Five Reasons You Deserve A Pay Raise -- And Five You Don't

Dear Liz,

My company gives out salary increases once a year at annual review time. My review is coming up in April and I want to pitch my boss on a bigger-than-usual pay increase. It will be my two-year anniversary.

I started the job at a salary of $46,800. Last April I got an increase to $49,300 which is more than five percent, but in my first year I learned so much that I'm now creating ad campaigns that bring in millions of dollars.

Over the past year I taught two entry-level co-workers how to build email campaigns and I rewrote all the copy for the company website, on top of my regular work.

I'm planning to create a Power Point presentation to present to my boss "Eva" at my review meeting. I'm hoping to get a raise to $55,000. What are my chances?

Thanks Liz!

Yours,

Nuala

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Dear Nuala,

It's great that you want to pitch Eva on a bigger-than-average pay increase, but you cannot wait until you sit down with Eva at your review meeting to have that conversation.

If you wait that long, Eva will already have proposed your new salary to her boss and HR and she'll already have approval for that number.

You have to act fast if you want Eva to switch gears and propose a bigger increase for you.

The arguments you set forth in your letter are on the very weak end of the scale.

If the person who had your job before you created campaigns that generated much smaller revenue dollars, then you may have an argument for a bigger pay increase.

The fact that your email campaigns generate millions of dollars in sales is not a strong argument for a pay raise by itself.

If it were, then anyone who works for a large company could say "My work makes millions of dollars of revenue possible!" and it would be true, but it would not be a good reason to pay more than the average salary for anybody in your position.

Here are the five strongest arguments in favor of a significant pay raise, and the five weakest arguments.

Five Strongest Arguments For A Pay Raise

1. My work is central to the organization's ability to compete, and I am the only person or one of the only people in the world who can do this work -- or do it as well as I do, at any rate. (If you have such a strong argument, you should be probably be working for yourself.)

2. My contribution to the organization over the past year has made a significant, tangible, positive difference to the bottom line or another critical yardstick, and that contribution is likely to continue at the same level if not increase in the coming year.

3. Without me on your team, you would have to pay much more to consultants to do this work for you.

4. I am integral to the company's plans for the coming year (me personally -- not just my tasks).

5. If I left the company, it would massively disrupt operations.

We can immediately see that although it is nice to have a strong argument for a pay increase at annual review time, it is also risky to be indispensable.

Any smart business person will take steps to reduce risk. If one of the greatest risks to a business is the risk that a key employee might leave, that is an incentive to give the employee a pay raise -- but also to start making contingency plans!

Here are the five weakest argument for a pay raise.

Five Weakest Arguments For A Pay Raise

1. I replaced one or more  people who left. (Not a strong argument because those tasks may be lower-priority now.)

2. I'm a harder worker/reliable/popular/etc. (That's nice, but....)

3. I have learned a lot of new things in the past year. (Comes with the territory.)

4. My work helps the company generate lots of revenue (or save lots of money). That's the way the job was designed. As long as your company pays the going rate, this is a weak argument.

5. I'll leave if I don't get a good raise. (Unless one of the five strongest arguments is also in the mix, don't expect this pitch to work.)

Where does the argument "My pay is below the industry average" fall?

It is relevant, but not necessarily compelling on its own. If you know your boss values your work and would hate to lose you, then for sure bring her up to date on salary-survey data and show her the gap between your current salary and the prevailing market salaries.

Be sure to include a list of your most significant projects and other accomplishments, too. Get that Power Point presentation done this week and present it next week so Eva has plenty of time to advocate with the higher-ups on your behalf if she is sold!

All  the best,

Liz