undeniable argument when talking with your superiors.
2. The next step would be to find out the situation with the level of salaries of employees of your level at your place of work, because, perhaps, the budget of your company is limited to certain levels, and your salary has not yet been raised, not because you are not appreciated, but because they simply cannot pay more. This will give you the opportunity to avoid an awkward situation when, in response to your request, you will hear: “Yes, our deputy director does not get that much!”
In this case, it is probably worth considering, but what can you ask your boss for instead of a pay rise? About an annual free ticket to a sponsored sanatorium? About the opportunity to buy the company’s products at cost? About free lunches? About the fitness center membership? This will also be an increase for you, since you yourself will not have to spend money on it.
Again, on the other hand, you will understand what percentage of the increase you can count on if everyone else’s salary is already higher.
3. The most difficult — analyze, are you really worth the money you ask? And at the same time, to see from the outside how valuable you are to the company. This will help emphasize your worth when talking to your boss, or perhaps tell you that it’s too early to ask for a promotion. In this case, do not despair — you will receive valuable information about the growth zone and what you need to do in order to have every right to ask for a raise later.
To do this:
— remember situations when your actions helped the company in solving a difficult problem
— list your successful projects
— write down and analyze your qualities that you have already shown and for which you are appreciated
— calculate your efficiency
And if everything is more or less clear with the first points, then it is worth mentioning the efficiency separately. The best way to figure out if you qualify for a raise is to calculate how much money you bring in to the company. Obviously, the most valuable employee is the one who earns the most money for the company. And it is quite natural that in order to receive salary X, you must bring profits to the company X * 10 (0 … 0 … 0 … 0 … 0 … 0 … 0 … 0). It doesn’t have to be in sales though. This is also true for those who help the company save as much money as possible.
So, for example, if you are an accountant and literally do not make money for the company, you can still save your company millions by knowing how to correctly calculate taxes. The purchasing department can find a cheaper supplier, and the logisticians can find carriers.
Have you added an extra zero to your value to the company? Are you really a valued worker?
4. Finally, summing up — If I want to? Can I? And if both answers — I want and I can, then here you can already decisively get up and confidently step into the manager’s office for a pay increase.