#BestofFSCBlog : #SalaryIncrease – How to Ask for a Raise, and Get One. MUst REad for ALL!
You have gone above and beyond at work and believe it is time to ask for a raise. But when it comes to increasing your salary, doing good work is just the beginning. Many other elements need to come together to make your request for a raise a certainty. In his book “Empowering Yourself: The Organizational Game Revealed,” author Harvey Coleman, who has consulted managers in Fortune 500 companies, lays out three key elements that determine your upward mobility at work: performance, image and exposure.
Of those three, he estimates that job performance only amounts to 10% of the equation, while image accounts for 30% and exposure—the amount that people are aware of who you are and what your contributions and value have been—is 60%. “That to me changed the game as far as my career goes,” says Madeline Mann, an HR recruiter who has coached clients who have accepted jobs at Google, Netflix, Deloitte and other known companies.
Before requesting a raise, give your boss a heads-up.
Take your employer on your journey with you. Asking for a raise on the day of your review is a common mistake. As with other large requests, it is best to make this a conversation over time. “Ask your manager: What is the path to get a raise?” Ms. Mann says. “That is such a huge question because then you co-create that path with your manager.” Kate Dixon, principal and founder of Dixon Consulting, agrees. “Here you are really seeking to be part of a solution, not just dropping a problem on your boss’s desk,” Ms. Dixon says. “Ultimately you want this to be solved in a way that’s sustainable for the organization.” As Ms. Dixon notes in her book, “Pay Up: Unlocking Insider Secrets of Salary Negotiation,” you want to try to create an agreement that works for both parties.
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Keep track of your accomplishments.
Once you understand the requirements for a raise, in addition to accomplishing and exceeding your goals, keep track of all those accomplishments and personal wins. It is very easy to forget all you have done, but you will want to relive those moments in later discussions. Keep a file that details the concrete contributions you have made during the past year and the feedback you have received from others. According to Ms. Mann, a project post-mortem meeting is the perfect time to share your contributions with colleagues and managers. Sometimes called project retrospectives, or project debriefs, these meetings are meant to evaluate the success of a project and its alignment with business goals, but it is also a great opportunity for you to share your accomplishments. If your company isn’t in the habit of doing look-back meetings, take the initiative and suggest it to your manager, or send a debrief email if it makes sense to do so.
“Be collaborative. This is not an ‘I win, you lose’ situation. Creating ultimatums puts everyone on edge.”
Focus on your value.
Before you negotiate, come prepared with information about the pay scales for your role and the value you bring. Research how your experiences and skills are valued across the industry. Websites such as Payscale.com, Salary.com and Glassdoor.com also offer salary comparisons across various roles and industries. If you have met and exceeded the goals laid out by your employer, research what the salary is for the role you want. Quantify your contributions, and focus on how you are directly helping your company achieve its goals. Reflecting on how your work helps your company achieve the goals in its mission statement is a good place to start.
Use a collaborative approach during negotiations, and stick to open-ended questions.
During negotiation conversations, bring in the salary range you have researched, cite your accomplishments, and make your case as to why you deserve more, but make sure to incorporate the word “we,” Ms. Dixon says. You can say it this way, she suggests: “Given what I’m contributing in terms of the value I bring to the job, I’m targeting the higher end of that range. How close can we get to that?” By using the word “we” in this open-ended way, not only do you avoid asking a yes or no question, which automatically has more of an adversarial feel, you also continue to make this a team effort between you and your employer.
“This highlights one of my core philosophies,” Ms. Dixon says. “Be collaborative. This is not an ‘I win, you lose’ situation. Creating ultimatums puts everyone on edge.” Another great phrase to utilize, she says, is: “How much flexibility do you have?” This conveys an empathic team mentality that will take you much further when asking for a raise. “You’re causing your manager to take a second and process a little bit more slowly than with a yes or no question,” she says. “I love that kind of collaboration perspective, and it also takes some of the emotion out of it, too,” Ms. Dixon says. This kind of collaborative approach works best in any kind of negotiation—reframing the conversation so that you are both working together toward the same goal. And an empathic approach is always best.
Focus on the future, rather than past accomplishments.
This is probably the most important aspect of your raise negotiation, according to Ms. Mann. At this point, you may have met and exceeded employer expectations and have primed the conversation. However, if you focus only on what you have already done, you are essentially requesting more pay for something that has already been provided. After highlighting accomplishments, pivot to what you plan to do going forward, so your employer feels like they are investing in your growth and the company’s future, instead of paying a debt due. This simple shift in your language creates a better interaction between you and your employer, and encourages them to invest in a shared future, instead of for work that you have already done. Reframing the conversation this way also helps to excite you about your shared future in the company, which will undoubtedly reflect confidence and positive energy when you make the request.
Avoid focusing on “fairness” when having salary discussions.
Dwelling on fairness can create a negative head space for you and can ultimately be counterproductive to getting a raise. “ ‘Fair’ is kind of a trigger word,” Ms. Dixon says. When you use that word with your manager, she says, he may think, “ ‘Oh my gosh, they don’t think I’m conducting myself with integrity.’ And while that may objectively be true, it doesn’t necessarily further your goals to get more money.” This negotiation is your chance to show why you should be paid more for the work you are doing, and bringing up another colleague only distracts from your ultimate goal. Focusing on fairness also takes away your power to negotiate, Ms. Dixon says. “If your value is only determined by its relative value to another, you’re really losing the power you have to create a compelling argument as to why you should be paid differently,” she says.
Ultimately, you want these conversations with your employer to feel collaborative and to help establish over time why giving you a raise is in the best interest of the team and of the organization.
Resources
- “Empowering Yourself: The Organizational Game Revealed.”This book by Harvey J. Coleman is recommended by Madeline Mann because, she says, it includes great insights on how to ask for a raise.
- “Pay Up: Unlocking Insider Secrets of Salary Negotiation.” This book by Kate Dixon provides a step-by-step system to help you create a salary negotiation plan.