10 Steps to Finding Your Voice to Secure That Pay Rise

The BBC has come under fire recently for its gender pay gap. For a British institution to be paying its equally-as-qualified employees such wide and varied sums purely based on their gender is staggering. The media giant has since said it’s taking steps to rectify this, quickly. It isn’t alone in its inequality, of course. Claudia Goldin, a labour economist at Harvard, estimates that female doctors and surgeons earn just 71% of their male colleagues’ salaries, and in Silicon Valley, women earn 40%-73% less than their male colleagues. While this isn’t going to change overnight, there is something we can do to lessen this gap. We need to learn how to ask for a pay rise – and get it. 

According to Linda Babcock, co-author of Why Women Don’t Ask, just 12.5% of women ask for a pay rise, compared to 52% of men. She estimates that accounts for up to $1.5 million in lost income over their career. No matter whether you’re part-time or full-time, agile or office-based, or whether you’ve been there six months or ten years, you should ask for a pay rise. I know you’re thankful for your job. I know your employer is good to you, and people were made redundant a few months ago so you feel uncomfortable asking. But there will come a time when you should ask for a pay rise – you MUST ask for a pay rise -  to help you secure the salary you deserve. Here’s how:

1.     Collate your evidence: before you’ve even scheduled your meeting, when a colleague compliments a project you’ve led, or a client thanks you for going above and beyond, write it down – even better, ask them to email you and copy in the boss. When someone endorses you on LinkedIn, remember it – print it off. Read it before your meeting, to give you a boost, and bring it along.

2.     Choose your time and place carefully: let’s face it, Monday mornings aren’t good for much except drinking coffee and getting your head down. Your boss feels the same. Conversely, a Friday afternoon isn’t going to be great either. Go for Tuesday to Thursday in a neutral, quiet location, and send a formal calendar invitation. If you’re worried your request is coming out of the blue, raise the discussion at a performance review. Be aware of the budgeting cycle of your company, too – a good time is a month or so before year-end as the budgets are still being confirmed, and budget requests listened to. And don’t worry that your manager will think any less of you because you asked. The reality is the opposite.

3.     Preparation is everything: print off job advertisements for roles similar to yours (ideally in similar locations, as some areas such as London advertise higher salaries); use online trackers to benchmark what you’re getting; and ask your HR team if they have previous job specs with salaries, preferably for the position above yours so you can demonstrate you’re doing their work.

4.     Be confident – you deserve this, you’ve worked hard for it, you’ve got this. Demonstrate this with your body language and eye contact. Do not, I repeat do not, apologise – like entering the room with, “Thanks so much for your time, I’m sorry to bother you”. We’ve all done it. Don’t! There are some cultural issues around talking about money. This is one situation where you need to overcome that fear: talking about money isn’t rude, or crass, or presumptuous.

5.     State your reasons clearly:  your manager is going to ask you why you feel you deserve a pay rise. Don’t set the tone by being defensive (“I’m not paid as much as x and I should be”).  Keep this about you, not your colleagues – you’re not here to talk about how much your colleagues earn or talk about the gender gap. Use positive, commanding language, state facts and have a figure in mind: be very clear what you’re asking for. If you know you’re earning way less than benchmarking figures show, don’t be afraid to go in high. Remind your manager of your loyalty to the company over x number of years; that the additional salary would demonstrate the value the company holds in you; and a rise would recognise your hard work, credibility and reputation you’ve built up across the business.

6.     Know the facts: when did you last have a pay review? What have you achieved since then? Have you completed any new projects, gained any new qualifications or extended your skill set? Wherever you can, provide figures, specific examples and anecdotal evidence. Explain that you have exceeded your targets, overperformed in every performance review, and brought value to the business.

7.     Monetise your value: a friend of mine coaches salespeople in social selling. He takes the time to total the amount of business brought in by the salespeople he’s coached, and researches how much of that was generated by social selling. His results are phenomenal. His manager wouldn’t know, nor has he asked him to complete this exercise, but it demonstrates his tremendous value and worth to the organisation. Assign yourself a value. If you owned your own business, what salary would you pay yourself, which reflects your true worth? I’m guessing an awful lot more than you’re paid now.

8.     Work with a mentor: if you have a mentor within the business, explain what you’re trying to achieve and let them guide you. But have the discussions on your own, unless you have a strong or personal reason not to, or you’re uncomfortable doing so.

9.     Don’t take no for an answer:  don’t let the discussion end at a flat ‘no’. Stay positive and persuasive. Arrange a time to review your performance again at the end of the next quarter. It might be that there really is no budget, and it’s beyond your manager’s control at the moment, so think about this in advance. What would be a good Plan B – for now? Would flexible working reduce some of your expenditure on commuting? Could you secure a car allowance? What about an addition to your pension?

10.  Follow up: don’t let the discussion hang in balance, whatever the outcome. Send an email follow up. Be thankful but not obsequious. Confirm whether your boss will send a note to HR documenting your discussion, or whether you need to do this. Diarise your next meeting. And Do. Not. Give. Up.

Want to hear more? Please join us at our Women Connect Round Table. Our inaugural session is entitled, ‘Finding Your Voice in the Workplace’. When: 1st November, 6-9pm Agenda: 18:00 – 18:45 PM Networking Wine and Cheese 18:45 – 20:00 Round table discussion - Finding Your Voice in the Workplace 20:00 – 21:00 Networking Wine and Cheese Come and join us for some great insights, discussions and ideas. Connect with some fantastic people, drink wine, eat cheese and find your voice! Everyone is welcome! Please register on this link: https://lnkd.in/eGCXxQR