Asking for a Pay Rise

[mooneus]

So there's been a new starter join my company who I know for a fact is being paid more than me, as I saw the job description. The new role does not have as much of an impact on sales as mine does. I've been working at the company for over a year now and have never been offered a pay rise. In other companies I've worked for I've been given a pay rise without having to ask.

I work in marketing and a lot of work that I do leads to sales, which make thousands of pounds for the company. The company also employs a freelancer to do a similar job to mine, but via a different medium. I also know for a fact they are being paid a lot more than me, although recently I have been generating more sales than them.

I'm a bit upset that my manager has not recognised the work I've been doing. We're coming up for half-year appraisals soon and I'm not sure what to say. Do I say that I think I deserve a pay rise, or just point out that I've done a good job and hope that management will recognise me for it.

I'd wait for the appraisal and prep well for it. Show your contribution in monetary terms.

Can you show a direct link between your work and the sales it generates? Can you produce a comparison table that shows the two others and their attributable sales?

Marketing is tough imo to show a direct link, as there will generally be sales people, on commission, also in the mix. Increase in sales can down to a stellar salesperson. Or a great commercial offering that makes the price/package very competitive. Sales/commercial/pricing even service can all claim their actions have had the most impact on sales.

Can you demonstrate the absolute? If not, all is not lost. Ask for feedback proactively ahead of your review. Do a survey monkey with some closed questions you can use for stats and open questions for taking on board feedback. E.g.

Based on the work you have seen me produce, how would you rate my personal contribution to the increase is sales this year? Multiple choice answer of No impact. Some impact, high impact.

What feedback would you like to offer ahead of my mid year appraisal?

Then use the answers to suggest how great you are and everyone agrees. If your line manager agrees with this, use the outcome to ask for a pay rise. Good luck!

Some of it depends on the employer - we get payrises once a year, and you may have had to have been an employee for a minimum period to be in that year. Otherwise it has to be a job role change or other exceptional circumstances, such as getting incremental raises every few months till you're on a par with you male colleagues. (Still don't understand why they couldn't do it in one go.)

But regardless of policies like that, Meh's advice is good.