Why you shouldn't ask for a pay rise
- February 19, 2020
I was recently asked to write a blog on " How to negotiate a pay rise"
Excited at the prospect of not having been put out to pasture just yet and welcoming the opportunity to utilise all my past sales experience, gained working for one of the worlds biggest consumer goods companies, l put pen to paper.
The words flowed liked a well oiled engine before suddenly stalling and spluttering to a holt.
The problem it turned out was not that the project had defeated me , but that l didn't believe what l was writing, and l will explain why. - I don't actually think that an employee should ask for a pay rise.
Well run companies pride themselves on telling everyone that their employees are there most important asset and nowadays go to considerable lengths to hang on to valuable members of staff, whether it be massages at the work place, free food, relaxed dress code, games rooms, flexible hours, generous pensions, extra holidays etc. The most obvious way to keep staff happy is to pay them well, commonly known as "The golden handcuffs" and successfully used by any company worth their salt.
If, as an employee, you feel the need to ask your employer for more money, then there are two questions you need to ask yourself first. Am l not being paid more because the company does not value me and are not particularly bothered whether they keep me or not? or, are they just not a very well run business who don't respect their staff? Either way, the time and energy that you would need to put into planning and presenting your case for a salary increase would probably be better spent looking for another job.
It is very easy to stay in a role simply because it is something you have done before when in fact it might be important to properly assess your skills and consider branching out into another area, or at least find a role that fully allows you to perform at your best. It is interesting that a footballer will often sit on the bench at one club only to become a superstar at another club; Liverpool fans will know who l am thinking of! If however you are performing well but just not being appreciated then you will have to move to a well run company that does respect their employees and reward them accordingly.
From my forty three years experience working in the employment sector, the net result of anyone who does manage to negotiate a salary increase has tended to be the following. The company resents the individual and only pays them more money to give themselves breathing space to go out and find a replacement, or, the individual comes to realise that it wasn't just the salary that was the problem and ends up looking for another job anyway.
Author: David Carroll
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