A job applicant cannot negotiate a salary before starting work, but as soon as he has completed a full year in the company, he has the right to demand a salary increase.
Salary negotiations can seem scary unless you prepare for them, when you claim the bonus in a timely manner, you are ready to provide the necessary information that proves that you are entitled to the bonus, that you are familiar with salary negotiation strategies, and are able to discuss your boss in a positive spirit.
Reasons for demanding a salary increase:
It is advisable to make an assessment of the money you earn annually, then you should consider your job status and think about requesting a bonus in the following cases:
1. Doing additional work:
When you prove your competence at work, you are relied on for more responsibilities that go beyond the initial job description on the basis of which you were hired in the company, and in the event that you have been taking on stressful job loads lately, or you are constantly being asked to take over the tasks of the rest of the team, or your boss has just asked you to take on additional work, then it’s time to ask for a salary increase.
2. Helping the company achieve a significant interim goal:
You should keep a business record to record the progress goals you have achieved in your job, the value you have added to the company, and the efforts you have made in helping the company achieve its goals, and you should be interested in creating innovative ways to contribute to the company and ensure that you get credit for these contributions.
3. Managing other employees:
Supervising others is a big responsibility that contributes to reducing the workload of your supervisor; therefore, you should demand a salary increase if you are managing more people, because you may devote a significant part of your working hours to raising the level of other employees in the company, and then contribute to making profits in the company directly.
4. Consistently get excellent performance reviews:
You should prepare before going to a performance appraisal session to ask for a raise when your rating is high, because your manager will find that your presence is extremely important to the company, which makes the ideal circumstance for salary negotiation.
It is a truism to ask for a bonus when you get a promotion or a new job title, which is usually done during performance evaluations.
5. Increased revenues of the company in which you work:
Most companies publish quarterly revenues, disclose financial successes, and then when the company’s profits increase, the situation is favorable for increasing your current salary.
6. The market value of your position is higher than your salary:
You should search for your job title in your geographical area to compare the salaries of similar jobs with your current job and your wage rate, based on the size of the company and job duties to make sure that you receive a salary comparable to the market price.
7. Getting a job offer from another company:
You need to tell the company about the job offer you received either from a competing company or during your search for a new job, and make it clear that you prefer to stay at your current job, which will qualify you for salary negotiations positively.
8. Increase the financial value of your business:
You constitute a material gain for the company when your performance is high, contribute to achieving an increase in sales, provide outstanding services, and attract exclusive customers; so collect your data supported by facts and figures, and identify the topics of discussion when you are preparing to request a bonus, so that the employer can appreciate your importance to the company in a tangible material form.
How to negotiate a salary increase
Here are 7 tips for negotiating a salary increase:
1. Find the market value of your job:
When you enter into salary negotiations with your manager, you will tell him how much salary you expect, which entails knowing the market value of your job title.
You have to do a job market search on job sites such as “LinkedIn” (LinkedIn),”Glassdoor” (Glassdoor),”PayScale” (Payscale), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), the “Indeed”(Indeed), the “Zip Recruiter” (ZipRecruiter), the website (Salary.com these sites provide an idea of the average wages and salary range of your business based on data collected from employees and companies.
You have to determine the salary range of your job depending on your level of Education, years of experience, company size, geographical location.
Companies in cities usually offer higher wages than rural companies with the aim of compensating for the high cost of living, likewise, large companies have the ability to pay higher salaries than startups and small enterprises; so you have to study all aspects when determining the remuneration of your job prevailing in the market.
For example, you can contact recruiters on LinkedIn to see the market value of your job based on your experience, level of education, certificates, and training.
2. Look at your skills and achievements:
Your value goes beyond the amount of salary that other organizations pay for your job, as you have to consider the personal aspects that you attach to the job and the value that you add to the company.
You should indicate the progress you have made since you were hired or your salary was increased last time, indicating the certificates you received, the trainings you completed, the new responsibilities you assumed, the outstanding performance evaluations you received last year and the skills, contributions and achievements that the manager praised.
You can use the above items as discussion points in salary negotiations, determine the bonus you deserve, and you should estimate the material value of your role in the company to calculate as fair compensation as possible.
3. Determine the optimal salary increase for you:
You should determine the ideal salary based on the results of your research in the labor market and your achievements on a personal level, and it is advisable to start during salary negotiations by demanding a higher increase so as to allow the employer to negotiate with you, and you can get the bonus you want.
The average annual wage increase is about 3%, and it increased to 4.6% in 2022, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and then you can determine your ideal salary by adding the percentage of increase to your base salary, as this method is suitable when claiming compensation based on outstanding consistent performance.
If your performance, skills, additional responsibilities, training, or recent degree exceed the criteria set out in the job description for your position, then it makes sense to demand an increase of 10-20%.
In conclusion:
In this part of the article, we talked about the cases that require requesting a salary increase, such as taking on new responsibilities, supervising other employees, helping the company achieve its goals, receiving high performance ratings, contributing to increasing the company’s revenue, and others.then we moved on to discuss tips for preparing for successful negotiations that begin with searching for the market value of the job, considering skills and achievements, and determining the optimal increase. we will complete the rest of the tips in the second and final part of the article; so follow up with us.