Asking for a raise...

SeñorAmor

In about 10 minutes (as I'm about to leave the office), I'm going to request about 15 minutes of my boss' time tomorrow to "talk about some stuff" (namely my current salary).

I've only ever asked for a raise once before (same boss, several years ago), and I want to make sure I go about this the correct way. My boss is one of those types that takes advantage of people willing to accept minimal pay, of which I am not one. He does not like to spend money, and I want to go in with an ironclad case so that there's no logical way for him to say "no".

As the sole IT person here, I am responsible for a multitude of jobs. My title (which he had me come up with) is IT Manager, but I'm the go-to guy for anything computer-related. I am the resident network admin, webmaster, web developer, programmer and tech support guy. I basically make sure everything stays running so everyone else has a job.

To that end, I feel like I'm vastly underpaid. I work for a smaller company, but I'm pretty sure it's in the budget to pay me what I deserve. I've done my research and looked up average salaries for jobs with similar duties in my state (Wisconsin) and even narrowed it down to my county. I have printouts from this site that show someone with my skill set should be making far more than what I currently make.

I'm not naive enough to expect my boss to double my salary, but I also don't want to get strong-armed into a salary that's lower than what I deserve. I was given a 3% raise at the beginning of the year, so I suspect he'll counter with that fact, and I want a cordial way to counter his counter.

I'm expecting child #2 in 4 months, and while that's not relevant to the conversation I will be having with my boss, I need the additional income to supplement the increased bills I will have.

Any suggestions you guys can provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

m4v1s

The recent job study done at my work went something like this. Write the job description that reflects your current responsibilities and duties. Then compare that to the responsibilities and duties listed in your official job description. Now you have something to point at and say "Look at the things that I do that I am not being paid to do." Hopefully this will help make your point.

McViking

My advice: don't ask for a raise. Ask for a performance review. Do this annually, whether you intend to ask for a raise or not. The performance review should document:

* What your job description says you do
* What duties you actually perform
* How well your supervisor feels you perform those duties
* How well you feel you perform those duties
* How you and your supervisor foresee your duties changing over the coming year
* Then, finally, any amendments to your job description/title and additional compensation you should get

You and your supervisor both sign it, then you both file copies until next year's review on the anniversary of your hire date.

This does a few things to protect both you and your employer. One, it documents any gap between your job description and your job performance. Maybe your supervisor knows you're fulfilling additional roles. Maybe they don't. But if you've got a piece of paper you've both signed, they can't plead ignorance. They have to say, on paper, that they know what duties you're performing, and how well, and that you are or aren't worth additional compensation for that. This is also vital if you ever get dismissed from your job. If you can show that you've had years of positive performance reviews signed by your employer, you're in much better shape than if you can just say, "well, I thought I was doing a good job".

Your signed review from last year should be the basis of your review for this year. "Remember how we said last year that I would be transitioning into more of a managerial role? See it here on this piece of paper with your signature on it? That never happened." Or, from your manager's perspective, "Remember how we said last year that we would give you a raise in exchange for taking on more database duties? See this paper with your signature on it? You never assumed those duties."

It gives both parties a concrete basis on which to make decisions about raises, and makes it less about you wanting a raise and more about you being fairly compensated for the work that you both know you're doing or are going to do. It gives you protection and documentation should you become unemployed. And it gives your employer protection should they need to fire you, because they can have signed documentation that says you weren't up to snuff and were told so in your performance review for two years running.

If your employer is resistant to documenting the job you're doing and providing a signed evaluation of it, trouble awaits.

neville

a 3% "Raise" is really just standard of living and is pretty common, as long as you are meeting expectations.
It shouldn't be valid as a counter-argument for why you shouldn't get a real raise.

bowen

A big key to asking for more money is highlighting how important you are, and how much money you've saved the company, and how much money you can continue to save the company.

In IT, we're sort of a sunk cost, by the books we look like we add no value, and usually negative values. Putting it in terms of what you've done to help makes those negative numbers vanish.

Unknown

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