If you believe you should be making more money, you are certainly not alone. A recent Gallup poll found that four in 10 workers feel they are underpaid.
This makes sense. People keep pointing out that cost of living continues to rise while wages are not keeping up. A dollar doesn’t go nearly as far as it once did.
Time to ask for a raise. So, how should you go about this to optimize your chances of success? Book an in-person meeting and do your research about the market. A new report has found that these are the top two strategies workers employ when asking for a raise.
Business supplies company Zoro surveyed nearly 1,000 people about how they asked for a raise and whether their efforts were successful. They found that, while a majority of people surveyed had some level of discomfort about asking for more money (with women being twice as likely as men to say they were not at all comfortable doing so), 81% had succeeded in getting it.
How did they go about it?
These are the top 10 most successful strategies for getting a raise:
Having an in-person meeting — 48% Researching the salary range of similar positions – 33.5% Waiting until an annual/semiannual performance review — 32.9% Rehearsing the conversation — 32.9% Planning a meeting when a boss/supervisor would be more receptive – 27.9% Asking after a major accomplishment or milestone – 25.7% Asking for more money than desired – 19.2% Presenting progress/accomplishments to a boss/supervisor – 15.2% Asking after the company has had a significant financial accomplishment – 12.2% Asking when boss/supervisor is planning budget – 9.5%
Other strategies were marked as “controversial” or “questionable” but were also successful for some. The top five of these were:
Using seniority to justify a raise – 35.2% Comparing performance to co-workers – 22.9% Leveraging another job offer – 19.5% Using personal finances to justify a raise – 15.8% Using co-workers’ salaries to justify a raise – 13.6%
More highlights from the survey include the following:
Intermediate-level employees had the highest success rates at getting a raise.
Salaried employees had a higher success rate than hourly workers.
Hourly employees got bigger raises, however, increasing pay by an average of $1.60, which is equivalent to $3,328 per year compared with an average raise of $2,370 for salaried employees.
Most people (49.4%) got the exact amount they asked for, while 17.1% got more than they asked for and 33.5% got less.