Negotiating a raise with numbers
The conversation goes better when it is about the market and the work, and not about you...
Most people ask for a raise once, badly, and then not again for years. The asking is rarely the problem. The preparation is.
Three numbers to bring
- What the role pays elsewhere. Two or three current advertisements for your job at your level, in your city. Not a survey. Actual roles, with the salary in the listing.
- What you have done since your pay was set. Specific, and where possible with a figure: revenue, saved hours, a team you now run.
- The number you are asking for. Say it. A range invites the bottom of it.
How to say it
Ask for a meeting about pay, so nobody is ambushed. In the meeting, give the market number first, then the work, then the ask. Then stop talking. The silence is uncomfortable and it is doing the work for you.
If the answer is no
Ask what would need to be true for it to be yes, and when you can revisit. Write the answer down and send it back in an email the same day. Six months later, that email is the opening of the next conversation.
What not to do
Do not mention your rent, your mortgage or your partner's job. The company is not paying for your life; it is paying for the work. Keep the conversation there and it stays winnable.
Anita Desai
Twelve years in pensions administration, now writing Atlas full time. Believes every money question has a worked example, and that most advice skips it.
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