Help me ask for a raise.

November 5, 2005 8:44 PM

I'm a developer in the US and I make about $46k. For my position in my zip code, salary.com says that I should make around $60k. Help me ask for a raise.

I work at a startup which explains part of my predicament. I accepted the below-market number because it seemed (seemed!) like a cool place to work and I knew at the time that the company couldn't afford what I was worth anyway. The founders also promised that they'd "take care of me." You may already see where this is going.

I've worked there a couple years and the job isn't as fun as it once was. On top of that, the low salary isn't helping. I'd like to get back into the ballpark of what I'm worth but I'm not sure what number to shoot for. I can't really ask for a 30% raise... can I?

One last thing. I'm about 6 yrs out of college but I've never had to bring up the subject. Either I've had decent bosses that brought it up on their own or the whole yearly-review thing brought it up for me. Now I have a miser of a boss and the thought has apparently not entered his mind since the day I started. Once I figure out the numbers, how do I start that ball rolling? These threads (salary negotiation strategies, Do I play hardball?) have been helpful and I'm open to other advice as well.

posted by anonymous to work & money (10 comments total)

Plan to quit. Look for other work. Go on some interviews. Get an offer. It'll be higher than you're making now. Tell them you're leaving (and be prepared to do so) and offer to stay (if you actually want to) if they will beat the competing offer. If they don't, walk out.

Employers offering to "take care of you" and things like that rarely amount to anything. If you don't feel you're making enough, you don't enjoy the job, you know your boss is a miser, and you've never been reviewed in two years... it's time to leave. This is what I did at an old job. They ended up having to replace me with two people, and I got a 25% raise and a 60% reduction in responsibility. Good things have, so far, flowed from there.

Also, in my experience salary.com tends to inflate its estimates of peoples' worth. A competing offer is going to give you some leverage with your current management; salary.com is not.
posted by autojack at 9:53 PM on November 5, 2005

Investigating your other options in the job market is a pre-requistite to starting this conversation. The best way to ask for a raise is to say you've had an offer somewhere else at $X salary. You want to stay, but need them to be more competitive on salary. If you don't do your homework on this and walk into the meeting with a real offer at hand, you will be in a weak negotiating position.

And anyway it might be the best thing to go elsewhere, so the research is dual-purpose. Sometimes you can grow your salary faster by job hopping than you can through negotiation. As long as you're not hopping every year, which looks bad on a resume.
posted by scarabic at 10:11 PM on November 5, 2005

What autojack and scarabic said. You need to have hard evidence to present to your boss that if they want to keep you, they should pay you more. You don't have to want to quit, but you pretending is good enough in this case.

Really, if you ask your direct supervisor for a raise and have good reasons for it, it's their responsibility to get you the money. I am in a similar situation to you, although I work at a large academic institution. We all know we should be getting more, but nothing has happened. The problem I and my co-workers have encountered is several fold: 1. our boss is not self-confident enough to go to bat for us with HR and the money people 2. her inferiority complex precludes her from allowing us to make more money, and 3. the pay structure isn't really set up for job responsibilities such as what we have (involving independent critical decision making but just short of managing anybody). My point is that it's either your boss' responsibility or the company's responsibility, or both. And if they're not following through on that, there may be nothing you can do about it. Which is why we suggest looking for another job. Good luck.
posted by sarahnade at 10:29 PM on November 5, 2005

Be careful. I'd urge you not to attempt to get your current employer to match any other offers.

Firstly, disregard any external measure of what you should be getting paid. There will always be a similar job that could earn you more. The only thing that should be considered is whether or not you are happy with the remuneration for your current duties and responsibilities. Also factor in your enjoyment, frustration and future opportunities with your current employer.

Secondly, some employers will not be impressed by this method, as it can be interpreted as forcing their hand or even 'black mail'. This can do you more harm than good in the long term. For example, your level of dedication and commitment will always be (fairly or unfairly) called into question whenever you are nominated for new opportunities.

Also remember, that getting to the point of receiving another offer requires interviews and tests - most of which can only occur during business hours. How much time has the employer lost (and probably also paid for) for you to attend interviews etc? You employer will think of this and may be held over you in the future.

Having said all of that, I'm not suggesting that you are stuck or that you should just quit. What should you do?

Initially, you need to figure out how much the money actually matters. Do you enjoy your job or not? Would more money really make a difference?

If you want more money and to stay where you are, remember that not all businesses have buckets of cash. Your employer may dearly love to pay you more, but just doesn't have more to pay you.

What other non-cash remuneration would you consider? Could you change to a 4 day week (20% pay increase)? Stock? Further education or training? Think in terms of a Salary Package.

If you do want to stay, you need to sell yourself. You need to know exactly what you do, how well you do it and how much you contribute to the business. Write these things down. Make them measurable if you can.

Add value to your employment by demonstrating what you have done and what you can do. Prepare a couple of examples where you solved a difficult problem or saved the company money.

If you don't have KPIs at the moment, make some for the next time you want a pay rise. Picking your own KPIs is to your advantage as you can pick things that you know you can achieve (easily).

Have an idea of what you think you are worth and add a little more to it. Use this figure as a starting point to negotiate your Package. You can always come down, and you might just get more than you thought.

If you do attend interviews for other companies, keep it under wraps. It won't help you with your current employer, but will offer you a plan B, should you not be able to reach an agreement.

If you do decide to leave, start interviewing. Stay in your current role until a new offer is made and accepted. Give a reasonable amount of notice, certainly no less than what you are obliged to give. Your new employer will be understanding if they are worth moving for.

Do not give notice until a new offer is firmly accepted.

Your current employer may then offer you more money. Do not accept it, or you'll be going through the same exercise in the near future. If they didn't give you a raise on your merits, why accept it when they are afraid of having to replace you? If you do accept, your work life may get less tolerable.

It sounds to me that you are not happy in your current role. More money does not make a job more bearable, but it can make it less so.

Hope this helps and good luck.
posted by dantodd at 11:47 PM on November 5, 2005 [1 favorite]

Good advice from dantodd. I certainly wouldn't say that you should strut in with an outside offer to wave under your employer's nose. That will not go over well - whether you have a good relationship or not. I do think it's key to inform your own perspective with some outside research, but you will want to lead any conversation with your employer in a very friendly way. Make it clear that you want to stay but think your compensation warrants review. If that is poorly received, then you need to decide if you want to just move on. If they pay you lip service but delay the whole thing, doing nothing about your request, then you can think about upping the ante by informing them you have received other offers. By the way, other offers you decided not to take are still relevant to the compensation conversation.
posted by scarabic at 2:15 AM on November 6, 2005

From what I've seen, salary.com's numbers are too high. That doesn't mean you shouldn't leave the company you're with. It just means that you might (might) not be able to get that much elsewhere. As the others have said, find something you're passionate about doing and see if you can get onboard with them. Of course, if you self identify as "a developer," then maybe you're passionate about developing, and you just need to develop somewhere else.

This is really just me yammering on. The point: don't treat salary.com's numbers as sacrosanct, or even as authoritative.
posted by Alt F4 at 3:58 AM on November 6, 2005

Salary.com inflates their free "individual" results by as much as 30%, so you need much more credible sources. Any HR person you show a salary.com survey to will laugh. (They're actually okay on the corporate side, I don't know WHY they do this. You can take the same job in the same location and log in as an individual and get a very high result, then log in as a company and get the real deal. Very irritating, and the source of many uncomfortable salary conversations.
posted by pomegranate at 3:58 AM on November 6, 2005

I'd urge you not to attempt to get your current employer to match any other offers.

I completely agree. I've been on both sides of this. From the employee's point of view, I don't want to work for a boss who has to be -- effectively -- blackmailed into giving me a raise. And from the employer's point of view, which is where I've been for quite some time now, I'm never going to fully trust an employee who tries this tactic on me. Indeed, unless he/she was completely indispensable (and no-one is), I'd just say "go, then". Because as a boss there's no way I'm going to cave in to blackmail.
posted by littleme at 7:16 AM on November 6, 2005

Yeah, don't hold out another offer as a negotiating tactic. The only time to mention another offer is when you're telling the company that you're leaving and at that point, no matter what amount or concessions they offered you, I'd suggest leaving anyway.

You can have another offer in your back pocket and then ask the employer for a raise independent of that. If they can't come to where you need to be, then you can leave, but if you tell them you're leaving, always leave.
posted by willnot at 10:41 AM on November 6, 2005

Don't present other offers to your boss. That's not an effective tactic at all. This turns what should be a straight-forward negotiation into a pitched battle. Unless you're truly indispensable, this tactic almost always backfires. Do not fight battles unless you're already sure of victory.

You should look for another job. You don't want to work for a boss who's not interested in giving people what they deserve. I can't imagine how you worked two years without fair compensation but letting that go on is not an option. Start polishing off the resume immediately. Even if your boss does give you the dream raise, you may want to work for a firm that is interested in actually being fair to its talent.

Don't go in with a specific number. Go in with a range. There should be a number which you absolutely will not go below. There should also be a number which, if it gets put on the table, you will immediately take and end the negotiations. You need to communicate this range to your boss immediately. "Developers of my experience and skill are making at least 55K. The ones with my experience, skill and dedication are making 65k."

Remain calm. Speak in short, simple, and blunt sentences. Do not prefix you comments with statements like 'I feel' or 'I think'. Be assertive but not aggressive. Communicate three simple points: the value you bring to the company, your work-ethic and dedication to the company--tell your boss you look forward to the future working with him, even if you don't, and your fair market value. This boils down to basic justice. You are fair to the company and now the company should be fair to you. Your boss will try to confuse the issue--don't let him. Remain on message.

Don't let the boss confuse you with 'benefits'. Things like extra vacation and 'more schedule flexibility' are worthless. Accept nothing less than cash.

Don't quit on the spot. There's nothing to be gained by doing it. The boss may play a trump card. He may tell you the company simply cannot afford to pay you what you're worth. At this point, insist on other benefits. But don't quit. And, now, of course, you should begin making serious plans to find another firm.

BTW, 30% is difficult to pull off but it can be done. I've done it. Don't sell yourself short. Establish the minimum number that you feel is fair and stick to your guns.
posted by nixerman at 4:01 PM on November 6, 2005