The economy is improving and it may be an opportune time to ask for a pay rise. Before you meet with your management team and ask them to show you the money, do your research and follow these five negotiation tips.
Know your market value
Before you ask for a pay rise, you need to document how you have contributed to sales revenue or business growth, saved the company money, increased efficiency or any facts or figures that will show your tangible value to the company. It’s also important to outline additional responsibilities that you may have taken on. Your manager may decide that it is less costly to give you a pay rise than hire another staff member to perform those tasks.
Check out the competition
Do your research and find out what similar companies in your industry are paying people in the same or similar position as you. You can find this out by finding job advertisements, looking at salary surveys by recruitment companies or researching industry websites which may indicate a bracket or pay range for your industry. Remember that your pay is often determined by your level of experience and how many years you have worked for a company. An office junior will make comparatively less than an office manager even though their job descriptions may seem similar.
Timing is everything
The best time to ask for a pay rise is after a successful project has been completed, during a job review, when the company has landed more clients and you have been asked to take on extra duties or when you have been approached by a rival company. You can use this to try and leverage extra money from your company.
Know your company’s financial health
Knowing the company’s position on salaries and headcount and its financial health will provide you with more information on how to negotiate. Understanding the company’s position will give you an indication on how to initiate the discussion. It may mean that a pay rise is not financially viable at this time or it may work in your favour as the company may need you to stay financially afloat and pay for your loyalty.
Have a contingency plan
If your company cannot legitimately offer you a pay rise, try and negotiate a higher bonus or commission, extra annual leave days or days in lieu, working flexible hours, working from home or being assigned extra resources or longer deadlines to take on projects. A work-life balance may be more important to you than monetary incentives.
Asking for a pay rise can be very daunting but if you are armed with market research about the average industry pay, know your value to a company, the company’s financial position and get your timing right, you will be in a much better position to negotiate.