Most time the moms are working too hard and not receiving the right or fair compensation for it. It may be too demotivating so if you value your company and enjoy your work, you should ask for a pay rise with the right justifications.
You will know you are ready for a pay rise when you have the right justifications , exemplary work performance, and have gained soft skills. You can demonstrate your value through deadlines you met, closed deals, performance statistics, how you streamlined company processes, and the added responsibilities you took beyond your job description.
Your request for pay rise my be rejected when you ask for a rise based on your need for money but not your value, lacking any exemplary performance, comparing your pay with colleagues and using another job to demand a salary increase.
The best way you can improve your changes of getting a pay rise is waiting for a natural timing, requesting for a performance review, winning over the influencers, supporting your argument with data, allowing space for consultation and reviewing your position.
The best time you ask for a pay rise is when after you have waited for at least a year, until your annual performance evaluation has been done , your company is doing well and when you are getting a job switch.
The best/Right Time to Ask For a Pay Rise
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;
- You have exemplary work performance. It is the only reason you can argue that you deserve a pay raise. Being exemplary means consistently delivering unique job performance.
- You have concrete justification. You must 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.
- You have 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.
How to Justify a Request for Salary 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 played 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.
- Illustrate the company processes you helped streamline.
- 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
Why your Pay Raise Request may be Rejected
- You are asking for a raise because you need more money not because you are worth it. You needing more money does not necessarily mean that you are being underpaid for what you are worth. Your request for a pay-rise may be rejected for missing this justification.
- You are just meeting expectations but nothing exemplary. 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.
- You are comparing your pay 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.
- You are using another job to demand a 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.
Read: How to Deal with a Poor Performance Review
Simple secrets on Successfully Getting 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
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. Table your Requested Figure
After a positive performance review, let your employer know what will make you happy. 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.
However 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.
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 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
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
Waiting for at least a year before asking for a raise 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.
Also 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 be handling.
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 them potentially higher than they are willing to pay you. It would cost them much if they lost you than 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.
