How to advocate for yourself for a raise or higher salary?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Whether retired or still working, how do you (or did you) advocate for yourself for a higher salary or a raise? I've never had to ask for a raise in my younger years as a union plumber, nor as a union worker in my older years working for big government due to the unions bargaining on my behalf for yearly step increases but I was wondering how those in the private sector negotiate their raises other than taking a higher paying job. For instance, do you have to meet with your employer yearly to negotiate a pay raise? Does your employer set yearly raises or bonuses to keep you from leaving? Some people are good at advocating on their own behalf of asking for a raise but not everyone is adept at doing it. So how do people here negotiate it or do you just keep the status quo?

[disneysteve]

I was contracted for much of my career so there was no advocating to do. I was paid what the contract said I'd be paid. That wasn't negotiable. There was a pay scale and you got what you got based on that scale. At my last family practice, I did occasionally sit down with my partner/boss and discuss the state of the practice and if the money was there to pay me more. Much of the time it simply wasn't. He did his best to compensate me in other ways like more time off, adjusting my hours, and to be honest paying me cash under the table for a certain aspect of the work we did that was off the books. I was still underpaid and eventually it was one of the big factors that led me to leave and switch to urgent care where my salary doubled.

My daughter is in a position where she can and does advocate for higher pay. At her initial 90-day review she went in armed with a list of her accomplishments prepared to justify why she felt she should be paid more. That turned out to be unnecessary as they began the review by offering her a promotion and raise larger than what she was planning to ask for. Since then, she's gotten a few increases without asking. One time when they added a new responsibility to her team, they gave her a pay bump. The next time they added something new, she went in and said, "Last time you did this you raised my pay so what about this time?" and they gave her another raise as a result. She has also gone in to advocate for a raise for her assistant.

[Fishindude77]

I owned a private business with 60-100 employees much of my career.
The shocking thing to me is how few people actually have the guts to have a conversation with the boss and ask for a raise.
If employees are motivated and willing, you can usually find a way for them to increase their income.

At minimum, we reviewed everyone's compensation package annually and adjusted according to market, years of experience, performance, attitude, etc. with or without them asking.
If you have a real "mover and shaker" employee doing all the right things, you better be adjusting their pay to market rate or above as they advance or you will lose them.

[disneysteve]

I owned a private business with 60-100 employees much of my career.
The shocking thing to me is how few people actually have the guts to have a conversation with the boss and ask for a raise.
If employees are motivated and willing, you can usually find a way for them to increase their income.

At minimum, we reviewed everyone's compensation package annually and adjusted according to market, years of experience, performance, attitude, etc. with or without them asking.
If you have a real "mover and shaker" employee doing all the right things, you better be adjusting their pay to market rate or above as they advance or you will lose them.

I agree on all points. Most people are either afraid to ask for a raise or don't even realize it's an option.

One thing that really aggravates the problem is that there is so much secrecy over income. If everyone knew how much everyone else made, it would be much easier to go in and say "Hey, I noticed that Sue is earning more than me even though I've been here longer than her and we both do the same job." Our society in general is so un-transparent about financial matters which just makes everything worse.

[Fishindude77]

One thing that really aggravates the problem is that there is so much secrecy over income. If everyone knew how much everyone else made, it would be much easier to go in and say "Hey, I noticed that Sue is earning more than me even though I've been here longer than her and we both do the same job." Our society in general is so un-transparent about financial matters which just makes everything worse.

This I totally disagree on.
Your income is your business. If you want to share it, fine but another persons income is none of your business unless he / she works under you or volunteers to share the information openly.

[jenn_jenn]

I’ve done this several times in my career. Different situations call for different approaches.

I had an amazing mentor early on in my career who let me know that I was very underpaid in my role. At a large company, there is often little to be done outside of promotion or review cycles but she recommended I ask HR for a “compensation review”. I got somewhere between 10-15% increase off cycle. I was lucky to have other advocates at the company that also helped support my case for future raises, cannot understate how important this is.

Another time, I was lowballed for an internal move and I specifically requested that they look at the data for my male counterparts. That got them to switch things up real quick. (With a word of caution, don’t use this approach willy nilly. My company at the time was definitely paying men more. I wasn’t looking to be a “problem child” but I very fairly called them out on it.)

For taking on new roles (not internally), I have, as a rule of thumb, always countered their first offer for more money and sometimes I have requested a sign on bonus. The only exception was when one company came back with a $10k higher salary offer than my stated desired salary. It felt disingenuous to ask for more that point.

It is important to be armed with data. Look up the market rate for your role. I have a few friends who are compensation managers and so I’ve had them pull figures for me (nothing confidential, just benchmarks) but even things like Glassdoor are helpful. For internal raises or promotions, be prepared to point to previous (ideally very positive) performance evaluations.

Sometimes the only way to get a meaningful raise is to get an external offer. But tread with caution, be prepared to leave if they don’t counter and also know you can only do this so many times.

On the flip side, things not to bring up are inflation and your expenses / financial need. Just focus on being paid fairly for the value you bring to the company.

[jenn_jenn]

One thing that really aggravates the problem is that there is so much secrecy over income. If everyone knew how much everyone else made, it would be much easier to go in and say "Hey, I noticed that Sue is earning more than me even though I've been here longer than her and we both do the same job." Our society in general is so un-transparent about financial matters which just makes everything worse.

This last part is so important.

While I agree with Fishindude77 that a *person’s* income isn’t your business, to be adequately compensated you need to know what other people in your position are making. Glassdoor can be helpful for this because it is reported anonymously but also not the most reliable.

I can confidently say that my cohort of peers is very transparent with their income bands. I’ve shared my offer and bonus letters with multiple colleagues and vice versa. I think people are becoming more transparent.

Also if you’re comfortable, lead by example. I’ve told colleagues in levels below me (but not direct reporting line) what I make, what I made when I was in their role, what my first salary was at the next level, etc. to help them advocate for themselves.

Conversely, it also recently helped a colleague reset her expectations when she wanted $20k more for a position than the next level up was being paid. I let her know that while that would be amazing, it wasn’t a realistic expectation *at this company* and if she wanted that high of a salary, she’d need to change companies. It helped her frame of mind that she wasn’t being stiffed and her pay was well within the band.

Salary transparency is a good thing for employees.

[EasyMoney00]

Employers discourage discussing salary between employees because it doesn't benefit the company. The less employees know the less they'll ask. Now, HR or the company will tell you it's bad for moral if everyone knows what everyone makes.

If you work in the public sector your salary is public knowledge. The newspaper here published what teachers make each year.

The best way to get a raise is to leave your company and find a new job. This isn't anything new though.

[ua_guy]

In the corporate, white-collar world, In order to ask for a raise, you have to know what your position is worth. Most people who ask for a raise don't know how to do so effectively. Because someone else makes X isn't a reason. Because another company pays X isn't a reason, unless you're a top performer. Because you contribute X consistently beyond what the job asks for and what your peers do, is a great reason. You also have to know what your employer is willing to pay. If you're looking to move your income significantly within your position, it's good to have an offer from another company if you're going to ask, and be ready to take that offer (or have already taken that offer) if your current employer says no. In those bets you also have to know that you're worth retaining. Not liking your job, and then threatening to leave because you got a better offer will likely open doors for you - mostly the nearest exit - rather than a new opportunity with your current company. If you're not happy, throwing more money at you isn't going to change much, you'll probably be gone in a year anyway, so HR will probably do nothing to keep you. In most instances, in order to get more than a merit raise, you're jumping positions internally or jumping companies. For internal moves, it often involves performing duties of the next level and going above/beyond consistently, and then being awarded or encouraged to apply for the next level.

Most everything else is annual performance reviews/ merit-based evaluations. You're proving you're worth 2-5% more, generally. Converting oxygen and aren't on a performance plan, that generally gets you the middle box, around 2.5%. 5% is for true rockstars, and they generally know who they are, and there's usually one or two, but more often, none. Those are your flight risks, and they know that too. You're generally not going to "negotiate" during a performance evaluation, not from a 2.5% to a 5%. Your boss rates your performance and all sorts of factors go into that.

HR can get creative with higher level positions. Incentive pay, bonuses, retention bonuses, long-term incentive plans, stock grants, etc. Employees generally aren't negotiating those, they're awarded.