Negotiating a Payrise
If your primary motive for leaving a job is financial, there
is an alternative:
asking for a pay rise.
If you feel you are overworked and underpaid, or haven’t had
a pay rise in quite
a while, you may decide that the time has come to approach
your manager with your
begging bowl.
Asking for a raise is something that needs to be preceded
with planning and preparation.
You should put forward your proposal in writing to your
manager. Your request should
be backed up with valid reasons. Below please find some
matters you should consider
before negotiating a pay rise.
What will you do if no is the answer?
Looking at your motivation will help you find out if you’re
asking for a pay rise
for the right reasons. Do you genuinely deserve it? Or, is
it just to make your
job more bearable? If it is just to make your job more
bearable, chances are you
will end up leaving your job a few months of getting a pay
rise.
Are you deserving of an increase in salary?
Has your role changed? Have you any extra responsibilities?
Have you attained a
higher level of education? Have you met goals set by your
manager? How did you get
on in previous performance appraisals? These are all
relevant to being deserving
of a higher salary.
Is your work noticed?
Do you go that extra mile so that your work is noticed?
Provide examples of how
you have proved your commitment to both your employer and
your clients.
What are your ambitions in your current role?
Explain to your manager what your ambitions are for your
role within the company.
Give details about how your future in this company fits in
with your over all career
ambitions. This demonstrates your interest in and dedication
to staying on with
the company.
Name a figure
Don’t just pull a random figure of your worth out of a hat,
put some research into
it. Check out the CPL Salary Guide to establish what salary
you should be on, use
this as back up when approaching salary negotiations.
Are you ready for responsibility?
Hard work and responsibility often comes hand-in-hand with
higher salaries. Be ready
for an offer of a promotion in exchange for some of your
demands for a higher salary.
If this is something you would be interested in, feel free
to suggest it as part
of your proposal to show how serious you are about the
company.
Be prepared for negative comments
A request for more pay will be considered with your past
performance in mind. Apart
from your strengths and achievements, your weaknesses and
failures will come under
the microscope. Be prepared for these to be discussed and
see if you can turn mistakes
into lessons learned and weaknesses into area you plan to
build on.
Other factors to consider: