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How to Ask Your Boss For a Raise at Work (with Examples!)
CAREER
How to Ask Your Boss For a Raise at
Work (with Examples!)
Asking for a raise can feel daunting, especially if you’ve never done it. We
break it down step by step to show you to ask for a raise.
By Galina Hitching
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. When Should I Ask For a Raise?
1. Before All the Numbers Are Crunched
2. During Your Annual Review
3. After You’ve Done Something Amazing
4. If Greener Pastures Are Calling (With a Caveat)
2. 5 Effective Tips to Ask Your Boss For a Raise
1. Use the Slow Burn Method
2. Find Your Benchmark
3. Focus on the value you add
4. Learn Your Lines
5. Know How to Act
3. What to Do If They Say No
4. Should I Just Wait For Them To Give Me a Raise?
Extra Thoughts for Women:
5. 2 Quick Things to Avoid When Asking For a Raise
1. Don’t Be a Jerk
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How to Ask Your Boss For a Raise at Work (with Examples!)
2. Don’t Make it Personal
6. How to Ask For a Raise FAQs
7. The Takeaway
Asking for a raise can feel daunting, especially if you’ve never done it before.
Don’t worry. We break it down step by step to give you the confidence to
negotiate your raise.
We’ve included sample scripts to make it even easier.
When Should I Ask For a Raise?
First up, you need to know when to ask for a raise. These are the most important
things to consider when looking for the right timing:
Before budgeting
During your annual review
After you’ve completed a big project or task
If you have a new job opportunity
Let’s break each of these down.
1. Before All the Numbers Are Crunched
Your boss may want to give you a pay increase, but if you ask after finalizing the
budget, their hands may be tied. Budgeting finishes before the new fiscal year.
Common fiscal years are October 1 to September 30 of the following year
(government), February 1 to January 31(retailers), or July 1 to June 30 (school
district). If you’re not sure, just ask!
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How to Ask Your Boss For a Raise at Work (with Examples!)
2. During Your Annual Review
An annual review provides a natural segue into the question of salary. You’ll
already be discussing your goals, your big wins, and your future with the
company. Keep in mind that your annual review may not coincide well with the
timeframe of budgeting.
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3. After You’ve Done Something Amazing
When you ask for a raise, you want to leverage. Remember, this is a negotiation,
after all, and you are a confident career professional with a lot to give. We’ll go
into this more in the next section, but there is one key thing to remember here.
After you’ve completed a big project or task (and knocked it out of the park),
you’ve shown concrete evidence that you’re an excellent asset.
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4. If Greener Pastures Are Calling (With a
Caveat)
Maybe you’ve just been offered a great new job opportunity, but you’d prefer to
stay in your current place of employment. When your recent pay makes you
doubt your decision to stay, this is the time to ask for more money.
While this timing tip may give you leverage, it comes with a big caveat that
many people overlook. When you go to your employer and ask for a counteroffer,
they may see you as disloyal. Even if you get the raise, their attitude towards you
could change.
Instead of using a counteroffer in this way, where you overtly ask for a raise, try
flipping the narrative to assess your future with your current company.
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How to Ask Your Boss For a Raise at Work (with Examples!)
Barbara Corcoran, one of the highest-paid businesswomen (and also a savvy
investor in the TV show Shark Tank), suggests saying:
“I got a great offer; I love working here, and I plan to stay, but it brings to the
table my question, what do you think my prospects here in the future might
be?”
This avoids using the job offer as a power play and instead positions you as a
loyal and valuable employee. Most importantly, it will show you whether your
boss values you. If they respond positively, you can use this opportunity to see if
their vision aligns with yours. If they respond dismissively, that’s your cue to
leave.
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5 Effective Tips to Ask Your Boss For
a Raise
Now that you know when to ask for a raise, these five tips will help you be as
prepared as possible.
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1. Use the Slow Burn Method
Don’t surprise your manager by suddenly asking for a pay raise in your one-toone. Instead, let them know in advance that you’d like to discuss it, and then
make sure to get it on the calendar. You can do this in an e-mail or at the end of
one of your meetings.
Say this: “I’d like to meet to discuss my current salary. Does this time work for
you?”
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How to Ask Your Boss For a Raise at Work (with Examples!)
Or this: “During my upcoming performance review, I’d like to discuss my
compensation. Will that work for what you have planned?”
But let’s back up a step.
Enter “The Slow Burn Method.”
Long before you set up the actual meeting to discuss a pay raise, ease into the
topic and combine it with your desire to be an asset to the company. It’s a bit like
a soft sell instead of a hard sell.
If you’ve ever seen someone selling special promotion items like Vitamix, knives,
or any number of things at the grocery store, they don’t hit you with the price
first. They use the slow burn method, pulling you in by offering you something.
Usually food.
They ask questions, they work for the crowd, they keep the samples coming, and
slowly but surely, they are setting you up to believe you could never live without
that garlic press or paring knife.
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