Being Proactive About A Pay Rise 

A Guide To Preparing For A Salary Conversation

Typically, a salary increase is discussed during a formal review with your Manager or Senior Leadership Team. Each company has a different policy behind salary reviews and increases, so it’s a good idea to be familiar with your specific company’s processes. When the time comes to discuss your salary, whether it’s during a formal review, or if you wish to proactively seek time with your Manager outside of the review to discuss it, then it’s best to be prepared. 

Market Research 

The first step is to understand the benchmarking of other similar roles in the market. A great way to check this is by speaking with a few specialist Recruitment Consultants in your field of work as they have up to date salary information and salary guides based on their data. Another great way is to conduct online research with relevant industry associations in addition to looking at live job postings that have the salary range listed. 

Collate your achievements 

Throughout your role and career, it’s advisable to keep a log of all of your achievements. Instead of waiting until the end of the year review to try to remember everything you’ve achieved, you can track it weekly or monthly. This way, you don’t forget all the fantastic projects you’ve contributed to, initiatives you’ve implemented and all the ways you’ve added value. 

When collating your achievements, focus on how your activity has contributed to business growth, expansion, retention and training of team members, or the recruitment of excellent hires you’ve attracted. Include your external activity such as speaking at seminars, hosting roundtable events and participating in the wider industry sector.

You can bring this data to the meeting to talk your Manager through your significant and tangible results.

Preparation 

Ahead of the meeting, prepare your notes and run through how you would like the conversation to go. Aim to have an open discussion with your Manager about why you feel you are due a pay increase.

Having your data and achievements in front of you will assist you in remaining factual. Being able to showcase how you’ve grown and developed your role over time is key. Be prepared for your Manager to need some time to assimilate and discuss with the wider leadership team, finance team and global HQ if applicable, as usually a definite answer is not able to be shared during the meeting. 

Common Responses to be prepared for 

Be prepared for your Manager to explain some reasons why your increase may not be able to happen. Often, this is due to factors such as the company is in a salary increase freeze, the increase forecast deadline has been missed, or the economic outlook is not favourable and it’s impacting business conditions.  Sometimes, the Manager will explain that it’s simply out of their hands, but they can take the case to the higher leadership team or the finance department to see what can happen. 

By remaining focused and calm during the meeting, you’ll be best able to showcase your case whilst demonstrating your professionalism. Be confident about your delivery and stand behind your great achievements to date.  Use language that focuses on your results such as what you delivered, your achievements, your contributions, your creations and how you drove success. 

Considerations: 

It’s a good idea to ensure you’ve considered a few factors to set yourself up for the best chance of a successful outcome. Some elements to consider ahead of scheduling the meeting with your manager include: 

• Company processes: when does your company run their salary reviews, when are the salary budgets prepared? It’s best to discuss your needs with your Manager ahead of the budgets to ensure yours can be allocated in time. 
• The financial calendar year: consider how the time of the year may impact your company’s ability to provide pay increases. 
• Business performance: are your company hitting their targets, how are they performing financially?

Once you’ve considered everything that may pertain to your outcome, set specific time aside with your Manager to discuss your salary. Ideally book a quiet room where you won’t be interrupted by team mates where you can speak in confidence. 

Final Thoughts:

As you advance your career, the ability to prepare for and conduct what may feel like difficult conversations is a really useful skill to have. By being proactive about your salary requirements, preparing your case and diarising time with your Manager, you are developing key skills and experience. 

For a confidential discussion about how to approach a pay rise meeting, please feel free to reach out to Nikki: nikki@nikkitalent.com