Should You Ask for a Raise in a Performance Review

Don't inquire for a raise during your annual review, and other negotiating tips for women

Past Alex Laughlin

For Equal Pay Day, we held our first always alive Q&A in the Pay Up community, inviting members to submit questions on negotiating bacon and pursuing wage equality.

The guest was Aubrey Bach, senior manager of higher education at PayScale, and a Pay Up member.

PayScale is a compensation database — that means they collect data for how people are being paid across industries/demographics and pass that cognition on to individuals and employers.

Bach frequently speaks to groups of women about bacon negotiation techniques, so we thought she'd exist the perfect guest.

Here's what she had to say almost salary negotiation in the tech world, and for women more broadly. (Bach's answers hither take been edited for clarity and length.)

[Are you a woman in the tech industry? Join Pay Up today.]

Q: Y'all work with women beyond industries — do you come across any challenges to achieving wage equity that are specific to women in tech?

Bach: Oh absolutely! I spend a lot of time in the tech space, both considering I work in tech and because Seattle (where I alive) is a very tech-heavy place.

Tech is challenging because women are definitely the minority — and obviously, minorities face up similar challenges. But existing in a culture where everybody is following a different ready of innate rules that nobody explained to you makes it difficult to "fit in."

Tech, past nature, is very fast-paced, very enervating, and non generally very understanding of life-work balance, then it'southward not necessarily friendly to women. But if it can find a way to be more welcoming and supportive (and off-white!) to women and minorities, the ability to solve always more complicated bug volition manifestly better. I'yard non the first to say this, but it's both a business and morale imperative.

Finally, the expert news nigh tech is that job for chore, the controlled gender pay gap is actually smaller than in non-tech industries.

Q: What thing do yous wish women who are at before stages in their careers knew about how to negotiate successfully?

Bach: So many things! But generally, I want them to know three things:

1. Employers look you to negotiate. At that place are exceptions, only in that location is jerk room broiled into almost every job offer. Nobody volition rescind a job offering because you lot negotiate unless you are a total jerk — or that is a terrible identify to work. And then never accept the first offer the first time.
2. Negotiating early, even a little bit, dramatically increases your lifelong earning potential. A statistic I use in my talks at colleges is that if a 25-year-sometime negotiates a $50,000 bacon to $55,000, they will earn $634,000 over the next xx years, considering that sets yous up for more raises and higher salaries later in life.
3. If you present a well-researched counter-offer, yous're likely to get it. 75 percent of the people who tell u.s.a. they have negotiated their bacon terminate up earning more — even if they don't get the full amount, they get MORE. Those are expert odds.

Q: What do you practise when asking for a promotion/raise results in you being punished? Is that a sign you should leave the company?

Bach: The pitiful truth of the thing is that there is the risk of retaliation, especially for women when they negotiate. Because it'south the "abnormal" behavior, it stands out, gets poor reactions, and discourages other women from negotiating. That's a cruel cycle, just the just way to stop it is for u.s.a. all to negotiate then it stops seeming weird

It makes sense to say "I'g sorry, nosotros but don't have budget for that at this time, just let's figure out what we can practise to set you upward for that when money becomes available." Not "Ask and you're fired."

Mind, you lot are probably a really valuable employee with crawly skills. Put them to use where y'all are appreciated.

Q: How can you lot all-time advocate for salary parity within a squad every bit the manager? Particularly when trying to correct discrepancies introduced by a previous manager'due south favoritism?

Bach: Ooooh I beloved this question!!! It seriously makes me so happy. Okay, when you are a manager and you see a bacon discrepancy, y'all actually have the opportunity to be effective in two ways:

1. Managing up, you should exist talking to your managing director, and to HR, about the fact that pay inequity exists on your team, considering it'due south grounds to wonder if it happens elsewhere. Build your case every bit to why pay for one person should exist adjusted, and why they deserve equal pay based on performance. Ask your Hour team what the company'southward bounty philosophy is. Why do y'all they pay the way they exercise? What are their metrics? If they take answers, build your case for disinterestedness based on those metrics. If they don't… Then ask why not.
2. Then, managing downwardly, y'all want to double-decker and mentor your reports who are underpaid. Take open up and honest conversations about pay. Inquire what their career goals are. Talk to them most the importance of having a plan and let them know that ultimately, they are in charge of edifice their ain cases for pay and promotion. You can teach them how to do that, but they have to enquire. If you can teach them to question their pay and build a case, you aren't just helping them once, you're setting them upwards for success throughout their career.

Q: Practice you have advice for how to negotiate a enhance after your first year on the job while you lot're working at a startup and understand money may be sensitive? Is it ever appropriate to ask for ane?

Bach: The absolute worst time to negotiate a raise is when everybody gets their performance reviews and raises. If your boss comes to y'all and says "Woo hoo yous got a 4% increment this twelvemonth, dandy task, four stars, blah apathetic blah" and you say "I'm actually disappointed in this because I was hoping for 8% and here are all the reasons why I deserve it," y'all are asking your manager to go observe money where in that location is none. When reviews and raises are given out across the company, all the upkeep is totally spent.

What you should exercise is right away start having one-on-ones and open conversations with your manager near your functioning and goals, as soon as you start. In one case you take your offset big win, outset talking nearly what you desire to do next. When a big project is winding downward, proactively say, "I know this is about done, and we're in crunch fourth dimension now, just one time this is over, what exercise you think I should piece of work on that volition prepare me up for success?" Team up with your manager and be proactive. Let them know what your salary wants are 6 months ahead of time. "I'g hoping to be earning $seven,000 more next year — what can we practice together to make that a reality?"

When you lot're working at a truthful startup and money is tight, yous need to accept that you will be compromising some of your pay. Startups are awesome and fun (hopefully) only they tin't pay as much equally big established companies. That'due south a fact, and it'southward how the labor market works. HOWEVER, you can still make sure that yous are having open conversations (run across the pattern?) with your manager near what you do want. Startups are pocket-size and intimate, so why not have advantage of that and take more frank conversations most pay?

Pay Up is a private, Slack-based community dedicated to fostering conversations about the gender wage gap. It was formerly managed past the Washington Post.

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Source: https://medium.com/thewashingtonpost/your-annual-review-is-actually-the-worst-time-to-ask-for-a-raise-99a8f3953237

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