Money – it’s main reason why we work. To earn money to spend in other areas of our life. You feel like you should be compensated fairly for the work that you do. This might end up with you wanting to get paid more than what you do at the moment – effectively getting a pay rise. But how do I get a pay rise? Read on to find out.
Keep A List Of Your Achievements
Businesses think in terms of dollars. They think of achievements and work in terms of how many dollars it has made the company, or how much it has saved the company. To effectively answer, “how do I get a pay rise”, you should try to think this way as well.
As you focus on the achievements that may have helped your company earn or save money, write them down. Think back over the last year or so, and write down any of the achievements or successes you had. Along with the achievement, write down how it has saved or made the company money. This might be in terms of increased efficiency, the ability to analyse existing information to make better decisions, more accurate systems, or cutting manual work and related costs. These are great ways for a company to see your benefit to them.
Take On Extra Activities
Companies essentially pay their employees based on how valuable they are to the company. This “valuation” isn’t purely based on their work. One of the things you can do to become more valuable to your company is to take on extra activities. This should be to benefit your fellow co-workers and the company. Depending on your workplace and the size of your company, this could involve:
- Becoming a first-aid or safety officer for your area.
- Starting a sports team to improve fitness, health, and teamwork in your office
- Organizing a training session to share information with your co-workers
These kinds of activities help both you and the company – you’ll get benefits from doing them (whether that’s knowledge, improved work relationships, or something else), and your employer will value the improvement that it has to the company. It’s something you can bring up with your manager when you’re wondering, “how do I get a pay rise?” Knowing more about your company will help.
Research Similar Positions
One of the main drivers for a company and how much they pay a particular employee is how much another company is willing to pay them. It comes down to a few main areas – experience, industry and skills. Your experience in the workforce generally guides your salary. The industry you work in can affect how much you get paid, and different skills and their current demand have an effect on the salary.
What does this matter to you?
Well, for you to be able to convince your employer to give you a pay rise, you should know what the “market rate” is for your role, or what someone with your skills and experience could get paid. If you’re a .Net developer with five years experience, you might find that the average salary for this position is about $70,000 per year (that’s just an example – I don’t know what the actual salary is). This would serve as a guide to how much you can aim for, and to let you know if you’re currently earning less or more than the average. Of course, there are more things that affect the salary than experience and skills, but it’s a good starting point.
I’ve written a few articles on improving your salary as a software developer, as well as salaries for various positions in the IT industry:
- Software Engineer
- Project Manager
- Database Administrator
- PHP Developer
- .NET Developer
- Python Developer
These articles have salary data, comparable roles, as well as more specific information on what you can do to improve your salary for each of those roles.
How Do I Get A Pay Rise? Just Ask
The above tips can be good to know and quite useful, but the best answer to the question of “how do I get a pay rise” is to just ask! Ask your HR department, ask your boss, ask whoever is in charge of the employee salaries. I would think that many companies would be happy to offer their good employees a pay rise if they asked for one and gave a compelling argument for doing so. There’s no need to be scared or to feel guilty – it might actually work out better! You will feel like you’re getting paid fairly, and your employer will be happy that you’re happy – and will probably have saved money finding a replacement for you.