Negotiation of your pay raise is naturally uncomfortable for most people. However, learning how to negotiate your raise in a civil, calm and cooperative manner is a necessary business skill. In order to achieve success, you must enter into a pay raise negotiation prepared and with an open mind. Negotiating your pay raise will become easier as you gain more experience doing it. Prior to any pay raise negotiation, you need to understand that the degree to which your salary is negotiable will depend on several factors.

First, let’s address your fair market value. You can utilize a variety of resources to find this information including reviewing salary survey data from reliable survey organizations; locating job listings with indicated salaries to evaluate your position; contacting your professional associations for salary information; contacting executive recruiters for their advise and networking with your colleagues in the tax business community. These steps are important because you need to know all the facts prior to entering into a pay raise negotiation. All of these resources will assist you in determining your market value and keep you realistic as to what is fair and equitable compensation for you.

Secondly, you need to keep track of your accomplishments for your organization. You should document, in writing, your accomplishments each month and be prepared to deliver your list of accomplishments to the management. You need to remind them of your accomplishments so your value can be determined as you are evaluated annually. Be prepared to discuss your accomplishments and your overall value by thinking of answers to the following questions:

• What value are you delivering to your organization?
• Can you list your accomplishments over the past year?
• How have these accomplishments benefited the organization?

You must also learn as much as possible about the compensation policies at your organization. For instance:

• What is your company’s salary range for your level and position?
• How is your performance evaluated in your organization?
• What is the maximum amount of pay you can earn in this position?
• What opportunities do you have for advancement in this role?
• When is your next raise due?

These are all questions that will assist you in negotiating your raise within your organization. Concrete achievements will show your value to your organization, so you need to be able to document these achievements when you are selling management on your pay raise. You also need to enter your negotiation certain that you are delivering what your organization expects. You need to concentrate on accomplishments that your organization will value like contributing to the reduction in the effective tax rate. You need to not only meet your organizations expectations of you, but you must focus on exceeding these expectations in order to motivate them to give you a raise.

Now let’s discuss how you should approach your supervisor for a pay raise. Very few people actually ask for a raise, but if you want one, you must ask for it. The reason so few people ask for a pay raise is that they do not want to put their boss on the spot or run the risk of being turned down. Your organization will assume you are satisfied unless you ask for a pay raise. For those who are nervous about asking for a pay raise, all you need to do is simply approach your boss and say, “I’m interested in a pay raise. How responsive do you feel our organization would be to an adjustment in my compensation?” This question allows you to approach the subject in a friendly manner with your supervisor. This question also gives you the opportunity to let them know you are evaluating this issue. You then ask when it would be convenient to discuss this matter further. The goal is for both sides to set a specific time to discuss and negotiate a pay raise.

When the time is set to discuss the issue of a pay raise, it is important that you have properly prepared yourself regarding current market value of your position and your accomplishments, as well as your organization’s compensation policy. We want you to remember that our experience is that your supervisor may want to give you a pay raise, but your organization may not be in a position to do so at the time. If your supervisor agrees that you deserve a pay raise but they cannot grant it to you right now, ask for alternative incentives. These may include paid time off, a more flexible work schedule, educational training, or a membership in a professional association. You must be open minded with your organization in the event that there may simply be no money in their budget. Remember to keep a positive attitude through the process and let your supervisor know that you appreciate the time that they took to at least consider this issue on your behalf. You need to understand that many supervisors want to give you a pay raise, but company conditions prevent them from doing so.

It is important to remember that whether you succeed or not in your pay raise, you must be proactive in creating the right environment and conditions to negotiate your next raise. The more you practice this skill, the more likely you are to achieve success.

Written by: Kathleen Jennings, CEO kitty@etsearch.com