What is the right way to ask for a salary increase? Powerful words.

How to ask your boss for a salary increase so as not to spoil your relationship with him and to remain the winner? Colady Magazine Certified Experts (Psychologists and Psychotherapists) answer. The mercantile issue of raising salaries is always considered inconvenient and “delicate” in our society. However, a person who knows his own worth well, will be able to find ways to resolve this issue, and will enter into a direct conversation with his superiors.

Take advantage of our valuable advice!

When to ask for a pay raise? Choosing the right moment

As you know, the management of any company will not be too quick to raise wages to its employees until it is interested in their more energetic activities, while increasing their efficiency. Raising wages is often a lever of influence on workers, a means of stimulating their involvement in business, bonuses for a good job with the prospect of being “even better”.

Thus, a person who decided to ask the management of the company to reconsider his salary must “collect in an iron fist” all his emotions, and think over the argumentation very thoroughly. So how do you ask for a pay raise?

1. The first thing to do before directly talking about a pay rise is to scout out the situation in the company. You need to carefully ask employees if there is a practice in the company – to raise salaries, for example, at a certain time, once every six months or a year. It is also necessary to determine who specifically depends on the increase in salary – from your boss, or from a higher boss, to whom, according to the regulations, you do not have the opportunity to contact.
2. You should also determine the level of inflation in the region for the last year, as well as the average salary level of specialists of your profile in the city, region – this data can be useful to you in a conversation with the management, as argumentation.
3. For such a conversation, you need to choose the right day, avoiding “emergency” days, as well as obviously difficult – for example, Friday, Monday. do not be late for work before you plan to start a conversation about a pay increase. The best time for this conversation is after the successful completion of some kind of global work in the company, a successful project in which you took a direct and noticeable part. You should refrain from talking about a salary increase if the company is expected or undergoing inspections, major events, major restructuring and reorganization are expected.
4. If suddenly a competing company drew attention to you as a potential employee, this is a very favorable moment to talk about adding to the salary as a means of keeping you in the same place.
5. If we talk directly about the time of the conversation, then, according to research by psychologists, it should be scheduled for the very middle of the day, at noon – one in the afternoon. It’s good if you can ask your colleagues or the secretary in advance about the boss’s mood.
6. The conversation with the boss should be carried out only one-on-one, without the presence of colleagues or other visitors at the boss. If the boss has a lot of things to do, postpone the conversation, do not ask for trouble.

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How do you prepare for a pay raise conversation? Determining the arguments

1. Before asking for a salary increase from the director, you must accurately determine all your positive qualities, as well as your significant role in the work of the entire team. Remember and first list for yourself all your merits, production achievements and victories. If you had any special incentives – letters of gratitude, gratitude, it is worth remembering them and then mentioning them in the conversation.
2. In order to ask for a wage increase, you must firmly know the amount for which you are applying, it must be thought out in advance. It often happens that an employee’s salary is raised by no more than 10% of his previous salary. But there is a little trick here – to ask for an amount a little more of your salary, so that your boss, bargaining a little and lowering your bar, still stops at the 10% you expected at the beginning.
3. In advance, you must abandon the pleading tone, any “pressure on pity” in the expectation that the boss’s heart will tremble. Tune in to a serious conversation, because this is, in fact, business negotiations necessary in normal work. Like any business negotiations, this process requires an accurate formulation of a business plan – it must be drawn up when going to go to the authorities.
4. Before an important conversation, you need to determine for yourself a range of questions that may be asked to you, as well as think over the exact and most reasoned answers to them. Insecure people can rehearse this conversation with any other understanding person, or even go to a psychologist for a consultation.

Read also: 7 clear signals that you are being manipulated

How exactly should you ask for a raise? Effective words, phrases, methods

• It should be borne in mind that almost all business leaders have a rather negative attitude towards phrases like “I came to ask for a salary increase” or “I believe that my salary needs to be increased”. It is necessary to approach this issue very subtly, and start the conversation not with phrases about increasing the salary, but about indexing it. The result, in this case, can be achieved, but with a more subtle psychological maneuver.
• In no case should you start a conversation with the manager with the phrases “I work alone in the department”, “I, like a bee, work for the good of the team without days off and holidays” – this will lead to the exact opposite result. If the manager does not kick you out of the office (and from work) immediately, then he will certainly remember you, and you will not have to count on a quick increase in your salary. The conversation should be started as calmly as possible, giving arguments: “I analyzed the inflation rate over the last year – it was 10%. In addition, the salary level of specialists of my qualifications is so much. In my opinion, I have the right to count on the indexation of my salary – especially since I took part…. The volume of my work has increased over the last year … The results of my work allow us to judge the effectiveness of my work in the company … “.
• Since, as we remember, many managers consider the increase in salaries to be an incentive for more active work of employees, as well as the encouragement of their merits to the enterprise, in the conversation it is necessary to give arguments about their effectiveness in work, development for the benefit of the team and the enterprise. It will be good if this conversation is documented – certificates, graphs of work results, calculations, financial and other reports.
• Talk about a raise in wages should be reduced to the fact that not only you will benefit from it, but also the entire team, the entire enterprise. As an argument, one should quote a phrase like “With an increase in my salary, I will be able to solve more of my personal needs, which means that I will be able to completely immerse myself in work and achieve even greater results in it.” It is good if you give examples of increasing your functionality at work – after all, if you perform more duties than at the very beginning of work, your salary should also be increased in proportion to them – any manager will understand and approve of this.
• If in the course of your work you took refresher courses, sought to attend training seminars, participated in conferences, received this or that work experience, you should remind the manager of this. You have become a more qualified employee, which means that you are entitled to a slightly higher salary than before.
• Any manager will appreciate it if you continue the conversation about the increase in salary in the light of your promising projects. Tell us what you want to achieve in work and professional training in the coming year, how you want to build your work and make it even more effective. If you are very worried, it does not matter if you bring along a notebook with notes on the points of the conversation, so as not to miss important details.
• If you were denied a raise, or your salary was raised – but for a smaller amount, you should ask the boss under what conditions your salary will be raised. Try to bring the conversation to its logical conclusion, that is, to a specific “yes” or “no”. If the boss said that he is ready to think about it, check with him exactly when you need to come up for an answer, and wait for specifics in this – the boss will appreciate your adherence to principles, self-confidence.

Common mistakes to avoid when talking about a pay raise

• Blackmail… If you come to the manager with a demand for a salary increase, otherwise you will quit, do not expect a salary increase for some time. This is a gross mistake that can cost you your business reputation, but will not at all contribute to an increase in salary.
• Constant mention of the salaries of other employees, as well as hints about ineffective work, mistakes of other colleagues – this is a prohibited technique, and the boss will be right if he refuses to raise your salary.
• Pitying tone… Trying to pity, some would-be applicants for a raise in salary try to mention in a conversation with their boss about poor hungry children, their domestic problems and illnesses. Pessimism and tearfulness can only turn your boss against you, because he needs confident employees who will be happy to raise salaries.
• Persistent mention of the topic of money… In a conversation with the boss, it is necessary to talk not only about the increase in salary itself, but also about the prospects for one’s professionalism, about plans, as well as about the results achieved in work. The topic of work, even in such a mercantile conversation, should be a priority.