More often than not, your work salary will not cover all of your expenses. At times, employees may try to engage in side hustles just to make ends meet, such as freelancing or engaging in online gambling at sites. However, despite the efforts one may put in engaging in other side hustles, there are times when the noblest and most necessary thing is to simply ask for a pay raise. Asking for a pay raise is not easy, though, as you cannot just demand a pay raise. You need to be tactful in how you ask for a pay raise if you are to get a positive response. Fortunately for you, we have come up with these great tactful ways of asking for a pay rise.
First, Ask Yourself If You Truly Deserve a Pay Raise
The mere fact that your salary is not covering all of your expenses is not enough for you to ask for a pay raise. When you want to ask for a pay raise, you first need to do a self-introspection and take out your job description. Alone, appraise yourself. Analyze if you have been able to meet and exceed your targets as outlined in the job description. If you notice that you have been performing well above your pay grade, then you are justified to ask for a pay raise. However, if you are just doing okay, it may be better to postpone until such a time when truly you are justified in asking for a pay raise.
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Familiarise Yourself with Company Pay Practices
Before you knock on your boss’s door to ask for a pay raise, you ought to familiarize yourself with company pay practices. Different companies have different pay practices. If your company reviews salaries once every year, it may be better to wait till such a time when the salaries for all the workers are reviewed. Asking for a pay raise when it’s not yet time for reviewing salaries may just paint a negative image of your person as someone who does not care about company practices. However, if there is no strict pay policy and you feel justified in asking for a pay raise, you can proceed to ask for one.
Don’t Ambush the Employer
No one likes being put on the spot, and neither does your boss. As such, make sure that you do not ambush your boss. Rather, give indications way before you approach the boss. One way of doing this is by asking for a performance review. Somewhere inside your request (can be an email or official correspondence) for a performance review, you have to make it clear that you would also like to talk about pay during the performance review. Once you do this, your boss will have ample time to come up with an answer, if it’s a yes, you get what you want and if it’s a no, the boss explains to you why the request is not accepted or what you have to do/improve before you get a pay rise.
Meet in Person
After you give the boss an indication of what you want, the next thing is to say what you want in person. Note that timing is very important. Even though you have given the boss a clue as to what the meeting is about, don’t place the meeting at the end of the day on a Friday or as the first meeting on a Monday. Rather, let it be a mid-week meeting. Still, on timing, don’t ask for a raise meeting when the company is restructuring; this is just a big no. Be realistic; don’t go in there asking for your salary to be doubled. This just won’t work and may lead to disastrous consequences on your part. Lastly, learn negotiation skills, be confident, be articulate, be smart, be a good listener, and most important of all, wear a smile at all times.
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