Being a parent means a lot of responsibilities. There are basic needs, health, childcare, and education among others. This is in exception of personal and family financial needs that leave many working moms struggling financially despite working full time.
Most time the moms are working too hard and not receiving the right or fair compensation or payment for it. Such may lead to demotivation and losing interest in the work. Some moms take this as a cue to look for another employer and jump ship.
However, if you value your company and enjoy your work, you should try to ask for a pay rise. Bear in mind that how, when and after how long you ask for a pay rise may determine the success of your request.
In this post…
Best Time for a Working Mom Should Ask For a Pay Rise
How to Justify your Performance for a Pay Rise
Bad Reasons You Should Not Use To Ask For a Pay Raise
How to Successfully Ask For a Pay Rise: Step By Step Guide For Working Moms
After How Long Is It Best for Moms to Ask For a Pay Rise
The Best Timing for Moms to Ask For a Pay Rise (Signs you are Ready to Ask for a Salary Increase)
The best time when a working mom should ask for a pay rise is when one is ready and prepared with all justifications for a pay rise, whenever that might be. Having these prerequisites is the only time you are more likely to get a pay rise as you can convince your employer of your value to the company and the reason they should match this with pay.
The main indicators that you can use to judge if you are ready and more prone to succeed in getting a pay rise include;
1. Exemplary Work Performance is a Sign you are Ready for a Pay rise
For you to ask for a pay rise, you must be exemplary at your job. It is the only reason you can argue that you deserve a pay raise. Being exemplary means consistently delivering unique job performance.
2. When you have Concrete Justification is the Time for Salary Increase
To show how you have been improving your company through your work, you need figures. You need concrete data and statistics as evidence of how valuable you are to your employer.
Until you have documented this, you are not ready to table a request for a pay rise. If you have them it is time for you to request for a salary raise.
3. Having Transferable Skills
You can tell that you are ready for a pay-rise when you have transferable skills. Transferable skills mean focusing on market-wide skills and deemphasizing company-specific skills.
A certain pay range that has an upper limit on your value limits what your employers assume your value to be. When you have attained more transferable skills, you are closer to getting to the upper limit of what you are worth and tend to be more successful in asking for a pay- rise.
The goal is to clarify your worth and get paid as close to it as possible.
Read: Choosing between Career and Financial Goals
Guaranteed Ways on How to Justify a Request for Salary/Pay Raise
Your performance at your job is very key to a successful pay rise bid. It is the only justification of your worth for the money and how this should be matched with a certain pay. Focus on results more than effort. Results equate to value, effort only speaks to cost.
To achieve this, illustrate how your work contributes to your company earning more revenue, operating more efficiently, or doing better in customers’ satisfaction. It needs to be something exemplary and that no average employee would accomplish.
It may entail:
- Deadlines you helped keep, deals you assisted in winning, and performance statistics you play a role in raising are ways of justifying your performance and a need for a raise.
- Demonstrate ways in which you outperformed the department/company’s performance average. It is one way you can justify the relevance of your demand for a raise.
- Illustrate the company processes you helped streamline. It is a crucial way you can use to show that you asking for a pay rise is justified.
- Outline the additional responsibilities beyond your job description that you undertook successfully. You can use this to show why your request for a pay rise is in order.
Read: How to Get a Positive Performance Review
Revealed Reasons your Pay Raise Request is not Justified and May be Rejected
1. Dont Ask for a Raise Because you Need More Money.
You needing more money does not necessarily mean that you are being underpaid for what you are worth. This is one of the reason that your request for a pay-rise may be rejected.
2. You can’t Justify Pay-rise by Meeting Expectations
Showing up on time/getting most work done/relating well with colleagues is not a reason for you to ask for a pay- rise. Meeting these basic expectations is no good reason for an employer to give you a raise.
3. Don’t Base your Pay-rise Request on Comparison with Colleagues
Comparing other employees’ earnings is not a good reason for you to justify the need for a raise. What your colleagues are getting paid is not necessarily an illustration of your worth nor an argument why your work is worth more. In some companies, it could be against the company policy.
A better way of pay comparison is comparing your pay to your regional average salary, especially if there’s a huge discrepancy.
4. Don’t Use Another Job Offer to Demand Salary Increase
Definitely, you can present this fact but ensure it is only used in situations where you are ready to walk away unless they pay you more.
Bear in mind that it is easier to get your pay request when you switch jobs than try to get your current employer to pay you a high pay rise. Hence it is not recommended to use this approach.
Read: How to Deal with a Poor Performance Review
Proven Expert Secrets on How to Successfully Get a Pay Rise
Once you have all the prerequisites laid down and ready to ask for that pay rise, you need to do it the right way for it to be successful. Note that it is important to have the above prerequisites before you make any move.
1. Wait for a Natural Timing to Make your Demand
You have high chances of getting a pay rise when you do on a perfect timing. Only ask for a raise when your company is in a good position. It is not advisable to ask for a rise when your company is just recovering.
Asking for a raise works well when your effort at the company is evidenced by your company’s good performance in the market. It is why you need to have ready concrete evidence of how your performance has helped the company achieve this.
2. Request for a Performance Review to Justify your Value
You are more likely to have more success with your request for pay-rise when you have a preceding performance review. A performance review is a formal approach and setting where your value and worth for the company are established.
In your request let your supervisors know that the performance review aims to review your value to the company. It should clearly says you intend to get a remuneration that is worth your value.
Read: Habits for Getting a Good Performance Review
3. Win Over the Influencers
If you are friends with your supervisor you can bring them on to your side to enhance your chances of making your bid of getting a pay-rise more effective. Generally, reveal your motive to get a pay raise and ask for their honest opinion.
Make them invested in your goal, as they can also represent you in the best light possible should their opinion be sought. You will the have better chances of successfully getting a salary increase.
4. Support Your Argument With Data to Make your Pay-raise Bid Powerful
The only sure way that you can convince your employer of a pay raise is by convincing them of the added value that you bring to the company. You must be able to demonstrate how your work and exemplary performance at work bring in value and positive changes for your employer.
- To support your argument of why you need a pay rise, you need data figures, and statistics. For instance, you need to demonstrate how much sales you have been able to bring in say for the last year if you are a sales agent.
- You can also showcase all the successful projects you have implemented at the company that has been beneficial for instance in winning clients, retaining clients, bringing more revenue, cutting costs among others. Doing so will make your case of a pay-rise more successful.
- If you say you’re more productive than others, then quantify it, and with revenue. Judge from how much revenue you have brought your company and use that to table your offer for the raise. It is enough evidence that your demand for pay-rise is warranted and should be granted.
5. Make your Bid Successful by Tabling your Requested Figure
After a positive performance review, let your employer know what will make you happy. Avoid a negotiation from your employer but you need to have earned your offer before you can even ask for it.
Communicate that you are working hard to exceed their expectations and you expect them to reciprocate. There’s no ‘company policy’ about what you get paid. If you’re worth it then you can get paid for it.
Be specific and put a number on it, which will enhance your chances of your pay-rise demand going through. Avoid being vague as it leaves the manager guessing what you want.
The figure also needs to be reasonable. This is makes it easier for your supervisor or manager to justify the raise to their management structure and/or the HR department. By doing you increase the likelihood that your pay raise be may succeed.
6. Allow Space for Consultation after Demanding for a Raise
After you have made your pay raise request, it may not happen immediately. It depends on the timing of your request and the time the company does its budgeting among other factors.
Therefore you may need to give your employer some time to think through your request, consult and eventually get back to you. You may need to do a follow-up after a while and ask about the decision on your request.
7. Review Your Position after your Pay-rise Bid
If a pay raise is not being offered, maybe you can review your offer. Does your employer feel that you are over-valuing yourself? Is the disagreement based on your worth and value for the company or some other factor? Is it about finances and budget limitation?
At this point, you will have to decide if you need to start job-hunting or stick it out with your current employer.
How Long to Wait Before Asking for Salary Increase
How long you should wait before asking for a raise is quite relative and depends on a number of factors. Nonetheless waiting for at least a year is thought to be more modest and reasonable. Most performance reviews won’t be conducted until a year is over.
Basically, you should wait out until your annual performance evaluation has been done- as you have more leverage at this point. After a year you feel part of the company long enough too and demonstrate that you are hard to replace and also show that you are ready to stay long term at the company.
However, if you have concrete proof of your significant contribution to your employer before then, then you can ask for a raise before one year. You however need to be confident about your value and impact on the company by this time.
Also if your responsibilities have changed drastically over a short period, you should ask for a rise before a year is over.
In other cases, timing may vary on different factors. The definite duration is the time it will take you to have consistent exemplary work performance among other prerequisites of a successful pay rise request discussed above.
The time will take this to happen depends on one person to another, employer, and industry among others. It is the reason why one may be successful in getting a pay rise after 2, 3, or even 4 years.
Another opportune time to ask for a pay rise is when you are getting a job switch. When you are moving from one position/department to another, use the opportunity to ask for a raise. Quote the change in the responsibilities and tasks that you will now behandling.
Bear in mind that your company would not want to lose you. There is so much for them to lose when they have to hire and train a new employer, probably even pay then potentially higher than they are willing to pay you. It would cost them much if they lost you that they can use in giving you a pay rise.
Therefore be bold and aggressive as you pursue a pay rise. As long as you are deserving of it, the company would be happy to grant you.
Also do not get emotionally invested. Be calm and assertive and project confidence. Never apologize, don’t feel bad for asking for a raise, and stick to highlighting your performance, increased level of experience, and accomplishments as justification for the raise.
