No Raise? Ask for These Ten Things Instead

Salary increase budgets are all over the map. Our employer clients are looking at every element of their pay plans. Some of their employees will make more money in 2014 than they did in 2013 because of bonus programs. Some of them will earn exactly the same amount in both years, because their employers' income is flat.

If you get to your annual performance review and the word is "There's no salary increase" you're likely to be discouraged and/or angry. The worst reaction I know of to news like that is to say "If I'm not getting a raise, I'm not going to work so hard." You can start a stealth job search if you're really fed up, but if you're not going to start a job search, what's the point of withholding your effort or brainpower?

Everyone should look for some level of work-life balance in my book, whether your employer treats you like gold or not. "Spite balance" doesn't help you or anyone else.

If you're going to re-evaluate the amount of time and energy you put into your job, do it because you have something else that is compelling to invest your time in -- not to show your boss who's boss.

One of the things we recommend to every working person is an annual Roadmap meeting. That's a meeting where you sit down one-on-one with your manager and talk about your plans for yourself and his or her plans for you.

A Roadmap meeting is a great way to compare your own vision for your future with your manager's vision for you. If you're dead-set on becoming a manager of other people in 2014, for instance, and your manager doesn't see that in the cards, you'll know that it's time to get your resume out of mothballs.

If you're going to stay at your job in 2014 and the salary is not exciting, here are ten other ideas to run by your manager at your annual review meeting or a Roadmap meeting after your review. To set up that Roadmap meeting, you'll send your manager an email message or stop him or her in the hallway. "I'd like to sit down with you and compare notes on my goals for the next year," you'll say.

If your salary is unexciting and your manager's cash-dispensing hands are tied, you can choose several of these low-cash or no-cash alternatives. Choose the items on our list that appeal to you most!

BONUS

Sometimes your manager can't give you a salary increase but can set up a bonus program associated with the performance of your job in general or a specific project you're working on. If cash is your number one priority, ask your manager whether you can sweeten your paycheck via a performance bonus by hitting agreed-upon milestones.

Department managers and financial folks often prefer to pay bonuses over salary increases because a bonus doesn't figure into your base salary moving forward. Also, bonuses don't interfere with company-wide salary grade levels the way salary increases can.

EDUCATION

Want more professional training? Most people do. Swap your raise this year for some professional development dollars. Don't ask for a dollar amount -- rather, ask your manager to pay for a particular course or certification that you're interested in.

Show the course marketing materials to your manager and know the price tag in advance. Be ready to talk about how you can help your employer with your new-fangled skills. Ask the training vendor about discounts for multiple students from the same employer!

COMFORT

If you travel a lot for work, get your employer to spring for your membership dues in your favorite airline's premier membership club. You can get a lot more work done in an airport clubhouse than you can sitting on the floor of the airport next to the electrical outlet with your belongings strewn around you.

DUES

If you haven't belonged to a professional association before, maybe 2014 is the year to dive in! Decide which professional association would benefit you the most learning-wise and contacts-wise and pitch your boss on paying your annual dues. Maybe your new association connection will prove to be a terrific channel for your company's message!

VACATION

Extra vacation time doesn't cost your company hard dollars, and when cash is tight hard dollars are on everyone's mind. Now is a great time to ask for much-needed vacation time to compensate you for your effort and results when your paycheck isn't increasing.

FLEXIBILITY

When your manager says "I have a big project for you" or "I'm relying on you to get this done," think about where and when you work best. If you do your best work in your pajamas and in your home office, make a deal: I'll guarantee a great result on your favorite project if I can work from home on Fridays or come in at ten a.m. instead of nine to avoid rush hour traffic. If you don't ask, you'll never get what you want.

PLUM ASSIGNMENT

A high-impact and high-profile assignment is probably worth more to your resume and your career overall than your annual raise is. Ask your boss for a particular high-priority assignment you're interested in. Include that project in your Roadmap meeting to make sure you and your manager are on the same page vis-a-vis your 2014 priorities.

MENTORING

If you're languishing in the professional-development salt mines, ask your boss to put you in touch with professional mentors as a substitute for the raise you didn't get. Your boss is probably not a great mentor for you because of your boss-subordinate relationship (or if your boss is a great mentor for you, you're getting that mentoring already).

That's okay - your manager can introduce you to other execs in your company or in your area who might, with your boss's gentle prodding, give up a coffee, lunch or dinner date to advise you on your career. Never pass up a mentoring opportunity!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST VERSION HERE!

TITLE

Some people couldn't care less about titles, but many other people have spent time in a job or two where a bigger title would have helped tremendously, not only with external contacts but with internal ones as well. Your boss might be game to improve your title in lieu of your expected salary increase. If you job-hunt any time soon, the upgraded title on your resume will help you get interviews for higher-level opportunities.

EXECUTIVE VISIBILITY

Watch Liz Ryan coach a CEO on offering salary-increase-alternatives to his staff!

I wish I could go back in time and replay those moments where an executive would kindly say to me "I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Charlie Blackstone" and I'd smile and say "Sure, thanks" and have no idea how valuable a gift the executive was bestowing. Executive visibility inside or outside your company is a great and precious thing. If your boss can help you get to know the people who lead your organization or other executives in your industry, that can only be a good thing for you.

Decide which of the items on our list could help you the most, and walk through your Wish List at the Roadmap meeting you set up with your boss. Not sure what else to talk about in that session? Lay out your personal plan for the next 12 or 18 months, and ask your boss how well your plan squares with his or hers. Don't have a personal plan?

Start by asking yourself and then answering the question "What's important to me on the job for the next 12-18 months?" What would you like to learn, try for the first time, and accomplish? What projects would burnish your resume this year? You've got some work to do before you ask your manager for a sit-down. That's okay -- getting altitude on your path is always a good investment!

HERE'S A SCRIPT FOR APPROACHING YOUR MANAGER WITH THESE IDEAS!

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