I've posted several times on how you can get a raise, but this is a topic I never get tired of covering. So today I'm going to highlight a tip from Money magazine on how to get a bigger raise. Their thoughts:
Smart companies "always have a little something in their back pocket ... to use when they need it - say to keep an employee they can't afford to lose," said Dallas-based compensation consultant Rebecca Elkins.
Say you fit that category, and you request an 8 percent raise when the company typically has offered you 4.5 percent.
Smart managers would ask themselves, "Am I willing to lose this person for $500 a month?" Minneapolis-based compensation consultant Jim Fox said. "If they're concerned about losing you, that extra money is minuscule, pennies compared to what it will cost to replace you."
Yep, this is 100% true. I've been in this situation as a manager a few times in my career and while it's never really a decision you want to make (it does, after all, cost the company more money), it's usually the right decision. You simply can't afford to lose a key person for what is, in the overall scheme of things, a rather small amount. Sometimes you have to say "no" no matter what (like if the company is on hard times and has a pay freeze), but otherwise there's almost always extra money that can be found if the manager really wants to.
Here's what Money says you should do to get the bigger raise:
The day of your review is not the time to negotiate a higher raise since your manager has already gotten approval for the increase he's budgeted. Your campaigning should start months before. "You have to sell yourself all year round. Don't be shy about telling your manager, 'Hey, I did this,'" Elkins said.
Good stuff again. I've covered it before -- several times actually. See these posts for details:
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