Alright, nice to see you back for this post's continuation. Either you are feeling its time for change or still uncertain. Let's dive into this topic. There are employees who are loyal to their companies or don't mind their job because they like the work they do. But despite liking your work or company you don't feel compensated well enough to stay anymore. If you do love your job but don't love your pay I will be the first to say that is understandable. Get paid your worth!
Maybe you don't really want a new job but feel underpaid. Then ask for a raise! There are still a handful of who feel awkward asking for a raise. Please don't feel awkward or embarrassed. I learned, like others, during the Pandemic that our lives are short and our happiness is a priority that no one else will prioritize. So why do I say don't feel awkward to ask for a raise. Well for starters, staff retention is still a major concern for management. As many know, but if you didn't know let me shed light, it is much cheaper for a company to keep its employee than to lose them because of the thousands of dollars to advertise/recruit job seekers, time taken to interview them, and cost to train them. According to the Society of Human Resource Management, "the average cost per hire was nearly $4,700." The article refutes this amount and reports that for some companies it can cost nearly as much as "three times" the employee's salary. Yes, you read that correctly. And yes you may still feel awkward asking for a raise armed with this knowledge and just know your manager will also squirm in their seat when asked by the employee for a raise. I encourage the raise to be part of the yearly conversation. It doesn't matter your industry, for profit or non profit, have the conversation early. Understand when your annual evaluation is due. Talk to your manager about the expectations and desire for a raise. Know how you can exceed expectations and hit those deliverables before the evaluation.
So lets be 100% real with each other. Lets say you killed it! You exceeded all the expectations and even have recognition receipts to prove it. You circle back with your manager about the raise during the evaluation thinking "there is no way I am leaving empty handed" only to be told "its not in the budget, sorry." Uh.... what? Yes, this may likely happen. I hope not but we might as well be prepared for the bad news. If you do mention that it would cost less to give you a raise than to hire a replacement then it may not be received well. I am not encouraging desperation, I am encouraging self-advocacy. If you are not going to be valued then be prepared to walk. How can we avoid this disappointment? First, check with your manager on the raise range, like 3% to 10%, so if you had expectations for compensation (you def should have expectations) you are realistic with them. Second, email your manager with the expectations discussed and the desired raise percent (based from the range provided). The hope is your manager reads it and responds back acknowledging the raise proposal. But what if my manager doesn't say anything?" Your email to your manager, regardless of a response, should have a read receipt attached. The read receipt will be the proof that you made your manager aware of your expectations for compensation. If you exceed the work expectations and your work played an integral part of the team/department's performance success but your manager won't budge then you already know it is time to look for greener pastures. Excellent, high quality work should be rewarded not brushed under the proverbial rug. Again full transparency, it doesn't matter if you work in non-profit, if you are not getting a raise that at least keeps up with the standard of living then your benefits should be worth it.
Stay tuned because I can't wait to unpack compensation packages.
Navarra, K. (2022, April 11). The real costs of recruitment. Welcome to SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/talent-acquisition/real-costs-recruitment
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