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how to ask for raise at work?

mr dinosaur

i work as a 'systems engineer' at a healthcare related company. we do IT outsourcing for small physician groups/practices. the corporate office is based out on the east coast and i was hired here in oct of 07 here in seattle. i was the first employee hired for this office, since then we have hired about 4 more people(3 other engineers and a manager). when i was at a rate of 55k. i was pretty desperate at the time as i had quit my previous position without having something lined up(stupid i know). the rate was the same rate as my last position. i was told that reviews would come in jan of 08 and that we could discuss the salary at that time. so jan 08 came and went and never got a review but found out everyoen else in the east did(i guess they forgot the west coast office). i figured no big deal ill just wait untill next year, i didnt really expect an increase anyway considering at the time i hadnt worked there very long.

our facility here is a data center hosting somewhere between 600-700 servers. each customer has thier own rack and servers, with a domain for each customer. my duties here include racking and imaging servers, setting up firewalls, switches, building domain, setting up remote access for customer, adding printers, users, setting up other things like exchange servers, ISA servers, esxi servers, sql servers, terminal servers, linux servers you name it.

reviews are coming up and fortunatly because i am in healthcare business is pretty good. id liek to get an increase of 20k. so id go from 55k to 75k. i have alot of things going for me which are:

changed backup tapes 7 days a week including holodays for 4 months(while we were hiring more employees

worked quite a few 18-19 hour shifts assisting with things like power upgrades, server down emergencies

had my scheduled changed 4 times to benefit needs of company

assist and help out other departments(even though i dont like to do this, only do it because sometimes things get hectic)

come in at middle of the night to reboot equipment

plus the list goes on and on.

anyhow i was thinking rather than just asking for one, id like to create some kind of powerpoint presentation showing my value to the company and why i should get the increase. has anyone ever done something like this? or does anyone have any tips in general about how to approach this? all of my raises that i have recieved, managers just gave them to me. ive never really asked for a raise and wanted to know whats the best way. im pretty confident ill get it, management really likes me(i think) because of everything i have done. but im just curious to see what everyone has to say.

thank you

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Comments

skrpune

WOW, you want to ask for a 36% raise?? That's a LOT. Are others in similar positions doing similar work & putting in similar effort making $75K? Are you going above & beyond what is expected of you and what the other guys/gals are doing? Are you offering or bringing something to the table that they'd have a hard time getting elsewhere? And is this a marketable rate for your position/area?

Normal raises are in the 2-5% range, so if you want to argue for a double digit raise, you really need to come up with some sound reasoning. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter too much if you were hired at a too-low rate; unless it was specifically agreed to (usually in writing) that the low salary would be reassessed and readjusted at a certain date, then you might have a really hard time arguing for such a large increase.

blargoe

20k is way more than you should expect to get in one raise. You might could make a case less money, and maybe some paid training or something like that.

skrpune

blargoe wrote: »

20k is way more than you should expect to get in one raise. You might could make a case less money, and maybe some paid training or something like that.

I really have to agree. I've only seen a raise on this scale happen once (it was outside of the IT field), and it was with an exceptional person (not to say you're not exceptional, mr dinosaur!) who had an offer from another company, and who had some massive industry contacts and made a very strong case that he could make the company oodles of money in the long run if they gave him a "mere" $15-20K raise so he would stay. He had to really argue for it, and a competing offer helped, but the fact that he was a genuinely valuable employee with huge profit-building potential was the kicker.

If you can make a similar argument or if you have a competing offer or if the other folks in your position are making grossly more than you, then you may have a shot, but it's going to be a tough sell.

mr dinosaur

well, the 3 other engineers here make mid-high 60s, and they were hired after i was. technically i am equal thier skill level, if not maybe even more so. so i know i can AT LEAST get what they get. im not just an 'employee' here, i view myself as part of the company. most guys put in thier 9-5 hours and they're done. myself ive had to work saturday nights doing large migations, coming in on my day off voluntarily to do work, coming in on holidays to deal with backups, basically a ton of stuff. i know the data center in and out...like i said i have alot going for me, they wouldnt want to lose me i know that. anything that has ever been asked of me i have always done so without complaining. and the best part about it? this is the best job ive ever had, i wouldnt want to leave here. its a ton of work but its rewarding everything ive learned. i feel this place upped my value by at least 15k in a single year with everything ive learned. and fortunatly, we're not a typical IT department of 4-5 guy here we have maybe 15-18 with a few senior guys making maybe 90-100k possibly. i think i have a good chance but we'll see i guess.

brad-

I hate to say it, but if you hire in low, you cant blame the company. Thats what they want, and it'll take time to get to where you should be. I had to leave my last employer for that reason. I hired in low, the raises I got werent enough, let them know plenty I was unhappy with the salary...months went by, and I left...but in the end I had to accept that it was my fault for not trying to get more at the interview.

The problem now is that there are probably plenty of people willing to do what you do, and would do it for less given the economy.

You probably very well deserve a raise from what you've written, but I dont think you could get a 36% raise. If you can manage 10% you should see that as extremely successful. Just my opinion, I dont know your exact circumstances and relationships with bosses etc.

dynamik

You might want to check out this thread as well. There's lots of good advice, but in particular, HeroPsycho made a good point about how you make your money walking in the door.

msteinhilber

From what you have wrote, I would expect a raise as well - but I wouldn't ask for the amount you want I would have to say that 99% of the time that just doesn't ever happen.

It sounds like your company is paying for newer help based on what the market required them to pay these people at the time to get them in the door. It's how many employers work these days, your starting figure is generally doing to be as low as they can make it to get a person to do the job in many cases. I think asking for a 20k raise would get them much more set on thinking about how much they would have to pay somebody if they hired a new person do fill your shoes rather than trying to think about what they would need to do to keep you happy and to make you want to stick around. From my experience both personally as well as friends and other associates of mine in the industry have experienced, salary increases of that size generally only occur as you move up into bigger and better things at a different organization if you are marketable.

UnixGuy

I was in similar situation, and maybe I still am.

I was hired for a low salary, because I practically knew nothing about what I was hired for. They didn't expect me to learn that fast, but I did and in 9 months I got 50% raise, it's possible and I didn't even ask, but it was the annual evaluation period and my performance was one of the best and it was obvious.

See the problem is, after my 50% raise, It's still lower than most of my colleagues in my team. Ok it's more than other teams, but not our team. Specially that they hired a dude who knows absolutely nothing, and get stuck even when he goes to bathroom and keeps asking for help, he's a big liar who doesn't know anything and who doesn't shut up ! he will keep talking and talking, bugging us and annoying the crap out of our clients. He gets more money than I do and probably I won't get a raise that will make our salaries equal, not this year.

As Brad- said, it's because we agreed to be hired for low salary. I don't think I made a mistake, because I got in to get experience/knowledge/trainings/exposure, now if I leave to another job I will get at least 1.5 my current salary, but I won't leave because I didn't learn "everything" I want to learn from this job (yet).

be patient, work on yourself, and keep getting certs and experience. Then it's your decision if there's more to learn vs. more money, depends on you and your long term goals. Learn everything you can from this job, take advantage, and if they don't give you the raise you like, ask for trainings.

zen master

Raise? Have you taken a look around lately?

LarryDaMan

Go ask for your 20K raise! As long as you are professional about it, what is the worst that can happen?

I think people get in trouble when they base themselves off of what their co-workers make. We are all responsible for negotiating our own starting salaries, so I don't think it is helpful to bring up other people's salaries when asking for a raise. Maybe you'll have to find a new job to get an extra 20K. If you were the employer, would you want to pay out another 20K if you didn't have to?

This is one of the reasons we NEVER discuss salaries at work. It is not uncommon in this area for two contractors to be doing the same job with one making 60K and the other one 90K. Salary talks are taboo around here.

Good luck.

paintb4707

It's all about the approach and presentation. Be sure to make an appointment with your supervisor, don't just pull them aside and say I need to speak to you now. That's a surefire way to get rejected.

I was also hired at a low salary and recently received an 18% raise. I'll also be receiving another next month so nothing is impossible. But make sure you have enough reasoning behind it. I wouldn't mention "swapping backup tapes" as a reason for giving you a raise. If I were a manager and someone said that to me I'd probably end the conversation right there. Try to list things you've done OUTSIDE of your job duties that highlight your dedication and initiative. If you approached me and said "hey I come to work in middle of the night to reboot servers, give me a raise", I'd say, "Isn't that your job to do so?"

And like the others said don't mention your co-workers salaries, because that's none of your business to begin with.

Kasor

Good Luck.

I asked my boss last year, but nothing happen because of the bad market. Overall it is difficult to get a raise right now. No owner want to give out more than what he lose on the stock market.

Inc

LarryDaMan wrote: »

This is one of the reasons we NEVER discuss salaries at work. (..) Salary talks are taboo around here.

Good luck.

+1

Nevertheless - we know each other salary in our team because after migrating to another company (mother-daughter relationship) we had the same contract and salary (this was discussed and agreed upon). It's an exception and not a common practice.

Before that - I couldn't care less about colleagues salary. And that spared me a lot of thinking: "Why we do the same tasks with matching results, but others receive more?"