Want a Higher Salary? Here's How to Raise the Issue

Raise your hand if you get paid what you think you deserve. Thought so.

So it's time to ask for a raise, right?

But before you go barging into the boss's office demanding more money, consider that asking for a raise can be a tricky proposition, even if it seems as though a bump in salary is way overdue. Some companies are rarely receptive to raise requests, while others are open to them only at certain times, but it can vary within and between industries. The only sure thing is that your chances are greatly diminished if your only argument is that you deserve more money.

Still, the time may be right to get that extra couple of bucks an hour. With today's ultra-tight labor market and shortage of skilled workers, companies are willing to take more measures to keep their employees happy. That means they are more likely to entertain employee requests, such as raises, workplace experts say.

"The shoe's on the other foot from where it was in the early '90s," said Barry Lawrence, spokesman for the Alexandria-based Society of Human Resource Management. "It's definitely an employees' market."

It's also a mergers' market, however, and periods of consolidation normally aren't ideal times to request raises, Lawrence cautions. For example, employees at MCI Communications Corp., unless they're vital assets, ought not to ask for a raise until the company's union with WorldCom Inc. is completed.

So when and how do you ask for a raise?

We put that question to experts in three different industries and found that there is no pat formula to follow. Generally, the wisest move for employees is to plant the idea in their supervisor's head and follow through with the actual request at the appropriate time. But that doesn't always work either, so why don't we just turn it over to the experts?

Sales: Sowing the Seed

"A good way to get a raise is to set the stage beforehand," said Evelyne Steward, vice president of human resources at the Calvert Group, a Bethesda investment firm. "Before the work is done or when an employee is given a special assignment or project beyond his regular job, employees should say [to managers], `Let's talk about the consequences.' That gets the manager thinking about it.

"Afterward, employees can go back to their managers and say, `I've done a good job,' look at the results and request a salary increase," Steward said.

This approach helps to eliminate unrealistic employee expectations as well as alert managers to the workers' hopes, she added.

For those looking to climb the corporate ladder, Steward provided a blueprint for compensation in the investing and sales fields by using the Calvert model:

Many employees at Calvert join the company right out of college and start in the customer service department, which pays between $25,000 and $26,000 a year. The next step is to move into broker services relations, where their salary should reach the high $20,000s. After that is a possible sales position, with compensation in the mid- to upper $40,000s.

From there, the pay scale becomes a little fuzzier. The leap from a sales position, in which a worker mostly makes cold calls, to a wholesaling position, in which he deals directly with investors, is a big one and can take a few years. Thus, employees should negotiate pay raises along the way. If they do make it to the wholesale level, their salary should vault to the $90,000 range.

To be successful at this, Steward suggests including a raise request as part of a larger discussion about overall job responsibility and expectations.

"We get a lot of requests," Steward said. "We try to do whatever we can to reward people, but that doesn't mean they should knock on the door every few minutes asking for a raise."

Hotels: Don't Come Asking

In some industries, such as hospitality, managers prefer a "don't call us, we'll call you" approach, said Mike Dickens, president of Bethesda-based Hospitality Partners.

"We discuss compensation for every level at the annual review," said Dickens, whose company employs 1,000 people and runs 10 hotels, nine of which are in the D.C. area. "That's what the review process is for. If you try to negotiate in the middle of the year . . . I don't believe that's the kind of action that makes the boss feel comfortable. To think it's an ongoing negotiation is not the best advice."

At the annual review process, Dickens suggests that employees listen to feedback from their managers and then make the case for a salary increase. If they are denied, Hospitality Partners allows workers to appeal to their boss's supervisor.

Outside the review system, Dickens suggests asking for wage increases, which would come in the form of one-time bonuses, only after an exceptionally good month.

Government: Respect the System

Finally, a look at the government shows that though its basic structure is different from the private sector's, there are still many common themes for raise requests.

Boosts in salary at government agencies are generally linked to advancements in grades. For example, when GS-3 government workers are promoted to GS-4, they should get an increase in salary. But savvy, productive government workers shouldn't simply wait for grade progressions to ask for raises.

"There are different ways of rewarding individuals in the government," said Vilma Colon, who was a division director at the General Services Administration until July and now runs Transition Matters, a human resources firm that advises government workers on how to manage their careers. "A lot of agencies are looking to reward employees without promoting them."

For example, supervisors can give small monetary rewards on the spot or authorize a couple of extra vacation days, Colon said.

One reason for this reward system is downsizing, Colon said. Government agencies are getting leaner, and that means fewer advancement opportunities, though that doesn't necessarily translate to fewer raises.

But there's a catch: You'd better be doing a great job. As in the private sector, managers in the government don't want employees demanding raises without a strong argument, Colon said. But unlike in many other fields, she added, government workers tend to expect regular increases.

"Too many employees ask too soon," said Colon, who used to determine raises for workers in her division at GSA. "Many feel that just because you've spent a year in a grade you deserve a promotion. As a manager I say no, you have to show you deserve it. Many federal employees think it's a given; that attitude has to change."

Again, the best path to a higher salary is to include a request within a larger discussion about what you've accomplished and what you aim to achieve, Colon said.

In the end, raises aren't always about how much money you think you deserve. After all, if your company thought you deserved more money, you wouldn't have to ask for the raise in the first place.