Welcome to another Ask Katrina vlog. The question for today’s video blog is:
“Hey Katrina, I’ve been giving been given additional responsibilities in my role. I want to ask for more money but how do I perform a salary negotiation?”
We have all been in a situation where we know we’re doing more and we deserve an increase in pay for it.
The first thing I want to say is congratulations on actually acknowledging that and not waiting for it to be recognized by others.
One of the most common barriers to success in the careers of corporate executive women is that we expect other people to see our high performance and acknowledge it and reward us for it.
In a very, very large machine that has routines and checks and balances in place, you will eventually be acknowledged and rewarded, because you’ll be compared to your peers.
But the reality is that if you had been given responsibilities mid-swing, and nobody’s keeping an eye on it, they’re not going to pay you more, because why would they? You haven’t asked for it.
Without asking for a pay change, you’re saying it’s okay and the company isn’t going to volunteer to make a change.
So it’s definitely going to take a conversation and negotiation.
3 Steps in a Proper Negotiation
That’s step number one, acknowledging that you’ve got to have the conversation.
Step number two, identify the changes in responsibility.
Make a list of all the things you’re being asked to do in addition to your current job description.
What’s new?
How much of a lift is it?
Is it a lot more direct reports?
Is it a lot more projects?
What’s the workload?
Is it a temporary assignment or a permanent addition to your responsibilities?
You must lay out and understand the amount of influence you’re now going to have over the business because of these new functions that have been added to your plate of responsibility.
Step three is to then go and have a conversation.
Typically, this conversation happens with your direct supervisor, sometimes this can happen with HR, it simply depends on your structure.
You’re going to have a conversation along the lines of “Hey, because of the additional responsibilities I have taken on, I want to understand the amount of compensation that goes along with it.”
Find out what you’re keeping, adding, and/or eliminating.
If it’s definitely an addition to your responsibilities, we’ve got to have that conversation to say, “Hey, this is added to my responsibility. This means you’re updating my job description. What’s the new pay band going to be for this new role?”
What’s the new pay band? What’s the median pay for this role?
That doesn’t mean you’re asking for an increase. You’re asking to understand how they’re going to change the role in general.
The other thing I want you to do before you go sit down in that conversation, is I want you to do a little bit of market research.
Maybe your title hasn’t changed, but it’s going to maybe they’re asking you to update the title.
But we know that most very large organizations tend to have typical, similar titles as other organizations because we all have to speak the same language.
When I’m trying to hire someone to fill a role, I’ve got to be able to look at the resume and understand the role that they held prior, to confirm that it aligns with the role I want to put them in.
That’s why we all have to have similar language in our job titles.
So go look for similar jobs and seek to understand the pay that’s happening out in the rest of the world.
Especially when you ask, ask, and have the conversation, what’s the pay band?
And what’s the median gonna be for that pay band?
And they tell you, you can then respond with, “Hmm, that’s pretty interesting. That’s actually a little bit lower than my research showed for the rest of the industry. Or, “Hum, that’s pretty good. That’s actually in line with what I’ve researched with the rest of the industry,” whatever the truth is, you call that out.
In other words, you tell them that you’ve done your research.
You’re fully aware, that’s just being a responsible employee that’s responsibly stepping into the role, there’s nothing wrong with doing research.
Because you’re not challenging somebody, you’re just saying, “Hey, that sounds pretty spot on.” Or, “That sounds a little low, we might need to look into this, let me share some of the things I’ve come across.”
You’re being helpful.
After you have the conversation relative to the pay band discussion, you’re gonna say, “Hey, based on the information you just gave me, I’m sitting lower than the median for the pay ban,” or, “You know, what you shared with me is lower than my research. And I’m actually lower than that.”
Or,” I’m sitting at the median that you described, but that median is actually lower than the industry standard. And so I just want to share all this with you, I do think that we need to make some adjustments for the pay band.“
Or, “Hey, the pay band sounds great, but I’m low, let’s get me to the median.”
That’s how you can ask to have your compensation adjusted without saying, “Well, but I deserve it.”
You’re approaching it from a very thoughtful perspective.
“What’s the pay band going to be?”
It’s not emotional. It’s what the company decides, what’s the pay band going to be?
Here’s what the market research shows, and here’s where I sit relative to that, how are we going to put all this stuff together?
It’s really the framework of the conversation.
That is how you approach the negotiation with salary.
Now, if they come back and say, “Yeah, I know you’re lower than the target but we’re not going to bump you up,” then you can get into discussions to seek to understand why.
“Hey, I fully understand that that’s your answer helped me understand the thought process behind that so that I can be on the same page, help me align with that perspective.” And all you’re trying to do is get them to tell you why.
That’s their answer. So then you can come back and say, “I hear what you’re saying. I’m going to actually ask that you reconsider because I’m not growing into this role. I’m already accepting this responsibility on day one. So I’m already doing extra without being compensated for extra. And we have a culture of always being fair to everyone. And we want to be consistently fair, so wouldn’t you think it would be fair to go ahead and compensate me for this additional responsibility?”
They’re probably going to say yes, especially if you tie it back to your core values.
So it’s all about having the discussion not about me and my feelings but the company and how the company runs and the core values of the company and how we just typically do things.
There’s no emotion.
It’s just common sense.
There’s no reason why they wouldn’t agree with you because it’s so logical.
It’s done without emotion that they’re like, “Oh, yeah, well, that makes perfect sense.”
Try it.
If you want support and a guide to walk beside you as you navigate it, schedule a call with the Legend Leaders team, and let’s talk through it. Schedule your call now.