Is Now the Time to Ask for a Raise?

Here's a piece from CNBC that says during a bad economy is one of the best times to ask for a raise. Their thoughts:

A lot of people are taking on more responsibilities because companies have laid off people. Taking on more responsibility makes a person more valuable to the organization. And that’s why they can ask for a raise.

They then give some steps on how to ask for a raise:

The first step, most pros agree, is that you have to do your homework. Use a site like Payscale.com, Salary.com or Glassdoor.com to figure out what the salary range is for your profession so you have a reasonable ballpark of what to ask for heading into the meeting with your boss.

Plus, know where your company is financially.

Then, and this is a crucial step, do a self-evaluation. Make a list of what your job responsibilities are. Maybe you’re doing the work of two people after that last round of layoffs, or, like, Viscio, you’re doing the work of the next level up — without the pay.

Then make a list of all the reasons why they should pay you more. Are you bringing in more money or more clients than last year? Are you helping to cut costs? What they want to know now if they’re going to even think about paying you more is — How are you improving the company’s bottom line?

Here are my thoughts on this issue:

• Potentially, anytime is a good time to ask for a raise. You just need to fit the criteria for getting one.
• The criteria for getting a raise is making sure you deserve a raise (for details, see How to Demonstrate that You Deserve a Raise.) In short, you need to know what your employer expects from someone having your job and you need to be doing MORE than what is required (and doing it well.)
• In addition, the more your accomplishments have to do with making or saving money for the company/organization, the better. These are usually more vital positions and if you're hitting home runs in them, you're a great candidate for a raise.
• If you have met all of these AND your company is doing well financially, ask for a raise! It doesn't get any better than this.
• If you have met all of these BUT your company is not doing well financially, you can still ask for a raise, but you'll just need to take a different tone (not as aggressive and stating that you know the company is in rough shape but that you are contributing a great deal, etc.)
• Be prepared to hear "no." If you get a negative response, ask for an explanation. If it seems like a good reason, then see if there are other ways you can be compensated (extra time off, special company perks, working flex time, etc.)
• If the response is "no, no, no" to everything and you're a really strong performer, then it's probably time to explore other job opportunities. It's apparent that you're not going to grow your career even though you're a star player.
• If you're not a star player and/or have a position that's easily filled and/or a job that's not that important to the company, I have bad news for you -- it's unlikely that you'll get decent raises even in good times. You need to either change your performance and/or job or be content with the few (and small) raises that the organization gives you on its own. Perhaps you're happy with your job and this arrangement and if so, fine. But I don't have any answers for those of you who do not perform or have a meaningful job and still want to get good raises. Sorry.

I've actually written on the topic of how to ask for a raise several times. If you want more thoughts on this subject, check out these posts:

• How to Ask for a Raise
• How to Ask for a Raise
• How to Ask for a Raise

Yes, those are three different posts. I'm a creative one with names, aren't I? ;-)

Comments

[jim]

I work for a big company that has an annual review process which is used to determine raises. There are no raises outside the review process.

Do most people work in jobs where raises are given ad hoc or asked for rather than given on some sort of schedule or system?

[RJ]

I think both circumstances exist, Jim. A lot of companies do have annual reviews in place just for this purpose. No raises outside the review process is more true for the more established organizations.

If you're working for a start-up that's growing very fast, but doesn't have any procedures in place you can ask any time.

Great post, by the way.

[HenryTalksMoney]

In an ideal environment, raises would come with added responsibilities or noteworthy performances. Scheduled raises seem to remove any real incentive to outperform, while not having a system in place makes employees really uncertain about their financial situations.

[Paul Michael]

I use to work for this company that every month was telling us that the raises are coming the next one, and finally I decided it is time for something new, at the company I work right now, we have a salary raise proportional to our activity every six months.It is not worth spending too much time i a company that does not offer you what you need