You were hired to make a significant contribution to your company’s bottom line; you do a great job and definitely deserve to be compensated well for your work. Perhaps you’ve asked for a monetary raise or additional compensation multiple times and have been denied. Or maybe there is an internal issue that has been addressed, but hasn’t been rectified and continually affects you in the workplace.
Regardless of the situation, or the economic challenges of today, there is no reason why a company should not work with their dedicated employees in order to find a common and reasonable ground that satisfies both parties.
Get ready to make the most powerful presentation on why they need to listen to you. Nothing will be secured by walking in to your boss’ office without a strategy. Life is too short to waste on doing something that doesn’t make you happy. Obviously you need money to pay bills, feed your kids and keep a roof over your head, so you don’t want to make any hasty moves. However, you shouldn’t have to compromise your self-worth.
The following tactics will have a much greater effect on whether or not you walk out of your boss’ office with a glowing smile on your face.
Be proactive. During this process, you should be pro-active by looking into other opportunities in the event your plan doesn’t work; therefore you’re not losing any valuable time.
Analyse the situation. Fully analyse the situation that you’re in; this will make it easier for you to make sure you’re taking the right steps forward.
When asking for a monetary raise, if you’ve only been with the company for six months or if you’ve recently asked for a raise, waiting one year is sufficient time to show your boss what you’re worth. You need to wait until you have powerful examples of how you can prove your worth. Maybe you are a powerhouse dynamo that increased sales by 300% in 6 months – that is wonderful, but be patient; you don’t want to come off as being egotistical.
Also, if you see that your company is struggling just to get by, and there are layoffs happening left and right, it is not the right time to ask. Take this as a big hint.
Should there be an issue that has been addressed that has not been resolved, analyse whether or not it is something that you can live with or whether you should diplomatically address your concerns.
Know your goal and the potential consequences. Ask yourself the question, what do I want from my company after I’ve presented my case? If you want a raise, and they deny your request after you feel you have successfully presented your position, are you going to negotiate for some extra sick, personal or holiday days? Or if there is someone who you work with who is constantly trying to undermine your work, do you want the employer to talk to them directly about this problem or do you feel they should be fired? Every action has a reaction; know what you want and be ready to deal with the consequences.
Show your employer quantifiable data that justifies your position. If you cannot back up your position with factual documentation, get ready for rejection.
In regards to compensation, if you can show strong examples of how you have contributed to the company’s success, your boss is going to want to see a) strong examples of why you deserve the raise, particularly how you have contributed to the company’s success and b) that you are dedicated to making the company succeed and are not going to walk away a year after receiving the raise; this can be shown through providing examples of your plans to continue to improve upon your success.
Should your position involve a particular issue, make sure you take all opinion out of it, and focus on the facts. Your boss does not want to get involved in any cat fights.
Arriving upon reasonable compensation. Go to sites such as Salary.com, talk to people in your industry, and seek out advice from career counsellors. The more research you do, the better your chances. You don’t want to come in too low, or too high.
Stay within the boundaries agreed to when you were hired. For example, your employer may have said that you will get a 3% cost of living increase each year. If this is the case, you need to factor that percentage into the salary or compensation package you’re asking for.
Ask for recommendations. Your co-workers know your work performance better than anyone else. By asking them to provide you with a performance recommendation, not only does your employer here it from the source (which they tend to look at as biased!) but they hear it from people who do not have a financial gain in what you’re trying to accomplish. If there is someone else in the company who has been witness to a specific situation that you are dealing with, if you trust them, ask them for some supporting documentation; remember to be careful here because you want the person to feel comfortable with doing this, so make sure you preface this with them since now you’re potentially involving them.
Create an enticing presentation. Not that you need to create a PowerPoint presentation on how someone has been back-stabbing you, but you should pull together all of the factual documentation that you can. If you’re looking for a raise or additional compensation, you should present the data in a way that is professional via PowerPoint or SlideRocket.
Invite key management. This only applies to when you want to make a splash by presenting why your contribution justifies a pay raise or added benefits. The added opinion from other management members may help your boss in making his or her decision.
Pick a good time to approach your employer. Don’t choose to have a talk in the middle of a crazy work day or when you’re all on deadline. This would provide for an added level of stress to both parties.
Just remember that if you don’t put in the hard work to show why your case is justified, your company won’t budge. You are your best advocate; so show them that you are a valuable asset or use those accumulated sick or holiday days to invest in your future by making a change.
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