Email to negotiate salary offer: How to Write an Email to Negotiate a Higher Salary (With Templates)

Опубликовано: March 17, 2023 в 5:24 pm

Автор: alexxlab

Категории: Miscellaneous

How to Write an Email to Negotiate a Higher Salary (With Templates)

You have nailed that interview and received your desired job offer. Getting a job offer can be exciting, but it can turn into disappointment if your salary isn’t what you expected. The good news is, with the right approach, you can increase your chances of success in negotiating a higher salary and achieving the compensation you deserve.

Writing an effective email is an essential step in negotiating your salary. Whether you’re just starting out in your career or are a seasoned professional, we’ll help you write an effective email to negotiate the salary you deserve.

1. Begin With a Formal Greeting

Beginning an email with a formal greeting is one of the essential tips for writing an effective email. Additionally, it shows respect for the recipient and helps establish a professional relationship.

A formal greeting such as “Dear [Name]” or “Hello [Name]” is more appropriate in a business setting than a casual greeting such as “Hi” or “Hey. ” In addition to setting the tone for the email, it also helps to identify the recipient and clarify who the email is intended for.

Furthermore, you can add “Greetings of the day” or “Hope you’re doing well” in the next line. It is a common practice that serves as an icebreaker and helps to establish a more personal connection with the recipient.

2. Thank the Employer for the Job Offer

As you progress in the email, thank the employer and express your enthusiasm for the offer. Thanking the employer in an email is a great way to show appreciation and begin your email with an affirmative tone.

Besides, it can make your email more persuasive and increase the chances of a positive response from the employer. You can also include one or two lines appreciating the interview process and the people that were involved in the interview process.

Next, state your request for a higher salary promptly. You can begin by citing specific reasons why you believe you deserve it. For example, you can mention your experience, skills, and achievements and how they make you a valuable asset to the company.

Additionally, you can mention any additional responsibilities you have taken on or successes you have achieved while working at your previous company. This will help to provide a stronger case for why you deserve a higher salary.

4. Provide Concrete Examples of Your Work or Accomplishments

Further, ensure you attach or provide examples of your work or accomplishments. Highlighting specific instances of your work and the impact that you have made with examples will show your self-confidence and strengthen your employer’s trust in you.

In each instance, provide specific details and quantify the impact of your work. For example, you could mention how you increased sales by a certain percentage, improved efficiency by a certain amount, or saved the company money.

Additionally, you can organize your examples in a clear and logical manner. You can group them by theme, by project, or by the impact they had on the company.

5. Negotiate by Offering a Range, Rather Than a Specific Number

Providing a range of your expected salary can be particularly useful if you are not sure precisely what salary you should be asking for, or if you have multiple offers on the table. Moreover, it can show your employer your flexibility and that you are open to negotiation.

Research your job role on the best tools for estimating salaries online to know how much pay you deserve. This will strengthen your case while negotiating with your employer.

6. Be Prepared to Negotiate Other Aspects of the Offer

Further, you can negotiate other aspects of the offer to get the best overall package for your needs and goals. Negotiating a higher salary may not always be possible, particularly if the company has a strict budget or if the position has a set pay range.

In these cases, negotiating other aspects of the offer, such as additional vacation time, flexible work arrangements, or professional development opportunities, can prove more effective.

Lastly, end your email by thanking the employer for considering your request and expressing your continued interest in the job. Check your email for typos, spelling errors, or grammatical mistakes, which can all detract from the professionalism of your message.

By reviewing your email before sending it, you can increase the chances that it will be well-received and effective. Once you have gone through your email, send it to your employer.

As an experienced professional, you can use this template as a starting point:

Dear [Employer Name],

Hope you’re doing well.

Thank you so much for offering me the [job title] position at [Company]. I am incredibly excited about the opportunity and the potential to contribute to the success of the company.

However, I would like to discuss the salary for the position. Based on my [number] years of experience, as well as my skills and achievements [list examples], I believe I am worth a higher salary than the one offered. Hence, I would like to request a salary in the range of [desired salary range].

I have attached [list examples of your work or accomplishments] to illustrate the value I can bring to the company. I am confident that I can significantly contribute and help [Company] achieve its goals.

I am open to negotiating other aspects of the offer, such as additional vacation time or flexible work arrangements. Thank you for considering my request, and I look forward to discussing this further.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

If you’re an entry-level professional, you can try this template to negotiate a higher salary with your employer.

Dear [Employer Name],

Greetings of the day.

I am writing to express my gratitude for the opportunity to join your team as a [Job Title] at [Company]. I am excited to begin my career with such a reputed organization and contribute my skills and abilities to the company’s success.

However, after carefully considering the terms of the offer, I wanted to bring to your attention my concern about the salary being offered. As a recent graduate with limited work experience, I understand that my skills and experience may not match those of a more seasoned professional. However, I am confident in my ability to learn quickly and make valuable contributions to the team.

I have researched industry standards for the role and have found that the average salary for someone with my qualifications is [mention the range], which is higher than what has been offered.

I understand that this may not be possible given the company’s budget constraints, but I want to express my desire for a fair and competitive salary. I am willing to negotiate other benefits, including flexible work arrangements or professional development opportunities, as part of the offer.

Thank you again for the opportunity to join your team. I am looking forward to contributing to the company’s success and growth.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Negotiate a Higher Salary Successfully With a Professional Email

Negotiating a higher salary can be intimidating, especially for those new to the workforce. However, it is essential to remember that advocating for yourself and your worth is a crucial part of building a successful career. Following the tips and the templates provided in this article, you can effectively communicate your value and negotiate a fair and competitive salary.

Negotiate A Higher Salary With These 5 Email Templates

When I received my first industry interview, I was so excited.

I was one step closer to leaving academia and moving into an industry position that suited me perfectly.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I got my first industry job offer!

I couldn’t believe they were willing to pay me that much.

From my research, I knew I should negotiate to get an even higher salary.

But, I was scared that if I tried to get more money they might not want to hire me anymore.

I had to give it a try, so I set this fear aside and started negotiating.

During my next phone call with the company, I asked if it was possible to make my salary offer higher.

The recruiter said they had to check with the hiring manager and would get back to me.

A few days later, she told me the company was willing to negotiate.

They had decided to offer me a $3,000 signing bonus.

Without thinking, I accepted this offer. My negotiating had worked, or so I thought.

I learned later that my base salary was thousands of dollars less than it could have been, and the one-time signing bonus was a way to distract me from the real issue of my salary.

I thought I knew what I was doing in terms of negotiations, but I was wrong.

I didn’t know that a negotiation is a process with expected back and forth offers.

The lesson was learned.

Next time, I would be a more savvy PhD and negotiate a higher salary.

Why PhDs Should Negotiate Their Salary

Many PhDs looking to leave academia have already developed the mindset that they are not valuable.

There are too many PhDs in academia, leading to low pay and poor working conditions.

According to the National Science Foundation, the number of PhDs granted is steadily increasing. 55,000 PhDs were granted in 2015, compared to 43,000 granted ten years earlier, in 2005.

But, this increase is not matched by an increase in available academic positions, leading to a decline in the worth of a PhD in academia.

However, outside of academia, this is not the case.

Outside of academia, your PhD is very valuable.

PhDs transitioning into an industry position need to adjust their attitude so that they can see their true value and get the compensation they deserve.

If you don’t realize your value and negotiate to get a salary that matches your skill set, the potential earnings you are missing out on are huge.

According to a study by George Mason University, a mere $5,000 increase in starting salary will earn an employee $634,198 more over the course of their career.

But a survey by Careerbuilder found that 49% of job candidates do not negotiate their salary.

People who do not negotiate their salary are missing out on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars over the course of their careers.

Do not be one of those people.

In industry, it is possible to negotiate starting salary increases worth tens of thousands of dollars.

But to accomplish this, you must recognize the advantages you have as a PhD job candidate and be able to communicate to your potential employer why you deserve a higher salary.

5 Email Templates To Successfully Negotiate A Higher Salary

Salary negotiations are most effective when completed in person or on the phone.

This method forces the employer to invest more time and effort into you, increasing the chance that you will receive a higher salary.

However, many salary negotiations are done via email.

Sending the right type of email will help you secure a higher starting salary.

Negotiation emails should be polite, but direct.

Here are 5 email templates addressing various stages in the negotiation process to help you reach your salary negotiation goal…

1. Appeal to a higher authority to enhance your leverage.

Once a potential employer sends you an initial offer, let the negotiating begin.

Before you think about the next step, there are a few things you need to consider:

What is the typical salary for the position AND the location where you will be working? (Salary.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Glassdoor.com can be helpful here.)

What is your objective ranking? Are you in the top 10% of the candidate pool? Bottom 10%? Do you have any work history?

What value, specifically, do you bring to the company? What are your unique selling points?

What are the hiring trends? is this position highly sought after?

What is your ‘walk-away’ point? What salary is too low for you to work productively and support your lifestyle?

Having these answers on hand will allow the negotiation to proceed smoothly and confidently.

After receiving the initial offer, do not be overly impressed.

This first email will give you time to think about the offer, but more importantly, by appealing to a higher authority, you gain leverage.

Throughout the negotiation process, continue to provide value to the employer by reiterating your motivation to join the company.

Remember, tough negotiators might win a negotiation, but they won’t have a good relationship afterwards.

Email template 1:

Dear XXX,

Thank you for offering me the position of [your position title] at [company name]. I feel confident I will make a significant contribution to [company name/project name] over the short and long term.

Let me discuss this offer at home and get back to you in two days. In the meantime, I found this excellent article that I thought you might be interested in, given our previous conversation on ABC.

Kind regards,

XXX

2.

Respond to the initial offer.

After creating leverage by appealing to an outside authority, you can respond to their salary offer.

At this stage, do not mention numbers.

Keep the ball in their court and refrain from using language that may seem aggressive or arrogant.

Continue to remind them of the contributions you are going to make, do not be too rigid and always use win-win language.

An example of win-win language is ‘I really had in mind more than that. What can we do?’ This puts both the negotiator and the employer on the same side of the table and shows you are both trying to solve the problem.

An example of win-lose language is ‘I need $10,000 more than that’ or ‘I cannot live on that’.

Email template 2:

Dear XXX,

After discussing your offer at home, I’m very excited about this opportunity.

I know I would be a great fit for the position since I would bring XYZ skill and XYZ skill to the company.

I would like to discuss the difference between me and the highest paid person you have picked this year, and see if I am not close enough to that person’s skill set to warrant having the kind of salary offer that they received.

Thank you,

XXX

With this script, you are exploring potential solutions and are willing to compare your skills and experience, as well as present evidence of the performance you will deliver.

3. Send a counter offer to get your ideal salary.

After you receive a second offer from the company, analyze it.

Is this salary what you were expecting?

Determine how far the salary offer is from your ideal salary.

Double the difference between the current offer and your ideal salary. Add this number to the current offer. The result is your counter offer.

For example: if your current offer is $60,000 and your ideal salary is $70,000, your counter offer should be $80,000.

Negotiations often ‘meet in the middle’ and this strategy places your ideal salary right in the middle of the two offers.

Email template 3:

Dear XXX,

Thank you for the updated offer. I really appreciate your hard work on this and I am excited to get started.

However, I do believe that my contributions will be more valuable to the company. I will be able to accomplish x, y and z for the company by the end of my first year of employment.

Based on the current market, a competitive salary for this position is [your counter offer].

How can we bring the offer up to this competitive level?

Kind regards,

XXX

4. Dealing with a negative response.

Sometimes, a company will flat out refuse to negotiate with you on salary.

If you have tried a few times to negotiate your salary without success, you can start negotiating other types of compensation (bonuses, vacation time, etc. ).

However, do not negotiate these other forms of compensation until the base salary has been agreed upon.

Email template 4:

Dear XXX,

I’m really excited about this opportunity, and I understand that the salary offer is final.

Is there anything more you can do in lieu of increasing salary?

Thank you for considering this option.

Kind regards,

XXX

P.S. I have already thought of a few ideas to get started on Project X. Have you seen this latest software that could increase the efficiency of AB?

If they still refuse to negotiate, you can ask, “Who would need to be involved for us to negotiate this compensation package outside the parameters you are using right now?”

If they say no one, you may have to make a decision at this point.

If they mention another party, you may have more room and time to negotiate.

You need to be rational.

If they have already made you a solid offer, you may appear foolish at this point. But, if the offer is well under the market value for this position, this may help you get to the root of the issue.

5. Steer the conversation back to negotiating your base salary.

Your base salary is the most important thing to negotiate.

It will impact all your future bonuses and raises.

Your potential employer may try to steer you away from negotiating this base salary by offering other forms of compensation.

This is termed ‘muddying the waters’.

These other types of compensation should be negotiated only after the base salary has been agreed upon.

Email template 5:

Dear XXX,

I really appreciate your offer to include [the compensation package they offered] in my contract.

However, I would like to focus on base salary before moving on to other areas.

In regards to salary, I really had in mind more than the initial offer, but I’m really excited by this opportunity.

What can we do?

Kind regards,

XXX

Notice that you continue to be open-ended about potential solutions.

Remember that a business is a small community and you will cross paths with the people you dealt with on multiple future occasions, so it is imperative to be graceful and tactful at all times.

As a PhD who has spent many years in academia, it is possible to lose sight of your value. But, when you are transitioning from academia to industry, you must reconnect with your value in order to get the pay you deserve. The only way your future employer is going to see your value is if you communicate it to them. Once you know what your skills are worth, negotiate to get the salary to match. You are expected to negotiate your salary in industry. If you don’t negotiate, you will lose thousands of dollars and your future employer will see you as an amature. Use the above email templates to negotiate your way to your ideal salary.

If you’re ready to start your transition into industry, you can apply to book a free Transition Call with our founder Isaiah Hankel, PhD or one of our Transition Specialists. Apply to book a Transition Call here.

How to talk about money at an interview

According to hh.ru, the most common reason employers refuse potential candidates for vacancies is a discrepancy between salary offers and expectations (this reason was named by 63% of respondents). How to write on a resume and talk about a salary in an interview so as not to scare off a potential employer?

There is no consensus. Some HR managers, in any case, consider the amount indicated in the resume only as a start for a dialogue and are ready to find out the wishes of the applicant if he did not indicate them in the resume. Other recruiters prefer to send offers only to those who have indicated their salary expectations.

Alexandra Dutchak, HR manager at Modern Style : “Indicating the desired salary in the resume is already the beginning of a dialogue between the recruiter and the candidate. In large companies with a certain payroll, as a rule, there are rates that are offered for a vacancy. This occurs regardless of whether the applicant indicates the lowest threshold for proposals under consideration or the highest threshold.

“According to our experience with recruiters, it is not critical to indicate the level of salary in the resume, this item is left to the discretion of the applicant. The recruiter, as a rule, will specify the desired salary range during the initial screening interview. Our recommendation to applicants who decide to indicate their salary in their resume: first, adequately assess your market value, taking into account current skills, achievements, and correlate it with the opportunities of the market and a particular company,” says Ekaterina Alexandrova, Senior HR Consultant at ManpowerGroup HR Company.

Elena Londar, HR-Brand Award consultant : “Most recruiters don’t like resumes that don’t specify the desired salary. It is unlikely that anyone likes to listen to the indignation of a candidate who considers the salary offer inadequate to his high demands. Therefore, the last recruiter will offer a vacancy to a candidate who did not indicate a salary.

Some positions do not initially require the candidate to publicize their salary expectations. For example, a resume of a top manager or a leader who is an expert in a specific industry is unlikely to indicate the desired salary. Also, specialists who are in great demand in the labor market are not inclined to indicate the expected salary. With such candidates, the discussion of conditions takes place according to an individual scenario.

Elena Londar : “There are developers and IT specialists who dictate any conditions: they may not indicate anything at all, and they will still be bought and poached. And in the insurance and financial services market, there is a large selection of candidates, so specialists here are ready to agree to the conditions that they are offered.”

It is impossible to know in advance which recruiter your resume will fall into the hands of. Therefore, unless you have specific reasons why you would not like to disclose your salary expectations, it is better to state them.

“By indicating the desired salary, the applicant saves his time and the time of recruiters at the stage of collecting information about expectations. A specific amount will immediately attract the attention of companies that are ready to provide this level of remuneration, ”explains Maria Khaustova-Negod, coach, expert in assessing and developing business competencies .

Inflating the salary on your resume to give yourself room to maneuver is a common tactic among job seekers. But in this case, there is a danger of not reaching the “bidding” stage due to standard salary filters: “Many applicants have a fear of “cheapening”, so some indicate an inflated desired income, depriving themselves of the opportunity to be among attractive candidates, – says Alexandra Dutchak .

Sometimes a high salary listed on a resume helps to weed out uninteresting job offers. This will work if you are a professional and do not want to receive jobs designed for a beginner with low salary expectations. “I myself called applicants who indicated a significantly higher salary than the average for the market. And the candidates openly said that they set such a bar on purpose. If the candidate lists a salary slightly lower than the average in his industry, he will be able to expand the flow of offers,” explains Sergey Afanasiev, Head of Recruitment Department at RETAIL SERVICE COMPANY .

Elena Londar : “I don’t recommend overstating the amount, because during the interview it’s very easy to find out the real value of a candidate. For example, to check whether he has those competencies for which the employer is willing to pay a high salary. If there is anyone to choose from, the employer will seek to offer a vacancy to the best candidate for less money.

It is difficult for a specialist who has been working in the same company for several years in a row and does not follow the market to adequately evaluate himself. By studying offers in your field and interviewing colleagues from other companies, you can roughly determine your own value in the labor market.

Employers also do not always indicate the salary in vacancies. If you haven’t written down your desired salary level, it’s a cat-and-mouse game. Is it worth it to ask about the salary “on the forehead” at the first meeting or at the first telephone conversation? Will this not show the employer that money is the main or even the only criterion for you in finding a job.

Asking about money is absolutely normal. “You can also at the first meeting, because it removes a lot of questions for subsequent communication with the candidate,” explains Elena Londar .

The main thing is to choose the right moment. Sometimes recruiters are sympathetic to the fact that the candidate is primarily interested in the salary. “Now time is a resource more valuable than money. Therefore, it is quite correct to start a conversation with the question of the amount of payment, emphasizing that you value the time of the employer and yours, which is why you would like to clarify this nuance in the first place, ”says Maria Khaustova-Negoda .

But quite often, employers are looking for people whose interest in work is not limited to money. Without knowing what the position of the recruiter who is interviewing you is, it is better to move the question about money to the middle or end of the meeting.

Maria Khaustova-Negoda, coach, expert in assessment and development of business competencies : “When a candidate asks a question about salary right away, at the first phone call or at the beginning of a meeting, even before finding out the functionality, we can conclude that the money is now his key motive. This is neither good nor bad. This is an indicator of how the candidate will make a decision and what he will give preference to.

However, most companies still want people to come to the team not only for “money”. And so a candidate decision maker may misinterpret an active pay stance as a desire to only get rich.

Talking about money can confuse an employer if you haven’t clarified tasks and responsibilities beforehand, says Ekaterina Alexandrova : “It’s better to discuss salary closer to the end of the first meeting or leave it for subsequent meetings with the employer. The attention of the applicant, first of all, to the content of the work, interest in the tasks to be solved, increase its value in the eyes of the employer. Coming to the interview, remember: first of all you are a seller and only then – a buyer.

There are exceptions. For example, a sales specialist must be highly motivated to make money, so talking about salary is a mandatory part of the interview for such a candidate. “Applicants for sales divisions are always talking about money out of the gate, and for such an area, this is normal. People come to earn money, so there can be no violation of business etiquette here,” says Elena Londar .

“For vacancies with a mass selection – a loader, a salesman, a forklift driver – the question about money is also appropriate at the very first stage of the interview. Candidates tend to always ask about salary first,” says Sergey Afanasiev . This is due to the fact that when hiring for such positions, interviews are quick and do not involve the discussion of any special conditions.

But the position of a professional, specialist or top manager, according to Sergei, requires a different approach. “In this case, questions about salary at the very beginning of the conversation will not be entirely appropriate,” he explains. — It is more important to deal with mutual expectations: to what extent a person fits the vacancy, how close the functionality offered in the position is to him. And only after that it is worth moving on to discussing the compensation package. Salary here will be only one of its components.

An inflexible salary offer is difficult to change in your favor. If the rates for specific positions in the company are clearly defined, most likely, the employer, with all the desire, will not be able to offer you more. Exceptional conditions for a newcomer will very quickly become known to other employees, and this will create additional tension in the team. If the employer is ready to negotiate salary, it is better to prepare for them in advance:

Ekaterina Alexandrova, Senior HR Consultant at ManpowerGroup : “It is important to define three numbers for yourself. The first is the minimum, below which you will not agree to the offer, no matter how attractive it may be in other respects. The second one is perfect for you. But this figure should not exceed the maximum characteristic of the industry, function and your professional level. The third digit is a cross between the first two, the level that is comfortable for you.”

High demands must be supported by the real value of your work for the company. When naming the desired salary above the market average, you need to be prepared for the fact that the recruiter will check the adequacy of your assessment of your own skills: “I had cases when a candidate wanted a salary above the market, but in the process of negotiations we came to the conclusion that his competencies and experience don’t cost as much as he asks. It happened that a person left to think or went through several more interviews in other companies with the same result, received feedback, and then returned to me with more adequate salary expectations, ready to gain new experience, grow and claim more income, ”says Elena Londar .

Alexandra Dutchak, HR manager at Modern Style : “If a candidate asks for a higher salary than the company offers, then I say straight out that conditions are lower for this position. I prefer to be honest with candidates while maintaining the reputation of the company. If it is possible to offer additional functionality and there is a budget, then you can discuss new conditions with the candidate by inviting him to a new meeting.”

It is difficult to agree on a better offer for yourself when many specialists with approximately the same skill level apply for one vacancy. Too persistent attempts to increase your salary at the stage of hiring are fraught with refusal for the applicant. It is better to postpone this conversation until the moment when you prove yourself to be an expert in your field.

Sergey Afanasyev, Head of Recruitment Department at RETAIL SERVICE COMPANY : “A candidate’s desire to get some benefits for himself at the first stage may scare away the employer – they will prefer to take on a more accommodating and manageable one. Because the job positions do not require unique skills. Here you can advise to return to the conversation about the salary in the process of work. Try to move forward, raise your level and then start negotiations on a salary increase.

A lot depends on how urgently you need a job. If the search process is limited to the shortest possible time, then it is better to indicate the amount based on the level of wages in similar positions in different companies, believes Olga Kotelnikova, Deputy General Director for Human Resources at Rigla . If there is time in the reserve, you can indicate salary expectations above the average figures, but the prospects for early employment may decrease.

If your salary expectations do not match the employer’s possibilities, it is worth discussing other options to increase your own benefit from the offer. Often, companies compensate employees for the costs of transport and mobile communications, they can provide for personal use a car, laptop or other equipment necessary for work. Also, often the compensation package includes VHI for the employee, less often for members of his family.

Sergey Afanasiev, Head of Recruitment at RETAIL SERVICE COMPANY : “You can look for other opportunities to compensate for the difference in expectations. For example, prospects, training programs, the value of a line in a resume with the name of this particular company. So a candidate can increase his value in a couple of years of work in a company significant for the industry. Such a prospect can become an argument to agree to a lower salary.”

An offer for a top-level specialist takes into account his interests in the market. In addition to the amount of remuneration, here the recruiter and the candidate will discuss all the possible benefits: “Such vacancies involve the totality of all the privileges that the employee receives – it is more correct to call it a value proposition. Various factors influence its formation: business prospects, a growing market or a falling one, a local company or a global player,” explains Sergey Afanasiev .

By the way, even at the stage of searching for vacancies on hh.ru, you can make sure that vacancies with the highest salary offers are in the top of the search results. To do this, use the advanced search, specify the professional areas and other options you are interested in, check “Hide vacancies without salary indication” and select the sorting option in descending order of salaries.

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How to discuss a salary increase: 8 tips from a manager situation. But the most important thing is that the employee should have a sense of inner comfort, something that he gives to the company as his contribution to the results, and the employer more than returns in the form of a compensation package.

And it’s not just salary, but also bonuses, promotions, insurance, training programs, ESG activities, etc.

So, how do you prepare for negotiations with a manager?

Find out what affects pay increases

Start by asking your employer’s rules. Going through the procedures will be easy if the company has adopted that employees know what affects the salary increase. In such a corporate culture, the mechanism will be transparent.

For example, the entire company does sales, and the contribution of each division is written in the strategic planning stage and then taken into account in the result. Then the employees understand what they all signed together and what they did.

This applies to the front office (sales, marketing, service), development and back office (finance, HR, operations). Within each division, the dynamics of performance and results for employees are also spelled out. If they didn’t fulfill the plan, then they didn’t receive encouragement, but everyone understands why and tries to adjust the strategy and tactics together.

Read on:

Six Mistakes Employees Make When Asking for a Pay Raise

Have you raised your salary? Plan your next steps

In these companies salary increases are part of the overall planning process . But such flexibility and a motivating corporate culture have not yet been introduced everywhere, and salary procedures are often classified. The following recommendations provide clarity on how to proceed in these cases.

Help the manager go through internal procedures

If the manager is not the owner of the company, then the manager of any level will need to justify the increase in the employee’s salary to his boss and the financial department. He will have to go through several stages of approval and complete it by the time the payroll (wage fund) is discussed.

To speed up the approval process, you can prepare a justification template in a corporate format, including the most significant work achievements, assessed by management, and what they brought to the company.

The justification usually contains the following parts:

full name, position, department, direct manager, HR manager, as well as stakeholders – representatives of cross-functional teams, whose opinion is worth asking.
Key priorities for the past period and results on them according to the assessment grades adopted by the company.

For example, in international companies, to justify a salary increase, estimates of outstanding (outstanding) are needed, and only exceed expectations (exceeding expectations) is not enough.

Participation in the internal life and projects of the company (not direct functional duties). For example, it can be ESG activities or organizing a master class at a holiday for the company’s children with positive feedback.
Additional education, advanced training, internal and external trainings, professional certifications for financial specialists.
Internal awards (for example, “Best Public Sector Sales Employee of the Year”) and external awards (top 100 in the ranking of PR specialists), as well as public speeches, articles.
Calculations of inflation for the period of work with links to official sources to argue how the purchasing value of wages has decreased when it comes to compensation.

You can make a justification in a text file, including the necessary data and calculations, or you can enter it into the HR system if it is accepted in the company. Then the manager and the HR manager, whose approval is usually required, can more quickly pass the request up for a decision. And the manager will be pleased that his time was saved.

It is important to take into account that usually employees’ salaries increase from the beginning of the financial year. At the same time, the budget of the unit, taking into account the increased payroll, begins to be discussed in advance. In large companies, this is 2-3 months.

If your increase was not entered into the financial systems at the right time, most likely, you will have to wait for the next opportunity and the budgeting period . When a company grows rapidly, business models or business processes change, it can take a quarter or half a year. We must try to guess and not be upset if we have to wait longer than we would like.

Ask for a face-to-face meeting and prepare

If the balance of give and take in your relationship with your employer is off, don’t come forward. Such a step can create a pressure effect and deprive you of the support of the leader.

It is worth going from the other side, more interesting to your superiors. This may be a personal meeting where you will discuss the results of the work and plans for the future. It is important to choose the moment , for example, after a successful review or the completion of a quarter.

At the meeting, start by asking for feedback and advice . If the manager does not ask himself, invite him to talk about what went well and what caused difficulties recently, share ideas on how to make the processes in which you are involved more effective.

A sales manager in an international IT company closed several important company-wide deals in the first and second quarters. At the same time, the latter was personally supervised by its leader.

During the previous three years of work, the employee also fulfilled the plan, but stood out from the group. In addition, he organized a cross-functional project team and took an active part in marketing activities, showing himself to be an enterprising and loyal employee.

At a personal meeting with the manager, who did not hide his satisfaction with the results, the manager asked what prospects he might have in the company and shared his opinion that in the new financial year it is worth allocating resources for focus sales in the retail sector. He expects demand and is ready to build on the success of recent quarters there.

The employee was prepared and knew that such organizational issues should be discussed in advance. It turned out that at a recent strategic session, the opening of a direction was just being discussed, and the head promised that he would consider his candidacy for a new position.

As a result, the employee received an increase in grade, was appointed the head of the department with a team in his subordination, and his income increased by 25%.

Explore what arguments might work

If an employee is expecting a promotion, they should be prepared to take on more responsibility. It is necessary to independently propose new tools to improve efficiency, initiate projects and supplement current responsibilities. If we are not talking about empowerment, you need to prove with facts in hand that you deserve better in this position.

Some managers have a negative attitude towards the comparison of salaries in their company with others, suspecting the disloyalty of employees in this. But such justification as inflation can work. The argument “My income does not cover my costs – I need to think about how I could increase the first part” was repeatedly accepted, as well as job offer from another company.

An increase in salary with the same responsibilities can be justified by an increase in efficiency and give the facts : “began to sell more for …”, “faster and better prepare documents for …”, “write faster for … » etc.

The IT infrastructure support manager of the company’s offices in 7 cities of Russia and neighboring countries has not received a salary increase for more than 10 years, which consisted only of a fixed part. He changed managers every 1-2 years, who simply did not have enough time to discuss and implement any increase.

In preparation for the arrival of a new boss, the employee analyzed the dynamics of offers on the market and inflation over the years of his work and prepared a rationale for a salary increase based on the market situation. He also included positive annual reviews and a comment about his marital status, explaining why his income doesn’t cover his expenses.

After a very successful meeting with the new manager at the end of the first joint quarter, the employee showed his calculations, and the manager agreed to request a raise as exception from the general rules, according to which one would have to wait at least another 6 months.

The new employer had a good relationship with his boss and knew the corporate procedures in detail. As a result, the employee received a 30% increase in the fixed part.

Negotiate in a coaching style

It is useful to use coaching approaches even if the employee has not been trained in leadership. After all, the most durable decisions are those that a person has made himself.

In order to encourage a leader to make the right decision, one must firstly ask more questions and, secondly, identify problems and ask for advice. For example, you can build a conversation using phrases:

“Tell me, how do you rate my work?”;
“What do you think about the deal with this bank?”;
“My income no longer covers my expenses due to the mortgage. What options do I have at my current place of work to solve this problem”;
“An addition is expected in my family, I am very interested in increasing my own income. What are the new challenges facing the unit that I could take on?

Consider the corporate culture

The processes for changing compensation in a number of corporate cultures are organized differently. Therefore, it is important to understand what features prevail in the team of the leader, whose responsibility is to make a decision.

For example, in cultures of the “purple” (family-clan) level (according to the typology of Clare Greaves’ Spiral Dynamics), where the leading values are belonging, kinship and tradition, the discussion of salary is often a painful process. After all, the very fact of belonging to a clan is a kind of reward for work.

And the employee proposing compensation questions the core value of the organization.

Conversely, in corporate cultures that have reached a “green” level, salary information may be generally public. Values here include harmony, equality and social acceptance as well as self-fulfillment.

In such a culture, an increase in pay, if, of course, it is lower than that of colleagues of the same level, can be seen as a legitimate action and an encouragement to create more equitable relationships.

Specify the size of the increase to avoid disappointment

In different organizations, a salary increase can mean completely different things. It is important to clarify this when discussing a promotion with your manager.

Study payroll analytics for similar positions, inflation with calculation for the period of non-increase in wages, if we are talking about indexation. If in Russian companies they can increase salaries by 10-30%, then in the practice of international companies, an increase in fixed compensation by 2-8% can be considered worthy.

Fix the agreement with the manager

If it was not possible to receive confirmation of the readiness to raise wages, it is necessary to clarify when and under what conditions the conversation can be resumed. And return to him at the appointed time or if the conditions are met.

If the manager promised to increase the compensation within a certain period, then it is worth clarifying whether the employee should provide any additional information, for example, facts to prepare the rationale, or remind at some time in order to be in time for the payroll discussion.