How to ask for a pay rise - and how much

[Dandynot]

Been in post for 2 yrs. Currently earn £47k. Middle management but as it’s a small firm, it’s just me in the department! I’m in charge of all of the work in this area though. I have just recruited my first team member and will be responsible for training them up.

When I joined, I was hired on the basis of a pretty narrow job description. Since then, I’ve grown the role quite a bit, introduced new initiatives (which have brought in revenue although it’s difficult to track exact ££).

The company also reduced salaries across the board by 15% during the pandemic, but continued to outperform targets. Nobody received any money back though . This probably represented about £7k to me.

In short, I’d like to ask for an uplift in salary but have never done this before and have no idea what to ask for.

Any advice?

Oh and I’d rather go for a realistic figure and get it, rather than go in high and get a fraction!

I can't see anyone giving pay rises in the current economic climate! Sorry not helpful, just realistic. £47k is a great salary. I suspect they'll just say the same.

Thanks Coastalwave. It’s a fair salary for the type of work, but not above average.

The main reasoning is I’m now doing a bigger role than initially employed for, have contributed to financial growth of the firm and will be training up a new recruit ie taking on added responsibility.

@CoastalWave

I can't see anyone giving pay rises in the current economic climate! Sorry not helpful, just realistic. £47k is a great salary. I suspect they'll just say the same.

Surely that depends on the industry though?!

Op are there similar roles you can compare against in your industry? I'd request a meeting to discuss and outline exactly all you've mentioned here with a comparison of similar roles and pay scales. I'd aim slightly higher then you would like to accept to give them a chance to negotiate down a bit.

@CoastalWave

I can't see anyone giving pay rises in the current economic climate! Sorry not helpful, just realistic. £47k is a great salary. I suspect they'll just say the same.

Bad advice.

What do you think you're worth op, any idea on market comps or new hires?

The research I've done shows that the salary range for (insert role) in this area (insert locale), in the current market is £xxxxx. Clearly, there is a significant gap here as my salary is £xxxxx. Given that I have grown this role, brought in xyz initiatives (thereby bringing in revenue), I believe that an annual salary of £xxxxx is reasonable.

I would also draw your attention to the fact that I was at a loss of £7k last year through reduced wages, despite the company maintaining a profit. Despite this significant drop in my income, I continued to work hard throughout and excelled in my role. I am a team player and I bring value to the company. I would ask you to consider all of this and respond back to me re. my proposed compensation level.

In terms of amount; it really does depend on what that role in a similar location is fetching at the moment. No point asking for a £10k wage rise based on London wages if similar roles in Yorkshire are only getting around £2k more.
All businesses' which are currently maintaining pre-pandemic profit margins should be offering employees a rise of at least inflation rate. If they are not doing so, they are making covid excuses (in my opinion).

Keep in mind NI rise and student loan rises also. Its important you factor everything in to get a true representation of what will make a difference to you - and what your value is to the company.

Also try to keep in mind - would a man be second guessing himself as much as you are? Answer is likely NO. You know what you bring to the role. You know your value. So step up and ask for it.

^ No point asking for a £10k wage rise based on London wages if similar roles in Yorkshire are only getting around £2k more.

• if you're in Yorkshire, that is!

I would ask for restoration of pay to start with as pandemic did not negatively affect company performance as was expected when pay was reduced. I would then ask for a pay rise separately based on additional duties and bringing in new business. Or maybe ask for both at the same time. But I wouldn't want anyone thinking that giving back 7k is a pay increase for performing extra duties.

Thank you itwasntaparty and endlesslydoingdishes(hopefully not!). V useful advice.

Think I need to do some research on market salary levels, and make a watertight list of all my contributions.

If I don’t at least ask, they’re not going to offer me a rise - so at least I’m showing my intent.

What is the market rate for your role? I would start by looking at that.

Check out glasssdoor etc for comparisons

I know. The restoration of pay is something that sits badly in the firm. Their argument is that costs have gone up, times are uncertain, yada yada. The FD has dug his heels in so I suspect that’s a on starter.

They might be hedging their bets ie some will but not everyone will ask for a pay rise, so they’re still better off if they don’t pay it back.

Market rate varies hugely. In a charity, it might be 40k or a bit less, in a large corporate(which we’re not), 60k or more.

I’ll need to find fairly industry specific examples I think.

Agree with previous advice re research and approach....

However, am I reading this right that pay was reduced by £7k but a) that was not reimbursed when the company lost no money during Covid and b) that you are still being paid £7k less than you were? Because if that's right, I think you have to accept that the chances of them agreeing to up your pay are pretty low because clearly they are cheapskates (I assume this is a privately owned company and the increased revenue and profits have gone straight into their grubby little paws?).

In which case, you need to be prepared to walk away when they say no. Not necessary the following day, but, assuming you've researched and there ARE roles of this sort out there, at better pay, then when they say, start actively looking for one of those jobs. Unfortunately, an employee who genuinely thinks they're underpaid and whose employer does not make an appropriate uptick when asked is almost always going to get unhappier and unhappier (incidentally, I think there's research to suggest that having to ask for the pay raise, when it is a raise that simply gets you to market rates, has a similar effect so that even with the increased pay you remain unhappy).

I completely disagree about no one being given pay rises at the moment. In my industry there are way more jobs than applicants and people are being given huge pay rises when switching roles. A friend doing a very similar job to me has just gone from £50k to £90k for a fully remote role.

I would definitely do adequate research into your area, maybe even scope out a few recruiters to see what you might get if you left and went somewhere else. Also make sure to go into the discussion armed with evidence. Eg. I have implemented X processes which have led to Y

I'm actually feeling quite angry. I hadn't seen your update re the FD when I posted the first time - increased costs? Sure, okay, I can accept that as a business issue... But do you have visibility of revenues and profits? Is it true that the increased costs have completely wiped out the increased pay? Are the directors seeing similar levels of reduced pay (or dividends)? why are increased costs being shared between the EMPLOYEES and not by the business making other decisions?

It's frankly outrageous and I'd recommend getting out as fast as you can.

I have to agree with @BlingLoving after seeing your update.
I have a friend who took a 20% paycut during Covid. She maintained she was happy to go along with it for the good of the business (large international marketing firm) The business continued to do well and was then sold for an eye-watering sum of money. Of course the employees who had worked long hours on reduced pay to keep everything ticking over received nothing in return. I still can’t understand why she hasn’t left yet. In a lot of cases the loyalty people feel to their employers does not go both ways.

Start by getting your job description updated so that what you do is recognised by your manager and the organisation, then ask for the pay rise.

Thanks all. To clarify, salary levels have been reinstated to pre-pandemic levels - but the money we lost during that period (the 15% lopped off our pay), hasn’t been returned. The figures are fairly transparent and shared amongst mid level associates and up.

I think some of the reluctance to repay was on the part of the FD, as apparently he didn’t want to have to wade through all the NI and tax implications for 250 or so staff … 🙄 So, a certain amount of laziness to do the paperwork.

On the whole though, they are not a bad company to work for, they are loyal to staff and people stay long term. I think if I can build my case effectively, they will at least consider my request fairly.

I’ve updated my JD, which has been signed off, so that’s in the bag!

@endlesslydoingdishes

The research I've done shows that the salary range for (insert role) in this area (insert locale), in the current market is £xxxxx. Clearly, there is a significant gap here as my salary is £xxxxx. Given that I have grown this role, brought in xyz initiatives (thereby bringing in revenue), I believe that an annual salary of £xxxxx is reasonable.

I would also draw your attention to the fact that I was at a loss of £7k last year through reduced wages, despite the company maintaining a profit. Despite this significant drop in my income, I continued to work hard throughout and excelled in my role. I am a team player and I bring value to the company. I would ask you to consider all of this and respond back to me re. my proposed compensation level.

In terms of amount; it really does depend on what that role in a similar location is fetching at the moment. No point asking for a £10k wage rise based on London wages if similar roles in Yorkshire are only getting around £2k more.
All businesses' which are currently maintaining pre-pandemic profit margins should be offering employees a rise of at least inflation rate. If they are not doing so, they are making covid excuses (in my opinion).

Keep in mind NI rise and student loan rises also. Its important you factor everything in to get a true representation of what will make a difference to you - and what your value is to the company.

Also try to keep in mind - would a man be second guessing himself as much as you are? Answer is likely NO. You know what you bring to the role. You know your value. So step up and ask for it.

This is perfect.

I am actually waiting on confirmation of what my pay rise will be...I was offered a job with a 30% pay rise, but for a number of reasons I turned it down. I went to my boss and told her about the offer (being candid that I'd turned it down), supplied her with market data and asked for a raise (or "salary adjustment") 😀

She agreed right away.

Good luck!