Yahoo Finance Not happy with your salary review? Here’s 3 things you can do
So you went into your salary review with a meticulously crafted game plan for your pay rise, said all the right things you needed to say, and still your boss hasn’t budged.
Or perhaps they’ve given you a bit of a pay bump – but it’s not quite what you were willing to settle for.
All is not lost. Courtesy of tips from recruitment firm Robert Half, this is what you can do about it:
1. Open yourself up to other opportunities
If you’re eager to take on more responsibilities and hungry for new opportunities, it may be time to move on. Skilled professionals are always going to be in demand, so if your current organisation isn’t willing to give you a pay rise, there are other employers who will.
Not only that, but you could be getting paid more for doing the same job or have better career growth opportunities at a different company.
It may also be the case that your employer assumes you’ll stay with them out of loyalty.
“The last thing you want is to be taken for granted, so if your employer won't make a fair offer for someone with your skills, experience and potential, it could be time for a change,” the recruitment firm said.
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There’s no pressure to rush into anything you wouldn’t be happy with – just start by browsing job sites, and if an attractive opportunity comes up, consider applying.
If you get to the final interview stage and received a handsome offer, you could be in for a serious pay rise, as well as the knowledge that a firm values your skills and experience to remunerate you properly for it.
2. Re-negotiate with your employer
If you’re fielding a number of offers from other companies, it could be enough to spur your current employer into action to keep you on, especially if you’re a highly valued employee.
“Even if the company has a policy on pay rises and counter-offers, they might make an exception for you – it all depends on how valuable you are to the organisation,” Robert Half said.
The truth of business is that companies will not pay their staff more than they need to in order to retain staff, so you’ll have to be the one to initiate that conversation.
“Sometimes, as a professional, it is necessary to take a tougher negotiating stance - applying a little pressure on your employer in order to get what you deserve.”
They won’t make it easy for you, though – but don’t forget that the cost of recruiting a new employee, training them, and getting them to maximum levels of productivity could be less preferable to keeping you happy.
“The bottom line is, if you're adding significant value to the organisation, they won't want you to leave,” said the recruitment firm.
3. Don’t accept counter-offers
If you’ve received an offer from another company but your true intention is to stay where you are, you may be tempted to hand in your resignation in order to prod your boss into a counter-offer – but Robert Half argues you should never accept one.
There’s a number of reasons why, according to the firm: firstly, you’ve broken the bond by resigning. Secondly, you’re evidently not attached to the job, so your employer suspects you may leave soon anyway.
Thirdly, there’s no guarantee you won’t try to pull the same stunt again, and finally, they won’t want to set a precedent of making counter-offers to your resignation and seeing other employees do the same thing, the firm pointed out.
If there are reasons other than pay underpinning your decision to leave, a pay rise may not solve all your problems in the long term and you might find the same issues creeping up again.
So even if you do get that pay rise, it may not be what you wanted after seeing what else is out there.
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