How to ask for a salary increase

June 8, 2011|Tips At work| No comments yet

Due to the poor economy millions of people are out of a job and even more have seen their salaries reduced. While it may seem that now would be the worst time ever to ask for a salary increase, there are ways to ask for one which could increase your chances of it being accepted. To have your salary increase accepted there are various tips you should follow.

Setting up a meeting in advance with your boss would be the first tip to follow. Since most people are extremely busy at their job, simply walking into your boss’s office to ask for a raise may not be a good idea. Instead it would be more appropriate to set up a short meeting at least one week in advance. It would also be a good idea for you to mention to your boss what the meeting is about. This will allow your boss the ability to prepare for the meeting as well.

Prior to the meeting you should develop a list of reasons why you deserve the raise. A reason for the raise could include the fact that you have exceeded your objections, you have taken on more responsibility, or simply that your pay is lower than that of peers in your industry. If you are going to compare your salary to your peers be sure to perform research on this and to not reference the salaries of other people in your office. Once you have determined why you deserve the raise, you should organize a small speech or topic list to cover. This will prevent you from looking or feeling unorganized during the meeting.

When you are asking for a raise you should also be sure to come up with an exact dollar amount or percentage that you are looking for. Simply asking for a raise is quite vague and it could result in you receiving a nominal increase in pay. Also, be sure to ask for a reasonable increase in pay. Giving out a 50% increase in pay is normally impossible for most companies, but giving out a 15% increase could be reasonable.

Finally, you should be prepared to negotiate when asking for a raise. Most likely you will either be offered something less than expected or be denied all together. If this is the case, you could attempt to continue to negotiate or you could ask for your performance to be re-assessed in a few months at which point your raise request should be re-evaluated.