Whether you have received a job offer and are negotiating your starting salary or are already in a role and believe your salary no longer accurately reflects your contribution, opening discussions with your manager over your compensation package and salary expectations can be uncomfortable and even intimidating. Traditionally, talking about money has been viewed as distasteful. Finances are often seen as private matters, so raising the amount you are paid can be challenging.
However, knowing that you are being paid fairly for your role is essential to job satisfaction and employee engagement. So it’s worth taking the plunge and opening those negotiations. Read on for some tips to get your thinking started.
Table of Contents
How to Negotiate Your Salary
Prepare
Before you open the negotiation process, think about what you want to get out of it and the best way to approach discussions about a higher salary, considering how your manager works and what will make you feel most comfortable. Some managers prefer face-to-face conversations, whereas others would rather have your information in an email that they can respond to when they are ready. From your perspective, email can be a great way to start a conversation about salary if you find it hard to discuss money in person. If you are comfortable doing this and decide to discuss your salary in a meeting rather than by email, it can be a good idea to warn your manager if they want to prepare.
As part of your preparation, do plenty of research into what would be an appropriate salary and think about what your value is to the company. Spend some time revisiting the job description and learning about the job market for your role. If you haven’t had feedback recently, reach out to people you work with and start to create a dossier of your strengths and weaknesses. It’s much easier to negotiate successfully when you have a clear idea of the contribution you make and what you deserve.
Express Gratitude
Starting your negotiations with confidence and a positive tone can make all the difference in how your message is received. If you have just been offered a job, focus on how excited you are to join the company and how much you learnt from the interview process. If you are already in the role, mention a project you were involved in that went well or something your manager has done recently that you have appreciated.
Be Clear
When you start to negotiate salary, you must clearly know what you want. Be as precise as you can be and have clarity in your mind about why you think this number is appropriate. If you are starting a new role and are negotiating with a potential employer, benchmarking information is often available online, but you will need to work out what level you think is appropriate for your experience and the responsibility level of your new role.
Salary checking tools such as Check-a-Salary can also help. If you are already in a role and want to change what you are paid, ensure that you have concrete evidence to back up why you deserve to be paid more than you currently are.
Consider Other Benefits
Salary negotiations do not always need to focus on the pay package. In some cases, other employee benefits such as flexible working, discount schemes and access to private healthcare can significantly impact how someone feels about the overall compensation they receive for their role. Research the full range of benefits your company offers before you start your negotiations and be clear whether you consider these to be part of the negotiations.
Be Professional
Throughout salary negotiations, it is essential to retain a professional manner. Make sure you thank your manager for their time and consideration of your request and mentally prepare to respond respectfully if they say no. It’s also good to be clear with hiring managers that you don’t expect an immediate answer and are open to further negotiations.
Expressions such as ‘After undertaking some research, I have learnt that an average salary….’ or ‘In line with my skills and experience and the expectations of the role, I believe an appropriate salary would be xxx” can be a place to start.
Writing A Salary Negotiation Email
Negotiating salary by email can be a positive way to start discussions about money. It gives you a chance to formulate your argument as to why you deserve an increase in your salary and allows your manager time to consider your request and respond. However, don’t let the fact that negotiations are being conducted via email detract from discussing them in person, especially if things get tricky. Written communication can lose the nuance of a verbal exchange. The nuance in body language, tone and facial expressions that we gain from face to face discussions can play a significant role in helping two parties understand each other’s position.
As well as the tips we have listed above, the following salary negotiation tips will help ensure your email hits the mark:
- Make sure the subject line is clear, without including specifics. For example, ‘John Smith: salary’ is a simple, effective way of making it clear what the content of the email is without giving too much away.
- Start off with an appropriate greeting and keep your language professional, polite and respectful. Everything in your email should remind your manager of how much of an asset to the company you are.
- Keep the email as concise as possible, without skimping on the necessary details you need to supply to make your case. A good structure includes an opening paragraph explaining that you would like to negotiate your salary and the amount, then bullet points as evidence to back up why you should be paid this much, with a sign off thanking the manager for their time and stating that you are open to further negotiations.
What Not To Say When Negotiating Salary
If you have taken time to prepare and research before you start negotiating salary, you will likely be in a good position to know what isn’t appropriate to bring into discussions with employers. However, as a reminder, it’s usually best to avoid:
- Issuing ultimatums: no one likes being held to ransom, so you are much less likely to be successful in your negotiation if you threaten your manager that you will leave.
- Bringing in personal circumstances: while modern workplaces care about their employees’ work-life balance, commercial operations know that they need to be the right salary for the professional duties involved. Telling your manager that you need a salary increase to fund a holiday or a new car isn’t going to wash.
- Negativity: your salary negotiation should focus on all the good things you can offer and the benefits the company receives from your work.
