Thought Leadership in Action

You work hard, you know you do a great job and you deserve a raise. But have you ever asked for one? The odds are you haven’t, according to a study from Payscale, a provider of compensation data and software.

Over 30,000 employees participated in the Payscale survey and  57% had never asked for a raise. True, 38% had a great reason not to request a boost to their salary – they received raises before they could ask.

However, a lot of the workers (28%) simply felt too uncomfortable to ask for more money and almost 20% were concerned they might seem too pushy.

If you are trying to get up your nerve to finally have a talk with your boss about why your salary should be increased, take heart. There are specific strategies to help you nail that raise.

Do Your Homework Before a Meeting to Discuss a Raise

Is the salary you think you deserve reasonable? Find out by getting the facts about how much others in your field who work in the same part of the country are earning. These websites can help: SalaryExpert.com and the Labor Department’s Occupational Handbook.

However, it's not enough to know how much money other people with your job title make. When you talk to your boss about a raise, you need to have facts at hand about why you should be making as much as others in your field due to your accomplishments. If you’ve been involved in a project that saved or earned your company money, make sure you note that during a salary negotiation. Writing down why you are an asset to your employer will remind you of the reasons you deserve a raise and build your confidence before meeting with your manager.

Consider whether your organization is doing well financially before you make an appointment to ask for a raise. You can search online for business news and published data about the company’s financial health. If you find out your employer’s business is booming, you’ll feel less anxious about appearing pushy when you ask for a raise.

Should you find the company has financial woes, postpone asking for more money.

Tips from Payscale on How to Successfully Negotiate a Raise:

If all appears well with your employer financially, set up a definite appointment to speak to your manager about your salary request, but plan what you are going to say before the meeting. Remember that negotiating a raise isn’t just about asking for more money. It involves being prepared and presenting your request in a thoughtful, fact-based way. Make a list of questions about your company’s priorities and consider how you will respond to queries about how you can help the organization with challenges and goals.

Don’t demand a bigger paycheck because of how hard you work. Consider your words carefully and stick to objective facts about why you are worth more money to the company.

Stay calm, even if things don’t seem to be going your way. Be assertive but remain professional, gracious, factual and specific. By controlling your emotions, you’ll think and respond to any questions more clearly.

Some companies insist that pay is tied to specific job titles of levels. That can make negotiating your salary more difficult if you have a job title that doesn’t match the salary you want. However, there’s a strategy that can work.

“Instead of coming at them with a specific salary number, find out what job titles correlate to the salary you have in mind and ask to be considered for a performance evaluation sooner,” Aubrey Bach, Payscale’s Marketing Manager, explained in Payscale’s Salary Negotiation Guide. “Then pick your boss's brain (and appeal to his or her ego a bit) and ask for specific pointers about what you can do in the next couple of months to qualify for the job title or level you have in mind.”