Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership
If affordability is straining your budget, ask for a raise. Because 70% who ask get some form of a raise. However, it’s a mistake just to rely on emotional arguments and the fact that you “need” a raise. So instead, improve your chances dramatically. By highlighting your objective contributions in each of the three areas that dominate a manager’s decision to approve a raise. So that you can convincingly show your skeptical manager that you have actually earned your requested raise.
Why Merely Asking For A Raise Won’t Be Enough!
In today’s business world, cost-cutting is intense, so every expenditure must be thoroughly justified. And that means that merely stating, “I need a raise,” isn’t likely to gain much traction. So, instead, focus your raise request on the business impacts you have generated over the last year or so, as well as the value that you will add during the next year.
Put together what I call “a personalized business case,” where you present objective arguments in three critical areas: your job performance, your team contributions, and the advanced skills that will be essential next year. Providing this business-impact content will make it easier for your boss and other executives who must approve your raise to see why it’s in the company’s best interest to award it!
Why January Is An Ideal Time To Ask For A Raise
There are many reasons why January is an ideal month to ask for a raise. The most critical one is that there is money available at the beginning of the new fiscal year. January is also the appropriate time because the results from the entire last year are finally in.
In many cases, everyone’s results will have recently been formally appraised. And looking ahead, everyone is facing new goals. So it makes sense to give the employees with the most responsibility around these new goals more money.
The Secret Sauce… Is Identifying Every One Of Your Contributions (Using A “Tickler” Keyword Search)
After years of researching the key components of a successful request for a raise, I have determined that the primary problem with most unsuccessful raise requests is that their content is too limited.
Because the employee relied on their memory to populate their “brag sheet.” So instead, I recommend that you use a “tickler keyword search” (because it tickles your memory) to identify all of your contributions that are mentioned either in your last year’s calendar and/or anywhere in your received and sent messages to guarantee that you won’t omit any of your major contributions, impacts, and results in your arguments.
This keyword search is effective because it identifies keywords that have proven to indicate important results or areas of contribution. You will have to do some tweaking in order to refine the keywords that you use in your tickler search. In the meantime, I have provided a range of keywords and phrases that typically identify contributions that would bolster your case for a raise.
| Result Contribution Revenue Key Customer Created Recognized Led/Leader The Problem KPI Compliance New Skill /Capability Impact Breakthrough | Completed Met/Reached Goal Customer Satisfaction Executives Invented Rewarded Support/Assisted The Report Quality Work Wrote/Authored Impacted Strategic Goals Under Budget Record | Accomplishment Deadline ROI BOD Developed Acknowledge Collaborated/Cooperated The Project Cost-Effective Thank You Were Noticed The First Outstanding |
Example: A keyword search of your internal emails that uses the phrase “the project” might reveal the fact that you contributed to at least five projects during the last year.
A Decision Support Document Is Essential For An Organized Presentation
I found that most unsuccessful arguments for a raise were presented with haphazard and limited content. As a result, they were not as powerful as they should have been. I have determined that the only way to ensure your presentation is organized and as powerful as possible is first to create a standalone “decision support document.”
This document forces you to put your arguments for a raise in a logical order before you create your final in-person presentation. In some cases, this document can also be provided to your manager in advance for their review before your one-on-one raise conversation.
The content of that support document should be broken down into three categories. Your individual performance, your contributions to the team, and the skills that you will add in the future.
Content category #1 – Include Bullet Points Covering Your Job Performance
In most cases, the most impactful category of contributions covers your individual performance during the last year. So, in this first section of the support document, include bullet points that cover the following 5 content areas.
- Include a bullet point for each of your major job outputs – highlight each of your job outputs that are already routinely measured. And brag about the positive job outputs that make you look good. These might include output volume, output quality, cost-effectiveness, meeting deadlines, customer ratings, and revenue generation.
- Include all of your accomplishments – in addition to performance statistics. You should include bullet points that highlight additional accomplishments. Include major tasks/projects that you completed, goals that were met, problems that you solved/prevented, reports that you authored, new programs that you developed, and successful cost-cutting efforts. When appropriate, note your excellent attendance, your low error rate, and your positive compliance record.
- Don’t cover your normal job duties – because your manager is already familiar with your normal job duties. Concentrate your content on your results and accomplishments.
- Include instances when your contribution was recognized – it’s also important that you populate the support document with all the positive points covering “your contributions.” Those bullet points should cover any formal (and important informal) recognitions that you received. Internal contests that you’ve won, as well as positive coworker, manager, and customer acknowledgments. Cases where you were highly ranked against other employees. When appropriate, include significant accomplishments outside of work. Include educational accomplishments, professional associations, and community recognition
- Include your ratings on your performance appraisals – when they help support your case. Highlight the superior ratings that you have received on your performance appraisals.
Content category #2 – Include Bullet Points Covering Your Contributions To The Team
After evidence of individual performance, many managers consider your contributions to the team to be the next most critical area in deciding on a raise. When preparing your decision support document, be sure to include bullet points covering each of these 7 team contribution areas.
- Show that you were rated as a team player – when they are available. Provide bullet points covering your “ranking as a team player” on 360° employee surveys and on your rating in the team player section of your performance appraisals. Also, remind your manager of times when they formally or informally acknowledged your great team contributions.
- Demonstrate that you have led – because taking a leadership role is a critical contribution to the team. Reveal the cases when you were voted to be a team or subgroup leader. Also, highlight cases where you assumed an informal leadership role in a crisis to fill a vacuum. Consider highlighting any major leadership roles that you have in professional or community organizations.
- Include cases where you have filled in for other jobs – those that can fill in for others are valuable. They help maintain team productivity without paying for temps or overtime. So include a bullet point that covers instances where you added value by filling in for others during absences, pregnancy, or overloads. Also, remind your manager of any higher-level job tasks that you are performing in your current job (without extra pay). Finally, remind your manager that these actions are beneficial because they are preparing you for the next-level-up job.
- Include cases where you helped solve high-cost team problems – because solving major problems is a significant part of a manager’s role. Managers appreciate and reward team members who have made significant contributions to team problem-solving. So include a bullet point covering the major problems where you made a significant contribution.
- Highlight when you helped the team adopt new technologies – in a world where technology is increasingly important. Highlight the cases when you’ve helped the team adopt any new technology tools, hardware, and software (especially AI). Also, show the manager that you are continually learning about new technologies that the team is considering.
- Show that you were a highly requested employee – when it is true. Show how teammates and managers made you one of the most requested employees, including requests from both the team lead and other group leaders, within and outside of the team.
- Show that you helped others perform better – include a bullet point for each case. Where your coaching, mentoring, and support directly improved the performance of individual teammates and/or the team.
Content category #3 – Include Bullet Points Covering Future Areas
In a business world where tasks are constantly changing. Managers are forced to rely on employees who have the right skills “just in time” for a range of upcoming problems and opportunities. I call this skill set “future skills.” They are important because they cover the third critical decision category, future skills that influence a manager’s decision to provide a raise. So if you want to guarantee that your argument for a raise will be successful, include as many bullet points as possible that highlight each of the following 6 most important future skill areas.
- Show them that you continually learn – in a world where business knowledge and solutions rapidly become obsolete. The most valuable employees are those who are self-directed and continuous learners. So, include one or more examples of where you’ve continued learning helped the team. Also, show how your sharing of what you learned will be essential to team performance over the next year. Include any relevant learning milestones, including new certifications, courses, seminars, and any recently added degrees.
- Highlight your “future skills” – in a rapidly changing business world. The skills required for operational success are continually changing. So your first step should be informally identifying the “future skills” that your manager has determined will be essential to next year’s team success. Then, in your support document, highlight the critical skills that you already have, as well as the future skills that you are developing.
- Include a bullet point covering your AI-related skills – in today’s world, few things worry managers more than having sufficient capability in the AI area in order to stay ahead of their competition. So don’t be subtle. And put together a bullet point that highlights all of your current and developing AI capabilities.
- Show that you are data-driven – in a world that is increasingly digitized and quantified. Being able to measure and effectively quantify your business results is becoming increasingly essential. So include a bullet point that covers a few examples of how being data-driven has helped both your individual and team performance.
- Show them you are an innovator – in today’s fast-moving world of business. Very few things add more value than continuous innovation. So include a bullet point that highlights both your implemented and your developing innovations.
- Remind them of your commitment to the organization – because those who are fully committed to the organization are most likely to receive a raise. But together, a compelling argument that convinces your manager that you are committed to staying with the company.
Some additional individual skills that a manager might value
- Show them that you are forward-looking
- Highlight how you have been resilient and adaptable
- Demonstrate you have a big-picture global perspective
- Demonstrate that you are self-motivated
- Show that you have been collaborative
- Make the argument that you have potential
Implementation Tips – For Developing And Presenting Your Case
Obviously, it is the content that you provide in your presentation that will have the highest impact on whether you are granted a raise. However, another common reason why most raise attempts don’t succeed. The fact that the employee used a flawed process to gather, organize, and present their accomplishments. Here are the 6 most impactful action tips that I guarantee will help you organize and present your best arguments.
- Use a keyword search to populate your support document – don’t even consider relying on your memory to identify your accomplishments. Because if you do, you’ll likely miss more than half of them. Instead, use a tickler keyword search.
- Create a decision support document – a standalone decision support document will help you organize all of the content for your argument. In addition, this support document will help you more accurately assess which of your accomplishment bullet points are most likely to have the greatest impact on your manager’s final decision. And, of course, the final use of this support document is to serve as a guide for choosing what content to include in your final oral arguments.
- You must actually ask for a raise – I have found that most employees are simply afraid to ask for a raise, so they never do. So set a deadline, then schedule a conversation with your manager.
- Ask others what criteria their manager used – instead of winging it. It’s a good idea to ask for help in preparing your request. So consider approaching the manager’s secretary, HR generalists, other supervisors, past team managers, compensation experts, and coworkers. Ask them directly to identify what decision criteria their manager has used to make their decisions on a raise.
- Ask at the right time – there are good and bad days to ask for a raise. For example, any day when an increase in company profit, revenue, or sales is made public would be a great day to ask. Finally, asking after your manager has just experienced a major accomplishment or asking on one of your manager’s “good days” is also recommended.
Some additional implementation tips to consider
- Video your presentation and polish it until it’s perfect
- Don’t surprise your manager with an unexpected raise request
- Don’t threaten to quit or give your manager ultimatums
- Subtly show your manager that you are hard to replace
- Be subtle about mentioning “other job offers”
- Be willing to settle for alternatives that are almost as good
- Bring with you an up-to-date job description
- Consider providing your manager with salary comparison data for your job
- If the manager rejects you, ask them what would change their mind in the future
Final Thoughts
During these tough times, when job searches are especially difficult, most employees are more worried about their job security than about getting a raise. However, even though budgets are tight, most managers are still giving their best employees raises.
The only major change I have identified is that managers have now significantly “raised the bar.” So the minimum criteria that they now use to qualify for a raise have gone up considerably.
In addition, managers now expect the employee’s presentation for a raise to be flawless. And on a positive note, because so many more employees are now reluctant to ask, you will surely face less competition if you make a strong request for a raise during the month of January.
Thanks for finding the time to read and share this article.
Notes for the reader
This is the latest article from Dr. Sullivan, who was called “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company.
You can subscribe to his Aggressive Talent Management newsletter (which focuses on recruiting tools, current recruiting opportunities, and recruiting trends). Either here or by following him on LinkedIn.
