Asking for a pay rise versus employer automatically giving you a rise.

JoshyBoy_2

Just out of interest, what are people's views on whether you should have to ask for a pay rise, or should your company show they value you as an employee and give you a rise without you asking?

I have recently got a new job, and one of the reasons (out of a fair few) for leaving was the fact I felt I wasn't getting paid enough, especially in comparison to what I can and have got doing the exact same job elsewhere (£5k a year more, with more benefits and more annual leave)...

I have never asked for a pay rise, and I know there will be an element of if you don't ask, you don't get. But I'm of the opinion that if a company thinks you're doing a good job and they value you, they should pay you what you're worth according to the market in that industry. By giving a pay rise without asking, you feel worth while and have good job satisfaction. Also, loyalty should be seen to be rewarded.

However I do understand that if they can get away with paying less and the bare minimum, then they will. Which I suppose is their prerogative.

But should you have to bring it all up in a meeting, with examples of why you deserve a pay rise, in the usual fashion?

What do others think? It'll be interesting to see if my attitude is wrong.

tea_lover

I don't think your attitude is wrong as such (in that, I don't disagree with the points you make about loyalty etc). I do think your attitude is unrealistic in today's workplace though - which is a shame!

bugslet

JoshyBoy wrote: »

By giving a pay rise without asking, you feel worth while and have good job satisfaction. Also, loyalty should be seen to be rewarded.

However I do understand that if they can get away with paying less and the bare minimum, then they will. Which I suppose is their prerogative.

My drivers must be deliriously happy then:D. They've had a pay rise every year (2.5% from this week) apart from 2009 ( bad year for everyone).

Just ask and lay out why you think and see what they say.

Scorpio33

I've had experience from this as a manager.

If you have a decent employer you will have regular meetings with your boss. In one of those meetings (or even as part of the normal annual review), just bring up your concern that you are not being paid market rate and why you think that. It would be useful to demonstrate why you think that (for example, providing many other similar roles paying more).

We had two employees do this and for both, we reviewed their roles against a database of market data that HR utilise. For one it was clear that the role had not been updated by HR, so the pay rate was too low, so that employee got a pay rise to reflect the updated role. For the other, the salary was spot on.

The only risk in asking for a review is that you could find that your role is overpaid and you could risk the company then seeing you as being overpaid.


It is definitely a case of if you don't ask you don't get, as normally (in my experience), companies pay you what they think is market rate. If you disagree with that it may be due to them not having full facts, or it may be your misconception. Until you ask, you don't know. I doubt any employer will deliberately underpay, as they would then risk losing an employee, which most companies wish to avoid.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Scorpio33 wrote: »

It is definitely a case of if you don't ask you don't get, as normally (in my experience), companies pay you what they think is market rate. If you disagree with that it may be due to them not having full facts, or it may be your misconception. Until you ask, you don't know. I doubt any employer will deliberately underpay, as they would then risk losing an employee, which most companies wish to avoid.

They will underpay as long as they are getting away with it. If you don't tell them that you want more money, they won't know they are risking losing you.

agrinnall

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

They will underpay as long as they are getting away with it. If you don't tell them that you want more money, they won't know they are risking losing you.

There is some merit to this approach, but if you take it you have to be prepared to leave if you don't get what you want, otherwise they will know that you're likely to back down again in the future.

SandC

In an ideal world your contribution would be recognised and rewarded if deserved, as another poster has said, regular reviews or appraisals are ideal for this both ways.

I have experienced both sides, I've been recognised as being paid less than the work deserved and also have had to put my case forward. I've moved on in the past if not forthcoming, as if you're not feeling valued you may get on better elsewhere, with a new challenge.

I will say though, from my experience, senior level staff already on high salaries have no qualms whatsoever in asking for a salary increase or bonus!

xapprenticex

I had two pay raises this year, i guess im lucky.

gettingtheresometime

One of the primary reasons for me handing in my notice was the level of pay I was receiving v the hours I was putting in .....made all the worse for finding out what a new member of staff was getting.

The boss then gave me a pay rise to stay & during the course of the conversation he said he thought my salary was X when in fact it was about £1k less.

This shocked him & gave me a bonus in addition to my pay rise.

TBagpuss

Ideally you should have (at least) an annual appraisal where you have the opportunity to discuss your role, achievements, goals and other issues, including pay. Good employers will also be considering those things and may well give pay rises on merit even if they are not requested, BUT it's worth bearing in mind that in most cases, your boss will be doing their own job, and if you are getting on with your job and not causing any issues, you may fall off their radar a bit, particularly if they are busy. And unless they are currently recruiting, they may not be monitoring 'market rates' particularly closely

I think it is as much your responsibility as theirs to raise the issue.

We do it both ways. All staff have an annual appraisal, and salary is one of the things on the agenda, but we also give people raises where we feel they deserve it, not least as some of the best workers are also less likely to speak up. My assistant has just had a raise which she didn't ask for, for instance.

Planet_Switzerland

When I was looking for graduate jobs, I had an assessment day for a job I'd applied for. The other candidates I was up against all seemed ridiculously clever, the first one I met had a phd in Physics for example. I didn't get the job, but didn't expect to after seeing who I was up against.


A few years later I met someone who did actually do a graduate scheme with that company but had since left. He told me that there were people who had been there 20 years who were very good at their jobs, had done some quite innovative stuff, but they were only getting around 10k more than he was. He speculated that it was because these were people who love what they did and the money didn't matter.


Up to that point I'd always made out that I enjoyed my job more than I did, but I realised from that conversation that if you are enthusiastic about your job and not your salary then employers may use that as an excuse to underpay you.


Since then I've made it known that salary is important, there have been two occasions in my current company when I've complained about a minuscule payrise and have ended up getting a more satisfactory one. It's not nice doing it, but its better than being unhappy with your level of pay all the time.