Want to Increase Your Chances of Being Paid More? Summon Your Financial Courage
For years, I could be counted on to deliver as promised and take on more responsibility than expected. I was confident that my efforts would be noticed and rewarded when it came to raise and bonus time. Yet, year after year, I was told that while my performance was exceptional, raises and bonuses were limited to a company-determined percentage. There were always exceptions to these so-called standards, so why was an exception not made for me?
It turns out I was making a couple of classic mistakes. The first mistake was thinking that keeping my head down, producing excellent work, and taking on additional projects was all that was needed to be recognized and rewarded. It rarely works that way, as evidenced by the fact that those who got promotions (usually men) were also the ones spending a lot of time with our manager promoting their rather routine accomplishments.
In addition to failing to promote my accomplishments, I was making a big timing mistake. Typically, I waited for my manager to tell me my raise & bonus numbers, hoping it would reflect my performance. Over time, I discovered I was chasing a train as it pulled out of the station. There were limited numbers of people on the “exceptional” raise/bonus train. If I wanted to be one of them, I needed to initiate a conversation with my manager well before the numbers were inked.
To increase the likelihood of success, I would have to summon financial courage and do the following:
Schedule a meeting with my manager at least a couple of months before compensation decisions are made.
Identify specific instances of accomplishments/contributions that were exceptional--wherever possible link the efforts to increased revenues or reduced expenses.
Explain how my efforts contributed to key goals of the company.
Provide specific financial targets and the basis for these expectations.
Be sure not to frame my request as an ultimatum, leaving all my options open going forward. Perhaps most importantly, be clear in my mind that even if my request was not granted, I did not have to leave the company out of anger or embarrassment from being told no.
By doing this well in advance, my manager clearly understood what I was expecting and could plan accordingly during the compensation review cycle. Most of the time, this approach worked, although I often had to be flexible on timing. The key thing I came to understand is that if I waited until after the compensation decisions were made, it was too late.
