Q & A Table of Contents
Ten Years Of Minimal Raises
From: Philia, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Question: Can I have your expert advice in replying to a denial letter regarding my request for a salary increment? Kindly bear in mind the following points:
I have offered to the Company 10 years of my service and I have never requested for a raise. We have salary increments every year in the month of July, however they are very minimal. The cost of living has gone up, especially rents.
Response: Before taking any further steps with your company, you should do some research.
Find out whether other people in your company have had the same or similar experiences with their request for salary increases.
Learn whatever you can about how higher-lever managers in your company have been paid over the past ten years.
Check out the local market to learn about salary trends in other companies in your company’s business sector — and also try to find out what the salary trend has been for other people performing jobs similar to yours in other companies and other business sectors.
Are there any government data about the change in the cost of living which you can offer your employer as evidence of the need for increased pay?
Get a sense of whether there are other jobs available to someone with your skills and background in the local market; this will tell you the strength of your BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). If you have an attractive choice of employment, if your current employer won’t respond favorably you can walk out of the discussion and take another job.
If the top management’s compensation has been increasing at a faster rate than the compensation of employees, it may well be that your colleagues might work together to put pressure on your supervisors to bring about a fairer compensation policy. If no one in the company has had a significant salary increase, that may indicate that the overall profitability of the company has not been good — and it could be that looking for a job in a more successful company would be a good idea.
Going into your discussions with the folks who decide your pay works far better when you are well-informed. You will be more self-confident, you will feel more entitled to pursue negotiation, and you will be more credible to the person with whom you are negotiating.
Good luck,
Steve
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