How to ask for a pay rise

0:00Okay, Caroline Readie, head of HR solutions at NFP, good afternoon. Good afternoon, Brendan. Caroline, you're going to tell us how to get a pay rise, or at least how to look for one. You can't guarantee the pay rise. So will you start with people in a job, right? So if you're in a job, how long should you wait before you start asking for pay rises? A lot of people will have negotiated maybe that after the first six months or definitely after the first year, when they've kind of done what it says in the TNI, they've proved themselves that then they will be getting a salary review, because ultimately, I suppose, then they can really bargain to say, look what I'm contributing and look what I'm delivering to the organization. So you have a point of leverage there. No, companies will different, different huge on how they deal with pay, won't they particularly say between the private sector and the public sector? Absolutely. Like a lot of people would say that even people's partners don't fully know the extent of where people's paid benefits, bonuses, etc.

1:02Yes, it can be opaque. So absolutely. So ultimately, I suppose we're now in a situation that we've new legislation coming this summer, which is a European directive that says we need to have paid transparency. So for the first time ever, culturally, it's a huge change where now people are going to be able to ask what two people of the same category of work, Erin, and where do I sit within it? The idea behind it is to avoid there being gender pay gaps, which exists already. And ultimately, I suppose this is going to be a big deal, because currently you may be asking for a pay increase, but ultimately you're doing that in a vacuum. In a vacuum? But now you'll know, okay, well, look, this is what the other people who do the same job, our job of equal value, i.e. similar job to me, are being paid, and these are the benefits they get. So that's a first good starting point. And the second, I suppose, is overall benchmarking with other organizations.

2:03Okay, so then you want to go and ask for the raise. Talk me to the strategy here. Are you looking for a meeting first with the boss? Yeah, like I think a lot of the time, catching the boss off guard, like a reverend in the headlights, you're not going to achieve much. It's going to be a case of, look, I didn't see this coming. And a lot of the time they may pass the book to HR or payroll or finance, whereas at least if in advance, you do your expectation structuring and you kind of outline, look, it's been a really busy year. Obviously, I'm loving the job, because you need to be if you want to get a pay rise, you know? And obviously then you're outlining what are the key things you've contributed. And as a consequence of that, you'd like to sit down, discuss your objectives for next year, but also your pay in line with that. Because then you're doing the what's in it for me. So you're kind of saying, okay, what's in it for me is the pay increase. What's in it for you? I'm going to contribute to a higher level and maybe perform as well as I've done in the past

3:04or maybe achieve certain projects, deadlines, timelines, etc. That maybe is of real interest to that manager that you're going to sit down and negotiate with. Okay, now a lot of people are not going to be comfortable like a blowing their own trumpet like that. They find that awkward, you know, saying this is my value and secondly, talking about money. What tips would you offer there? I think Be Prepared is the best one. Like now, especially, you know, from recruitment agencies, there's lots of data available in terms of what are typical roles paying, you know, to the job you're doing at the moment. And that's your first starting point. As I said, after the summer, we'll have paid transparency and that will actually really help people's cause when they're doing that benchmarking and make it much easier. But even for now, I would say you need to have your homework done because, for example, you know, if you're actually on the higher quartile,

4:04obviously your bag name power might be less, but maybe you're really adding huge value. Maybe there's this really tricky project coming on your horizon for the year ahead, which you may feel is going to be a real challenge. So now you've got an additional bag name power for some people. So this is about making your case. That's why you won't check it. Like what about bringing in, like your own person reasons for wanting or needing a raise? What about going into them and say, look, I'm trying to get a mortgage and, you know, I need to be paid more money to live my life? Yeah, I think that's a starting point, but I don't think that's doing the what's in it for them. So I think if you want to really do the bargaining and have an advantage when you're going into that negotiation, I think you can start with that. But ultimately, I think you're going to have to do more than that. And by the way, Brendan, just by asking and the person feeling, well, I don't want to lose Brendan because he's so good, that in itself often might, you know,

5:06mean you get the increase and the person who hasn't asked won't get the increase. And up to now, that has been particularly in small or non-unionized type of environments. That has been very much kind of like ad hoc pay increases where nobody knows what anybody's earning. But ultimately, that's that's about to change. Come here, what about in terms of leverage, threatening to leave, do you have to be prepared to leave if you're going to threaten to leave? I think I wouldn't threaten to leave. You'd probably say, look, I'm looking for the marketer, whatever personal maybe situation you might be in. And look, salary is really important to me. I've done my benchmarking and look from that, I realize, look, I'm probably 10 grand less than the market or the market is paying pension or the, you know, the market is paying health insurance. They've become really important to people now where good pension and good health insurance, you know,

6:07means because it's a big cost to have health insurance. And particularly, it's gone up so much in the last year. So there are other factors that people might bring into play or the other option is the bonus. But bonuses maybe might be as easily taken into account if you're gone for your market. But if you basically say, look, a bonus, the good thing for the manager is that's not a fixed cost to be there forever more. A bonus is based on what you achieve in that given year. So they might be more able to give that than they might be able to give a pay rise? Agreed. Agreed. And what I hear there about detrenting to leave thing is that you suggest to them that you have clearly been looking around so that you've gone in your back pocket but you're not waving it around. Is that kind of what you're saying? Exactly. I like that analogy, Brendan. Yeah, absolutely. Because I think, you know, the way like more situations, if you're going in with the trash, most likely, that's not going to be received well. Because in some situations,

7:08particularly with pay transparency, dooming, a lot of organizations are doing what's called pay leveling, which is they're trying to get their house in order. So for those that might have been paid more than other colleagues, they might be getting less of an increase this year. Performance isn't necessarily coming into account. They're trying to get their house in order. So that might work advantageously to some but might be disadvantageously to others. Okay, so be careful what you look for maybe. All right, Karline, really head of HR Solutions at NFP. Thank you very much for that.