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Asking for a Raise
JusticeforPluto
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I started working for my current company just over 6 months ago. Now, since then I have moved from Team A to Team B. That happened about 3 months into the job. I like working in Team B a lot better. However, there is also a Team C. Team C gets more money than Team A. The work I do with Team B seems to be closer in line with Team C's work, and the reason for the extra pay (harder, more detail focused work) applies to me at Team B.
Team B is a new venture. I am the first employee at my level to work there. I brought it up with my boss that since others get a raise for similar types of work, shouldn't I as well. He seemed to agree and said he would bring it up but I haven't heard any thing about it.
From my perspective, with in 3 months of hiring me they felt I was good enough to move over to a new position and help the Team I'm on grow and develop. I'm clearly valued above the there employees they didn't give this promotion to. I was told it would be harder work. I feel I should get paid more. I'm currently at 12 an hour and would like 15, matching Team C.
My dad, however, disagrees. He said that I'm new there and should be happy in my current position. He said if management feels I deserve a raise I will get one. Yet, this is a new position, so I don't know if they have though out the pay scale of it yet.
What do you think? Should I bring it up again? If so, how?
Team B is a new venture. I am the first employee at my level to work there. I brought it up with my boss that since others get a raise for similar types of work, shouldn't I as well. He seemed to agree and said he would bring it up but I haven't heard any thing about it.
From my perspective, with in 3 months of hiring me they felt I was good enough to move over to a new position and help the Team I'm on grow and develop. I'm clearly valued above the there employees they didn't give this promotion to. I was told it would be harder work. I feel I should get paid more. I'm currently at 12 an hour and would like 15, matching Team C.
My dad, however, disagrees. He said that I'm new there and should be happy in my current position. He said if management feels I deserve a raise I will get one. Yet, this is a new position, so I don't know if they have though out the pay scale of it yet.
What do you think? Should I bring it up again? If so, how?
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For most mid-size to large companies, raises are something that you could expect management to entertain after 12-18 months of (good) work. A bit less for smaller companies, but that's the norm.
I wouldn't recommend bringing this up more than once a month, it sounds like your current manager is aware (and approves?), which is a good start.
As a manager, one piece of advice I can offer is to base the merit of your raise on your own work - not on what others are doing. Anytime I got into a raise conversation with an employee that started with "I work harder than X person" 90% of the time my brain shut off.
Seriously, that's about it. You're probably not going to get fired on the spot for daring to ask for a raise. Worst case is they'll say "no." Bring up specific instances of work you've done that exceeds what was required of you. Make a case for why you are valuable and should be given a raise.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
Also as previously said, you probably should not compare what other people are making, and instead focus on the increased workload/difficulty of the work after you switched from A to B.
I'm not trying to rag on your dad but this is terrible advice. The starting point when dealing with new management is that they do not care one whit about what you deserve. Definitely don't start out hostile to management and be open to management being proactively positive. Just assume that to get what you want you will need to ask.
Um, I'm sorry you've apparently had garbage managers but this is in no way a universal truth. Myself and other managers whom I've worked with keep themselves up at night trying to find ways for their directs to succeed. Many big companies gauge the success of their managers on how well they throughput employees into other roles in the organization.
Sure you can have shitty managers but for every shitty manager there are 5 shitty employees often. Do your work, build a rapport with your manager, have a good attitude and help out others and you will succeed 9 times out of 10.
To OP one great tactic I've used in the past is that even if you're not eligible for a raise today create a development plan with your manager to help get you where you need to be in order to get that raise. This gives you clear goal posts to aim for and makes it a hell of a lot easier for your manager in making a case for your raise also. It's also the kind of thing you can approach her/him with tomorrow to get started.
There are tricks that help with successful raise asks.
I usually wait till I make a shit pot of money on a project, or we just start a ton of work so me being unhappy would cause disruption, but before I start I know what I want and I can reasonably achieve.
Most of the time unless you are super critical you won't be able to get more than 5%, and that's if you are really doing well. If you want more than that you will need to find another employer. 3% is sort of the average for just asking for a raise...also ask for an extra week of vacation, you'll often get it. Now if you haven't gotten a raise in a while or are super underpaid shoot higher, just be prepared for a lower number back.
Also if you are a wage employee and they offer you a buck, ask for a buck and a quarter. I've never seen that not succeed.
So you know what you want and what they can reasonably afford. Pick the right day and right time of day. I would say go after their first cup of coffee on Thursday, that way they are talking about it on Friday.
But I agree with Nobeard, Satanismymotor is right to an extent management does try to help subordinates succeed and grow career wise especially the all star performers, but in terms of raises the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Now that being said, I expect more out of employees I pay more. I'm going to work someone I pay 30 bucks an hour like a rented mule, whereas I am more forgiving of mistakes and slowness from an 18 dollar an hour employee. My 70k-100k employees I expect them to peer review each others work and have minimal mistakes. So don't be surprised if a raise comes with additional responsibilities.
While this is true, the fathers advice is terrible as well.
You should never assume that bosses will give you a raise when you are deserving of one.
Some might, the good ones will certainly make an effort to. But some will be happy to keep you at your current pay indefinitely.
Glad to hear about another good manager! Please understand that my point is not that most managers are out to take advantage of you. My criticism is more specifically against the idea that the best way to get what you want is to not ask. In any business, assume that no one is proactively putting your best interest first. That does not mean it's all a rat race. Just that you are your own best advocate.
In my work history the best managers were generally pleased to have honest and clear feedback, even if it's asking for a raise.
I will reactively give raises on occasion (which is not uncommon). If an employee comes to me and asks for a raise, I pull out their job description and we talk about why the compensation isn't satisfactory. If nothing has changed from hire but the person doing the job well, I'm not going to give an individual raise (because that is what our annual global raises are for). If the person demonstrates that the job has sufficiently changed or increased in scale or scope from when they were hired, I then look to either determine if the answer is to hire another person (in questions of extreme scale changes) or if the best solution is to pay that person more by reclassifying their job to include their new responsibilities. In most situations I've been in, the answer is reclassifying and giving a raise (because you should pay people appropriately for what they do!). Twice (both a while back when I was in private sector) the answer was simply that the responsibilities that had been put on the person didn't make sense (both time from sub-managers/previous managers overworking their employees) which led to hiring more people and removing the sub-manager. I'd rather give the raise, but sometimes the situation is just that you can't collapse 9 people's jobs into one and expect a successful workforce, even if you increase that person's salary exponentially.
Assuming your management will electively give you a raise is pretty odd/wrong in most contexts I've worked. Historically, that made sense back in the 1950s/60s era where company loyalty values were a bit stronger pre-steelbelt collapse. Modern US company culture just doesn't work that way, nor do budgets for the most part.