How to Negotiate Your Compensation At Work
Thrift & Tell is my passion project, but I do indeed have a full time job in corporate America. Something I posted recently on Instagram led a follower to ask, “I was wondering if you could share how you ask for a raise? I am always trying to find any tips or advice for having this conversation at work.” I LOVE this question and am very passionate about empowering other women to ask for what they deserve at work. These rules apply to men of course as well, but women in general tend to underplay their success and are less likely to ask for the financial compensation commensurate with their work. I have successfully negotiated my salary several times, so here we go…
TERMINOLOGY
First— let’s discuss the difference between a RAISE and a PROMOTION.
Raise: An increase to your annual salary or hourly wage. A raise is typically based on merit or tenure.
Promotion: An increase in salary or hourly wage to align with the new job description or responsibilities. If you’ve been given a new job with new responsibilities, you deserve to be paid for that.
PREPARE
Spend time looking back on your performance over the last 12-18 months. What important contributions can you pull out? It’s great if you have hard numbers: “increased sales 10%”, “reduced technical errors 45%” etc. If you can’t call to a number, think of a contribution: “successfully assumed and executed on Joe’s roles and responsibilities for three months while he was on sick leave.”
From there, come up with three anchor points. A friend of mine gave me this advice years ago and I’ve found it to be great in these conversations that can sometimes go off track or be circuitous. An example of three points could be 1) Successfully achieved quota 4 of 4 quarters. 2) Trained 2 new hires on the team 3)Landed 20 new clients vs. the expected 10. If you have your three anchor points you can always drive the conversation back to those. “Thanks for that Jane, but I’d like to really focus on my contributions last year. I successfully brought in new business for the company and have even exceeded expectations by 50% by landing 20 new clients.”
TIMING
When asking for an increase in pay, you will need to consider when you’re going to ask. Often compensation discussions happen during an annual review, but if you’re planning to have this conversation outside of that, I would recommend setting time with your manager/boss to say you’d like to discuss. Asking for a raise in the lunch line is unlikely to work. How do you set up that meeting? Simply ask! I would send your boss a calendar invite for 30 minutes and say,
Raise: “Dear Jane, I would like to set aside 30 minutes to review my compensation based off of my 2019 performance and contributions.”
Promotion: “Dear Jane, I am excited to be taking on my new role as X. I would like to set aside 30 minutes to review our mutual expectations for performance and compensation in the new role.
Don’t feel weird sending this. If you’re a manager or a boss, you expect your subordinates/employees are going to ask for more money at some point.
DOs & DON’Ts
DO
Have confidence in your work and your ask. If you walk in, avoid eye contact, and sheepishly say, “I was thinking I could maybe talk to you about maybe giving me a raise” you likely won’t get one. Instead, walk into the room with your shoulders high, maintain eye contact, and say, “Hi Jane, thanks for meeting today. I am looking forward to reviewing my performance and discussing a raise/promotion commensurate with my work/new title.”
Do your research ahead of time. What is the range of salaries for this position? If you’re asking for 100K and the range online for let’s say a research assistant is 60-80K, that 100k number may be a bit unrealistic. There is always an exception to the rule, so by all means strive for 100k, but just realize that it may be a bit of a stretch.
Side bar: If you want to make 100k but your job doesn’t pay that, figure out what roles do and what skills you need to develop to get there.
Determine if there are certain qualifications required at your company to reach a certain pay threshold. For example, some companies require a MBA to get the highest tier of pay.
If the industry standard for your role is 60-80K and you’re getting paid 40K, by all means I would encourage you to say, “my compensation appears to be below industry standard, based off of my research. I would like to discuss the possibility of increasing my salary to align with the industry standard.”
Talk to your friends outside of your company and ask them how they’ve navigated salary negotiations before. My friends and I don’t share the actual dollar amount, but rather say, “I’m looking to increase my salary by x%, how have you pitched your boss before? What went well? What did not?”
Practice your pitch ahead of time. Do a trial run on a friend so you get the fumbles out of the way.
Consider timing. Does your company have strict guidelines as to when they will assess compensation? (This often occurs at the beginning or end of a fiscal year). This is not to say that you won’t get an increase in pay outside of that window, but it’s something to be aware of. If you work for a start up, those rules rarely apply. If your boss gives you that excuse, it’s honestly probably B.S. The timing excuse at a larger corporation can be valid.
DONT
Mention a word- NOT A WORD- about your personal life, finances etc. It is not your boss’s concern that you want to move into a bigger house or are planning to start a family. You deserve an increase in pay because of the VALUE you bring to the company.
Bring emotion into the conversation. Again, as above, this conversation is a cut and dry laying out of the facts. It has nothing to do with not being fair, being hurt etc.
Talk to your coworkers about what they get paid. It never goes well.
Bring up your colleague’s compensation. “Well Mary said she gets paid 10k more than me.” That has nothing to do with you and tends to make you look unprofessional. You deserve a raise based off your work. It is okay to say, “I would like to understand the range of compensation within this role” and try to better understand how you can get to the highest tier.
Give a number that you want. I typically say, “based off our conversation, I would love to first see your offer and then I can provide feedback.” If you must give a number, think of the number you want and add 5-10% to that number.
Threaten to quit. NEVER DO THIS. I have rarely seen that work and I never think it’s a good idea to suggest to your boss that you could jump ship. Also, to a certain extent, we’re all replaceable (unless of course you’re Oprah.) Don’t make an empty threat- they may take you up on it!
Cry. This is a touchy subject I know and I am a big crier in my personal life. Even the worst cheesy ad on TV will make me cry. Sometimes when you’re uncomfortable or feel hurt in a negotiation meeting, it can be easy to have the urge to cry. However, as much as humanly possible try not to cry in the negotiation. I wish we lived in a world where women crying was not viewed this way, but it’s best to try and remain composed. You better believe I’ve left meetings and gone to cry in my car, but try and keep your cool in the meeting.
Yell. Same as above. Fighting with your boss is not going to get you any points. If the conversation is not going your way, it’s always fine to say, “I appreciate your feedback. Let me take this back and we can schedule a follow up meeting.”
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET WHAT YOU WANT…
Be proud of yourself! These conversations can feel uncomfortable and thank yourself for being brave enough to have it.
Remember, that if you never ask, you’ll never know. You won’t have to wonder anymore if you could have made more money.
Thank your boss for considering your request.
Ask your boss what development areas you can work on to be considered again for an increase in pay.
Ask when you can revisit the conversation. Just because they said no now does not mean you’ll never get an increase. The conversation will likely be in 6-18 months.
If it really appears you’ve hit a ceiling at your current job, it may also be wise to start exploring other opportunities outside of your current company.
ON JOB OFFERS
This one kills me. So many people get a job and immediately say yes to the initial offer. NEVER DO THIS! They expect you to negotiate so they pad the number. Always say, “thank you so much for the offer. I am excited at the opportunity of working at XYZ company. I will review this compensation and get back to you with my feedback in 2 days.” There are lots of things you can ask for including more money, stock options, vacation time, work from home flexibility, commuter subsidies etc. This is not to say you’ll get them all, but it’s worth exploring before blindly saying yes. Negotiating this number will impact your trajectory not only at this initial company but future companies. For example, let’s say you get an offer for 65K and you negotiate to 70K. The next year even if you got a merit increase of 1%, that would be $500 more. When you move on to the next company your current compensation will be higher and that is a great negotiating chip. P.S. I’ve never heard of a job offer being rescinded because the candidate negotiated. Just wait until you have an actual offer to begin the negotiation! I once interviewed a candidate at my old job who asked about compensation within five minutes of our first interview. NO!
In summary: you’ve got this. Remember that no one else is going to advocate for you. You have to be your own best advocate. If you come prepared, you’ll do well. Also, you’ll only get better with each negotiation, so each one gets easier. Plus, once you get your raise, you can reward yourself with something fabulous to commemorate what a bad ass you truly are. Good luck! xx
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