My Steps To Ask for a Salary Increase
Based on my 16 years at Amazon getting off-cycle raises and giving off-cycle salary increases to my teams.
Hello friends,
In the past 2 weeks I have been approached by a handful of people asking for my advice on how to ask for a payrise / raise / salary increase. Depending on where in the world you live it’s called lots of different things but basically, they all want to walk into their boss’s office and say “SHOW ME THE MONEY”!
I thought it would be helpful to share the tactics I’ve used to successfully get an increase for myself and in getting approval to give off-cycle increases to my team. Note: “Off-cycle” means out of step with your company’s normal process (e.g. if they give everyone in the company a set % increase every April, you are wanting a larger or incremental increase outside of that process).
If you take anything away from this post (or if you don’t read the whole thing) I want you to do yourself a favour and ASK FOR AN INCREASE (please see step 1 first)! According a survey of 160,000 workers conducted by Payscale, 70% of employees who have asked for a raise received one. I know it’s scary but the odds are on your side.
1- Present Your Results But Have a Company-first Mindset.
I always recommend you set the tone of the meeting showing how you are delivering results that are beneficial for the company and that is the main reason you are asking for an increase. You cannot start the meeting talking about your personal financial situation; your manager will likely go on deflect mode right away. Instead, start with the company first, then articulate why your hard work deserves more money. You should go into the meeting with a spreadsheet or other visual that shows how you have delivered results above and beyond your job scope. You need to show that you have earned the increase; rarely do companies give it simply based on tenure any more. Articulate how your results (showing the exact data) demonstrate that you are operating at the next level and that you are either 1) ready for promotion or 2) deserve a raise. It’s a much easier discussion if you can show how your performance has delivered more profit or revenue (or whatever metric your company has as priority #1) for the company. That is an easy formula for your Manager to digest and to use as data with their manager to get approval (if that is the process) vs “Angela simply said she’s struggling to pay her bills”.
2- Time.
How long has it been since you received an increase? When was the last time you asked for one? How does this align with your company’s performance review and salary increase cycles? Are you asking for an increase out-of-cycle or in-cycle? These are all factors to consider if the timing is right. Familiarise yourself with your company’s process and be strategic about when you are asking for one. In general, don’t be annoying and ask for a raise every quarter but also don’t wait 3 years before asking for one. My general rule of thumb was that I would try every year to get an off-cycle increase at Amazon. It didn’t happen every year but it happened quite frequently in the 16 years I was there.
3- Understand the Process.
Who is the ultimate decision maker that can grant you a raise? If you don’t know, ask. It shows your management team that you understand it’s not always black and white to grant a request for an increase and you want to help them with the process to get it approved. Also understand that these out-of-standard-process requests don’t happen overnight so start the process early. In a couple of instances, my requests happened many months after I started the conversation with my manager.
4- Don’t Come at Them with “The Cost of Living or CPI” as Your Main Reason.
Employers typically don’t benchmark their salary bands against the cost of living except when they are establishing their base salaries for roles for the first time and then might to a total company-wide analysis every 5 years or so to ensure they are competitive in the market. What they do benchmark against is the “cost of labour” in your local market. So do your research. Try and find out what other companies are paying people in roles similar to yours and present this data to your manager in the meeting. This shows your manager that you have options and no one wants to lose a good employee to a competitor. I’m not saying you should use this data in a threatening way (“pay me this or I’ll leave") but showing benchmark salaries is a powerful conversation starter.
5- Go in with a Number Higher Than What You Want.
This will be a negotiation and negotiation 101 is that you will most likely meet in the middle. According to the same Payscale survey, only 39% percent of those who asked for a raise received the amount they asked for. Another 31% got a raise that is less than the amount they requested. I typically recommend asking for a % increase vs an absolute $$ amount because that percentages is the language companies use when giving increases due to everyone being on different salaries. The hard part is figuring out what % to use and that is highly variable based on size of company, industry, what your benchmarked roles are at, and if you feel like you are really underpaid. A good figure that isn’t scary but also will make a meaningful dent in your paycheck is 10-15%.
6- Avoid Thinking Your Boss Will be Irritated That You Asked for a Raise.
I hear this again and again from people that they somehow think that by asking for the raise the management will think less of them and they are putting their job in jeopardy. If you followed steps 1 and 2 (not asking for a raise every month and are actually delivering great results) there is no way your manager will think less of you. If anything, it shows you are aware of your worth and have the leadership and conviction to ask for what you deserve.
7- Be Open to Other Ideas on How to Get More Cash.
Depending on the company, one-off, out-of-cycle increases can be really hard to get but other options are easier for Managers to approve. And, sometimes these benefits can be tax-free fringe benefits for you which could be worth more in the long-term. Some things to ask for:
More paid vacation/holidays
Fully Paid parking/ public transport
More remote working days
Childcare assistance
One-time retention bonus
More stock options or equity grants
Increased travel compensation / higher airfair class
The worst thing that will happen when you ask is they will say “No”.
Now, you won’t take that first No (see step 5) but if in the end you don’t get a raise, you still have a job, you are still getting the same paycheck, but now you understand what the company will or will not do for you and you also have additional data points that show what other companies are paying! It may feel uncomfortable and awkward but those 30-60 minutes of being uncomfortable are worth 12 months of feeling you are getting paid well and will lead to increased job satisfaction.
So, if you are thinking about asking for a raise, and you feel you deserve one based on merit…..what are you waiting for!?
YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU.
Was this newsletter valuable for you? If so, I’d love to hear from you.
Hey can you send me the excel file of the formulas , like how we need to show it. Thanks