If you’re bit hesitant for how to negotiate for salary raise with your boss then follow these simple tips to do it in the easiest way!

One of the toughest conversations in our lives is while negotiating with our boss for a salary raise. The question is why is it so tough to ask for more when you feel you deserve it?  Negotiating a raise is not always what it seems. It is not just a negotiation for more money but a pitch of your achievements. That’s what most of us are uncomfortable ‘highlighting you and your achievements’. Here I have listed few steps that you can use to structure your conversation with your manager: 

Pre-discussion

Record your Performance and Achievement: Create a performance tracker on a monthly/ quarterly basis. This will help you to capture your performance against goals and achievements. Using this, you can also be able to keep a track of commendation received from your supervisor or stakeholders. Understand the impact that you, your job and your initiatives have had by talking with them. Now, you are ready for a discussion with your boss about a salary raise. 

Discussion

Timing is important: There always remains a confusion regarding the timing of asking your boss. You cannot easily decide what would be the best timing to converse with your boss. One thing that you should avoid is having the conversation all through the year. The right time to have a conversation for salary raise is at the end of the year. 

Showcase the brand “You” – There are two aspects to this – an internal view and an external view. The external view is all about your monetary value. Know how much people in similar roles get paid in your peer companies and other companies compared to yours. And what is the internal view? How has the brand ‘you’ added value to your organisation and left an impact on your team, function and stakeholders? If you have been able to do that, then your conversation will be smooth. 

Understand the Direction – Know the direction in which the discussion might head towards. Sometimes the raise could also be in the form of a promotion. Demonstrate your willingness to undertake more responsibilities.

Listen – During the discussion listen. Don’t be in a hurry to complete the conversation or asking for the pre-decided amount. The more you build the case for it the less you must negotiate. The best negotiators are the best listeners. There could be a possibility that there is a career track defined for you by your boss and which may not be on an immediate basis but in the near future. Even if it is in the near future, the fact that the boss has thought about your career graph is something you should be ready to live with. 

End properly- Do not emphasise only on what you have done in the past but also on how you are excited about the future. See if there are other options which could compensate for the raise like organisation investing in building a skill in you, additional responsibilities that you enjoy. If at the end of the conversation, the answer is no, don’t threaten to go somewhere else. Think about how could have you been able to communicate your brand and achievements in a better manner. 

Conclusion

It is also advised to protect yourself from the job inflation albeit. It is better to be slightly underpaid and overworked instead of the vice-versa. It is a very thin line which needs to be followed, far underpaid will result into “Brand You” not being valued and substantially premium paid will result into not affordable & not creating enough value for the company. At the end of the day, money is incidental and it will definitely follow you, if the relevant skill set and competencies are there to be showcased.