Never Ever Settle for a 3% Raise
the market is moving way faster than inflation
I’ve been talking to women (and some men) about an unfortunate de-coupling of promotions and raises.
If you’ve been promoted (or pre-promoted, i.e., given the tasks of the new job without the actual formal promotion) your employer is quite literally stealing your wages. And it’s not just stealing your wages today. It’s stealing them pretty much forever since every raise is going to be anchored by your current salary, bonus and benefit structure.
Here are just two reasons why you shouldn’t accept any incremental increase in your compensation even if you haven’t been promoted or won’t be promoted in the near future.
Your duties have expanded in the past year and likely no longer match the job description you were initially hired to perform.
If your employer had to replace you, it would have to replace you at the current market value for the job you’re actually doing, not the job you were hired to do.
You are in Control
This is what one employer-side consulting firm said to employers at the beginning of this year:
[Because] employee supply is limited and demand for workers [has] increase[d], workers have and will continue to have increased choices – they are in control. The future is not a mystery; it’s simple demographic science. As the labor force growth slows, workers will further gain control for years to come.
That’s right. Not only is the ‘08 recession in our rear-view mirror, the slow growth of the labor force has put employees in the position their employers were in when there were dozens of people eager to accept just about any semi-reasonable pay-cut to remain on the job or take a new one.
You are in control.
I’ve written before about Post Traumatic Recession Syndrome for mid-career professionals, managers and employee-consultants. Those of you who began your careers or changed them sometime during the ‘08-’12 time period, are still being affected by the low pay employers were able to offer during those dark years.
What you need to do now is re-set your compensation to match the cost to your employer of hiring a new employee to do your job. Do this while remembering that: (a) attrition costs are eating up employer profits; and, (b) no one can fill your shoes until they too can form circles of trust and client-facing relationships that are key to the success of the position you’re filling now.
Want to know what your market value is? Run on over to 81cents.com to get a detailed market report tailored to your particular position in your particular company by industry insiders who know what your company is paying new and old employees to do your job.
If you need a consult, feel free to book at Hundred Buck Hour with me here. For some clients, that’s actually enough to get them on course to seek the raise they deserve. Others buy packages here. And some of you go it alone with the support of your inner circle of advisors.
Whatever you do, remember, you’ve never been average, you’re working beyond your job description, and, you’re driving substantial revenues or saving considerable costs, both of which result in profits beyond your imagining.
Go get ‘em, Champs!