Summary.
What should you do when you receive a raise that just isn’t enough? While you don’t want to seem ungrateful, you have the right to fight for more money if the compensation you’re receiving is lower than what you deserve and need to support yourself.
- Do your research. Every job has a “market value,” or an estimation of how much money you should be earning based on your job title, years of experience, and the cost of living in your area. Many companies use this information to set salaries. If you’re making way below the estimation, it’s worth calling out.
- Prepare your argument. To receive a higher raise, you’ll have to make a case that includes both the salary data you’ve compiled and evidence of the value you bring to your team and organization. If you’re someone who goes above and beyond or exceeds expectations, put together a list of your accomplishments — quantitative and qualitative data that shows your contributions to the company.
- Meet with your manager. Set up a private, one-on-one meeting with your manager to discuss your salary. Be kind but straightforward. Thank your boss for the salary bump and recognition they’ve already given you, and then explain why you believe the number should be reconsidered, citing the evidence you’ve gathered.
- If your request is denied, take the time to understand why. If it’s solely a budgetary issue, ask your manager when you can realistically revisit the conversation. If it’s a performance issue, treat this meeting as an opportunity to develop clear goals with your boss.
“Congratulations! Thanks to all your hard work this year, you’ve earned yourself a raise.”
Most of us can agree that, in the moment, hearing those words feels pretty great. Unfortunately, we can also agree that “raises” — more often than not — fail to satisfy our needs and expectations.
With the price of goods and services more than 8% higher compared to last year, and the average employee raise being around 3%, our paychecks are typically not enough to keep up with inflation. As a result, our purchasing power is decreasing year over year.
For early career employees, this can be especially tricky to navigate. A recent survey of 1,000 adults who have at least one child 18 years or older showed that half of parents financially support their kids, who are faced with high student loan debt and increasing houses prices.
So, what should you do when you receive a raise that just isn’t enough? While you don’t want to seem ungrateful, you have the right to fight for more money if the compensation you’re receiving is lower than what you deserve and need to support yourself.
Based on my research and conversations with professionals who have succeeded in this area, here are a few tips.
1) Do your research.
If you receive a raise that seems suspiciously low, or if you’re really not sure whether you’re being compensated fairly, the best thing you can do is research. Every job has a “market value,” or an estimation of how much money you should be earning based on your job title, years of experience, and the cost of living in your area. Many companies use this information to set salaries. If you’re making way below the estimation, it’s worth calling out.
Compare your pay to the market value of your role using websites like Glassdoor, Payscale, and Salary.com — all of which provide compensation information based on job title, responsibilities, and industry, as well as company-specific and salary data. Internally, you should also investigate what data is available to you. Some companies are transparent about salary bands and will post the information on their internal network. Others like to keep it private.
In the case that your company is not transparent about pay, check in with your Human Resources (HR) team about their raises and salary range policies. You can initiate the conversation by sending a short email:
Hello [name],
My name is [name] and I’m a [title] in the [department] of our organization. I’m really passionate about the work we do, and I’m working on my short to midterm career advancement plans. I’d like to have additional information regarding the company policies when it comes to raises, salary ranges, and bonuses at my position level. Can we meet to discuss how I can get more clarity around that sometime this week, or next?
Pro tip: Consider asking a couple of trusted peers if they’d be willing to share their compensation with you. Together, this information can help you assess where you fit in, and if necessary, build a case for higher compensation.
2) Prepare your argument.
Most likely, to receive a higher raise, you’ll have to make a case that includes both the salary data you’ve compiled and evidence of the value you bring to your team and organization. To strengthen your case, look at your track record within the company. If you’re someone who goes above and beyond or exceeds expectations, put together a list of your accomplishments (by the numbers), any positive feedback you’ve received, your performance reviews, and other quantitative and qualitative data that shows your contributions to the company.
For example, have you worked on specific tasks or projects that helped your team reach their quarterly goals? Can you quantify the results of those tasks or projects? (X project brought us Y new clients; X initiative made us $Y.)
Before meeting with your manager, organize all the information you’ve gathered into a clear story about why you deserve to get a raise. Your story should include a combination of your performance as well as the research around what the average employee earns in a position like yours.
Pro tip: Make sure there are people who can speak on your behalf — references throughout the company who can discuss all the great work you’ve done. Having advocates will only make your case stronger.
3) Meet with your manager.
Set up a private, one-on-one meeting with your manager to discuss your salary. Don’t do this during your regular check-in time. The last thing you want to do is catch your boss off-guard and trigger a defensive response. Instead, send them a short email message asking if they’d be willing to discuss your career development and compensation in an upcoming meeting. Be mindful of your manager’s time by keeping the email brief. You could write,
Hi [name],
I’d love to set up a time with you to discuss my performance review and career advancement at the company. Is it okay if I put some time on your calendar in the upcoming week?
When the time comes to present your case, be kind but straightforward. Thank your boss for the salary bump and recognition they’ve already given you, and then explain why you believe the number should be reconsidered. Share your big accomplishments, as well as the salary data you’ve gathered, to back up why you would like your manager to reconsider your raise.
Angela Yee, host of the financial literacy show Money Pie with Acorns, used a similar strategy to negotiate a 40% raise and 20% bonus early in her career. A year after starting with the company, she met with her manager armed with evidence of her accomplishments.
“I came to the meeting prepared and detailed what my responsibilities had been over the past year, which went above and beyond the responsibilities I was hired to do. Sometimes we assume that people know all we’ve contributed, but they might have no idea. There’s nothing wrong with you saying my responsibilities were X, Y, and Z, but here’s what I’ve been doing in addition to those responsibilities.”
Yee also made sure to reiterate how much she loved working at the company and how she was grateful for the opportunities she’d been given so far. She added, “One thing I learned is you never say that you need a raise. You have to show why you deserve a raise. That’s why I put together a binder with all the things that I’d accomplished in that short year.”
In your own conversation, you might say something like, “Since last year, I’ve done [name a couple of projects or tasks], which has helped the department accomplish [specific goal]. Based on my performance and my research within the company and around the market rates for my current role, I believe that my raise should be closer to [this number]. I’d love for you to reconsider my current compensation based on this new information.”
At this point, you’ve done all you can — the next step is to listen to your boss’s response. The best you can hope for after this initial conversation is for your manager to agree to take on your case and look into it further with HR, who will likely also need to approve your request. Remember that your manager has to balance representing your needs with those of the company, so be prepared for them to push for a negotiation.
Most importantly, agree on a time to set up a follow-up meeting before leaving the room.
Pro tip: Recap your discussion in writing, including the case you made, your manager’s response, and the agreed-upon next steps. Send this to your manager in a follow-up email. Too often, failure to document these conversations leaves employees at a major disadvantage. Legally, it’s important to keep track of the discussions you and your boss have around compensation. You may need it as evidence to hold your boss and your HR department accountable in the future.
What if your request is denied?
During a follow-up meeting with your manager, take the time to understand why your request wasn’t approved. Is it because of budgetary constraints? Are there performance expectations you haven’t met? If so, what can you do to work towards the raise you want?
If it’s solely a budgetary issue, ask your manager when you can realistically revisit the conversation. In this scenario, you may even consider seeing if the company would be open to compensating you with a different kind of reward to recognize your strong performance: an end-of-the-year bonus, extra time off, or more flexibility around your work hours.
If it’s a performance issue, treat this meeting as an opportunity to develop clear goals with your boss. Even better, ask your manager to help you map out a plan or a timeline for you to reach those goals and potentially revisit the conversation.
Pro tip: Whatever you agree upon, be sure to document your plan in writing and send it to your boss in a follow-up email. Like your initial conversation, to keep track of the entire process — setbacks and all.
Know when it’s time to move on.
In some cases, you may not get a clear explanation from your manager. Your request may be denied for reasons you disagree with, or you may never get around to revisiting the conversation as promised. If you feel your request isn’t being taken seriously by management or HR, or if you feel that you are being perpetually “dragged along,” that’s a sign it may be time to move on.
Hotel owner and consultant Davonne Reaves went through this early in her career. “I was working at a hotel and received a raise of 11 cents,” she told me. “As a dedicated employee, I felt undervalued. Then I found out that a coworker in the same position received a much higher raise.”
That experience led her to look for a better opportunity. “I went to Human Resources to complain and learned two things. I wasn’t appreciated as an employee. But also, looking back, I should have been better equipped to make a case for a higher raise.”
If there’s anything the pandemic has shown us, it’s the importance of keeping your resume updated, and your options open.
Pro tip: If you don’t get the raise you think you deserve this year, but enjoy working for the company and want to stick around longer, consider starting a side hustle. It gives you the opportunity to earn extra income and have some level of financial security in case of an eventual job loss.
Keep in mind that whether your employer gives you the raise that you want or not, you have agency over your earning potential. You have the power to increase your income if you choose to do so. Negotiation is a skill that’s necessary to learn, and one that can optimize your earnings over the course of your career. The more prepared you are to negotiate, and the more you practice, the better results you’ll get and the easier it will become.