When working in a business, regardless of the size, most employees look for the opportunity to grow. If a company is larger, the opportunities for growth and raise in income can be almost limitless. However, there may be a ceiling to the amount you can earn in smaller businesses depending on the business’s success. In either case, there may come a time you will need to ask for a raise. Here are five tips to help you guarantee you get a raise.
Timing
Presuming the right time to ask is similar to protocol recognition. In some businesses, they only consider raises in salary during yearly evaluations. This is common in corporate jobs that the entire company assesses employees during the year, and at that time, a raise will be given if the employee is performing. However, other companies allow each manager to make those decisions on an individual basis. If your company does not have an evaluation period, it will be up to you to ask for a raise. If you ask at the beginning of the fiscal year rather than at the end of it, you have a much better chance of receiving a raise.
Preparation
Asking for a raise in smaller businesses may be as easy as walking up to your boss and asking, requiring no planning. However, when asking for a raise, you have to be ready to make a presentation about why you are worthy of the raise in most businesses. It would be best to show your value, what you bring to the table, and why this value deserves a raise. If you are a hard-working employee, often the decision-maker knows your worth. However, your hard work is taken for granted, so if you are ready with well-thought-out reasons why you should get the raise, your odds of securing a raise are increased.
Reality
While you should be aware of your value and how that translates into what you earn, you also have to realize that asking for a raise is a business transaction. If you ask for too much of an increase that the company can’t afford or is out of sync with your development, it will be difficult to negotiate. In that case, they may deny your raise altogether. It is not impractical to ask for a little more than you want to give some negotiation space, but you need to keep it reasonable.
Protocol
You should always be aware of company protocol on asking for a raise. Some businesses may not have a specific protocol, while others may have salary increase processes to adhere to when asking for a raise. It used to be that employees would set a meeting with the boss, ask for a raise, and layout the justifications if needed. In today’s business world, some offices have channels that are gone through to gain approval for a raise.
Amount
It could be argued that you should ask for the exact amount you would like to make when asking for a salary raise. In many cases, this direct and specific approach will be successful. However, it is recommended that you give the decision maker a range. This could lead to the company offering the lowest amount of salary in your range. This idea of giving them a range can still be an advantage if this is the case if you make the lower amount, which you are willing to accept. You should never be afraid to ask for what you truly want or are willing to accept. There can be room for negotiation.
Conclusion
Though many find asking for a raise stressful, these tips should help you ask for that raise with ease. The worst they can say is no, but if you don’t try for it, the answer will never be yes. In business, to get what we want, we have to be bold. These tips will help you be bold and get the raise you deserve.
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