#1: No salary increase for a while? Here’s why…

When asking for a pay rise, many people make the false assumption that they are entitled to a raise based on the length of time they have been in the company… This attitude won’t fly with your employer and will frustrate him…

Neither will the approach of complaining that your finances are a little bit difficult… Why?
Because an employer considers himself like a client that pays for a service (your work), in exchange of your monthly salary. Therefore, coming to your “client” and telling him to pay you more for exactly the same service is unreasonable. A salary represents a certain amount of value that the company gets in exchange of the work you are doing. So if the value stays the same, then your employer won’t re-evaluate your salary, regardless to your personal problems or your tenure in the company. It’s that simple…

So the only way for you to get a pay rise, is if you’re able to demonstrate that you are providing more than what you were paid for.

If you’re not sure how you could help improve the return on the investment they made in you, then think about ways to save or make more money. Every job has an opportunity to do just that for the company. If you can demonstrate that you can generate, directly or indirectly, more savings or money, then you would be in a good situation to ask for a “share” of that extra cash you have helped generating for your employer.

In other words, just doing your job and going home does not lead to a pay rise. You have to demonstrate that you’re doing more than what you’re paid for. For example be known to achieve more than your objectives, take more responsibilities, mentor someone. Deliver more value for your work for at least 3 to 6 months and you will then be in a great situation to ask for extra compensation for your work.

Just focus on achieving more, help more, produce more, make the company save more money (or time since time is money for the company), or make the company more profitable… and your salary will grow accordingly!

Until next time,
Keep investing in yourself!