Yahoo Finance 25-year-old gives herself $12k pay rise
How much do you think you’re worth?
And is your employer paying you that amount?
Those were the questions that bugged 25-year-old London worker, Cecilia Manduca, before she decided to award herself a £7,000 (AU$12,671) pay rise for her work at GrantTree, a UK company that allows workers to set their own salaries.
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However, it wasn’t as easy as simply raising her salary from £30,000 to £37,000, she told BBC Radio 5.
Employees at the firm are required to discuss their salaries with colleagues, and salaries should be in line with what workers in similar roles are paid at other firms.
While colleagues don’t have the power to say yes or no, they give feedback and query decisions.
While Manduca was confident that her role had changed enough to warrant the pay rise, she said she still felt a lot of doubt when asking for the huge raise.
"It took a lot of talks with other people. I was aware that my job had changed. I was aware I was going way beyond my targets,” Manduca said.
"I knew that from a rational point of view I deserved that higher rate. But I had a lot of self-doubt and I felt sort of greedy because there's always a stigma - a sense you should feel happy with what you have.
"When I spoke with my colleagues internally and asked for advice, the advice they gave me was that yes I did deserve it and I was worth it."
The system also works in reverse, with two workers at the firm voluntarily reducing their pay after their roles changed.
How to ask for a pay rise
Very few of us work somewhere where we can choose our own salary. This means if we want to earn more money, we need to talk to our boss, and that can be a scary conversation.
But according to SEEK, there are some easy steps workers can take.
The first step is to start with the positives and the things you’re proud of, before moving on to specific achievements.
“If you are able to include a dollar figure or percentage improvements do that,” Jane Jackson, a career management coach and author of Navigating Career Crossroads said in the SEEK advice piece.
“If you are not able to provide numbers then talk about the perceived benefit – such as how you streamlined a process or improved team morale. Tangible and intangible benefits are what you must bring to the attention of your manager.”
Then, get to the point. SEEK suggests seeking out what people in similar roles in companies of similar size are paid and using that as a benchmark.
Finally, it’s a good idea to send a thank you email to your manager confirming the points you made in the conversation.
“If the answer to your request is no, you can ask if there is another way to acknowledge your achievements, such as bonuses, time off in lieu, extra paid leave,” Jackson added.
“If there is no leeway whatsoever, your manager will still have gained an awareness of your value. You can ask them for another discussion in three to six months time.”
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