Could I have a Raise, Please - [website] Published: 3rd of Mar 2011 by: (c) Staff Training Reporter
Do you ever feel like you’re worth more than you’re selling yourself for? I think the majority of us do at times, but what if you’re consistently undervalued in the workplace?
Would you ask for a raise?
Again, I think the majority of us would like to ask for a raise, but the pressure usually makes us put it off and we eventually end up sweeping the thought under the rug until next time.
Well not anymore…
If you do just a little research before asking you can be able to put aside all the thoughts you have like, ‘What if the company can’t afford to pay me more?’ or ‘What if I’m actually not being underpaid?’ ensuring that when you ask for a salary increase you’re confident and sure of it.
Firstly, you’ll need to search online and find out what the range of salaries is in the position you currently hold, and then figure out where you find yourself on this scale.
You need to be realistic when doing this, so use criteria like ‘number of years working for the company’, ‘experience’ and ‘disciplinary history’ before getting greedy.
Once you have a clear idea of how much you would like to be earning you should take a look at the company itself. Can the company actually afford to give you a raise or are there financial difficulties at the moment?
If the company is struggling financially it’s definitely not a good time to ask for an increase, and if you really need the extra money then it might be a better idea to start looking for different work.
If your reasons for wanting the raise are good and the company is solvent then the next step for you is to prepare your presentation.
You’ll need to think long and hard about all the possible outcomes of the meeting and decide how you will react to each scenario.
For example, what if your employer says that you can have a salary increase but much less than you had asked for? Would you settle? How low is too low? Answer these questions and you won’t have any unexpected surprises during negotiations.
Once all the preparations have been done and you are 100 percent certain of what you want out of the meeting – set up an appointment with your employer. It’s important that you treat the meeting seriously if you want your request to be taken seriously so don’t offhandedly start chatting about an increase during your smoke break.
All that’s left then is to talk to your manager, present the data you collected that supports your case and be confident that you deserve what you’re asking for.
You may find the nerves were unnecessary and your boss agrees to a raise straight away, which would be fantastic, but the point is that without asking you’ll never know, and without asking properly you probably won’t get.
