How to negotiate a higher raise?
February 5, 2020 2:55 PM Subscribe
I work in higher education administration and was recently given an unsolicited promotion (title, expanded duties, salary increase), meaning it wasn’t during annual review time, and my boss suggested it, I didn’t request to be considered for a promotion originally. I am excited to do the work (I already am), but I feel I deserve more compensation than what I was given based on the quality of my work, what I think it would take to hire an outside person to do this job, and based on what others with my title make.
After I was given my new salary, I spoke with my supervisor and asked if the salary was negotiable. They essentially agreed it was lower than they wanted but offered me the maximum they were allowed to without getting permission higher up the chain (basically). My supervisor told me I should “make my case” in writing and that they would review it and present it/advocate for me with my ‘grandboss’.
I have only negotiated for more one time before this and felt I left money on the table, so my question is how to make my case in the strongest possible way that will maximize my chance of getting a yes and maximize my potential increase. This seems different from other advice I’ve read on negotiating raises because a) I didn’t initiate/request consideration for promotion, and b) I already did the part where I said “I’ve contributed to University’s success by doing Project This and Project That. I would like to increase my salary to $Z. Is that possible?” And the response was...maybe? Details below.
Elements that may or may not be related:
My promotion came with no job description, and I received my letter with increased salary after my promotion was announced. I have very broad ‘buckets’ of functions, but without a job description I am having a difficult time knowing what it looks like to make my case as there aren’t obvious performance markers. And in higher education, performance isn’t as straightforward as “earned $ABC through contracts with new clients” or whatever.
My thought was to essentially make my own job description and identify short term and long term goals (maybe a 90 day review and...6 months? 9 months?) to spread out the increase I’d eventually like to get this (my supervisor recommended an incremental approach). I do know what my priorities are and what my unit’s strategic plan is.
I trust that my supervisor likes me and wants me around in a normal “we try to keep good employees” level of loyalty. I am good or very good at my job (and have a track record of “exceeds expectations” performance reviews, though those aren’t taken very seriously where I work).
One element contributing to my uncertainty about what to ask for is that I have had a somewhat strange career path. I have a PhD, have always worked in higher education, but have never been tenure track. I work in an academic unit ‘unrelated’ to my expertise. Imagine as an example that I’m an expert in international education and have just been promoted to Dean of International Programs for the College of Science. Most of my peers in the dean’s office are science faculty-turned-administrators, so I do not match that profile and don’t have an obvious comparison group (though there are a few staff administrators like me across campus). I do have some sense of salary ranges because where I live this is public information (state institution).
My questions:
If you are a manager, especially in academic administration, what would a compelling case look like for you? How do I write it in a way that gives me the best chance of yes and the best chance at the most compensation? I have read a fair amount of advice for negotiating salary, but most of it seems like it is for starting positions or for responding to an offer, so this seems like a different case to me. They say you don’t want to be the one to say a number first. Do I put a range (e.g., in 90 days consider me for a raise of up to x%) or is that just giving them an option to give me less? My boss told me they can’t pay me more than the other staff administrator is being paid, but that person is getting 30k more than my offer and has less education, so is this just something I need to point out explicitly (there is definitely a movement toward pay equity, there were audits of job titles, published salary bands, etc.)? Should my approach be to be as open ended as possible on paper? Or is it better to be explicit about ‘I want to get to $Z/year, and this is how I plan to earn it?’ If the latter, do I make it where Z=true acceptable value + cushion for negotiating, assuming we’ll meet in the middle? Thank you!
After I was given my new salary, I spoke with my supervisor and asked if the salary was negotiable. They essentially agreed it was lower than they wanted but offered me the maximum they were allowed to without getting permission higher up the chain (basically). My supervisor told me I should “make my case” in writing and that they would review it and present it/advocate for me with my ‘grandboss’.
I have only negotiated for more one time before this and felt I left money on the table, so my question is how to make my case in the strongest possible way that will maximize my chance of getting a yes and maximize my potential increase. This seems different from other advice I’ve read on negotiating raises because a) I didn’t initiate/request consideration for promotion, and b) I already did the part where I said “I’ve contributed to University’s success by doing Project This and Project That. I would like to increase my salary to $Z. Is that possible?” And the response was...maybe? Details below.
Elements that may or may not be related:
My promotion came with no job description, and I received my letter with increased salary after my promotion was announced. I have very broad ‘buckets’ of functions, but without a job description I am having a difficult time knowing what it looks like to make my case as there aren’t obvious performance markers. And in higher education, performance isn’t as straightforward as “earned $ABC through contracts with new clients” or whatever.
My thought was to essentially make my own job description and identify short term and long term goals (maybe a 90 day review and...6 months? 9 months?) to spread out the increase I’d eventually like to get this (my supervisor recommended an incremental approach). I do know what my priorities are and what my unit’s strategic plan is.
I trust that my supervisor likes me and wants me around in a normal “we try to keep good employees” level of loyalty. I am good or very good at my job (and have a track record of “exceeds expectations” performance reviews, though those aren’t taken very seriously where I work).
One element contributing to my uncertainty about what to ask for is that I have had a somewhat strange career path. I have a PhD, have always worked in higher education, but have never been tenure track. I work in an academic unit ‘unrelated’ to my expertise. Imagine as an example that I’m an expert in international education and have just been promoted to Dean of International Programs for the College of Science. Most of my peers in the dean’s office are science faculty-turned-administrators, so I do not match that profile and don’t have an obvious comparison group (though there are a few staff administrators like me across campus). I do have some sense of salary ranges because where I live this is public information (state institution).
My questions:
If you are a manager, especially in academic administration, what would a compelling case look like for you? How do I write it in a way that gives me the best chance of yes and the best chance at the most compensation? I have read a fair amount of advice for negotiating salary, but most of it seems like it is for starting positions or for responding to an offer, so this seems like a different case to me. They say you don’t want to be the one to say a number first. Do I put a range (e.g., in 90 days consider me for a raise of up to x%) or is that just giving them an option to give me less? My boss told me they can’t pay me more than the other staff administrator is being paid, but that person is getting 30k more than my offer and has less education, so is this just something I need to point out explicitly (there is definitely a movement toward pay equity, there were audits of job titles, published salary bands, etc.)? Should my approach be to be as open ended as possible on paper? Or is it better to be explicit about ‘I want to get to $Z/year, and this is how I plan to earn it?’ If the latter, do I make it where Z=true acceptable value + cushion for negotiating, assuming we’ll meet in the middle? Thank you!
Yes, job description! With all the details of what your expanded role includes! If your institution has unionized staff positions at non-exempt levels, look to those roles for good examples of timing of evaluations.
And also if you have details from the audits, include that; a lot of times in higher ed staff roles the equity argument is going to have as much or more pull as job performance. Even better if you have comparative data from other institutions, including for public higher ed, other state agencies with similar levels, "director" or whatever. Honestly, as I think you've already gathered, "what others with my title make" is going to matter more than your specific achievements or potential achievements.
posted by epersonae at 3:59 PM on February 5, 2020
And also if you have details from the audits, include that; a lot of times in higher ed staff roles the equity argument is going to have as much or more pull as job performance. Even better if you have comparative data from other institutions, including for public higher ed, other state agencies with similar levels, "director" or whatever. Honestly, as I think you've already gathered, "what others with my title make" is going to matter more than your specific achievements or potential achievements.
posted by epersonae at 3:59 PM on February 5, 2020
Break your argument for increase up into three separate parts:
-promotion: this is about the job description, how your responsibilities will increase and thus so should your pay
-market adjustment: this is about the role itself, how they should bring your comp in line with what other people with your title have elsewhere
-merit: this one is about you, why you specifically should get paid more for the individual and irreplaceable value you and only you bring to the table
These are all very HRy reasons for pay increases and they all have specific and separate reasoning behind them. It will make your request more...palatable...for the higher ups to fit into a budget plan.
posted by phunniemee at 4:55 PM on February 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
-promotion: this is about the job description, how your responsibilities will increase and thus so should your pay
-market adjustment: this is about the role itself, how they should bring your comp in line with what other people with your title have elsewhere
-merit: this one is about you, why you specifically should get paid more for the individual and irreplaceable value you and only you bring to the table
These are all very HRy reasons for pay increases and they all have specific and separate reasoning behind them. It will make your request more...palatable...for the higher ups to fit into a budget plan.
posted by phunniemee at 4:55 PM on February 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
Lots of institutions use data from CUPA for their market-based compensation systems. If you can get access to the database, you’d have some valuable information at your hands.
posted by HotToddy at 8:48 PM on February 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by HotToddy at 8:48 PM on February 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yeah +1 get the CUPA data. I recently was in a similar boat and found my institution to be very receptive to considering salary based on what the CUPA rate was for my job title.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:29 AM on February 6, 2020
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:29 AM on February 6, 2020
Ask A Manager has a detailed guide about how to ask for a raise.
posted by fabius at 10:56 AM on February 6, 2020
posted by fabius at 10:56 AM on February 6, 2020
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posted by beyond_pink at 3:52 PM on February 5, 2020