As an employee, I believe most of us have or once complained that our salary is not enough or the increment can’t barely catch up with inflation or increase of price of goods, talking about high living cost staying in city like KL. Probably some of you have tried appeal to management for a bigger increment. Whether you have done so or going to do it, here is reality check list, or the questions you should ask yourself before asking for increment:
- Job description – If your job description says you are required to work on A, B and C but actually you also work on D and E as well, then probably you deserve a small raise. But then in employer stand point, doing A, B and C is your responsibility while D and E is the value you are providing which will only put you in the good employee bracket, which is only absolute in employer stand point. Remember that when you’ve the increment for D and E, your employer will probably expect you to take on a new level of challenge and more responsibilities aka more works.
- Job designation – This has a big correlation with how much you earn. For example, an employee who does administrative work will always earn less than a product sales person that brings in revenue. The reason being is that the first employee mentioned does not bring in sales and revenue, thus in order for him/her to be beneficial to the company is to cut cost or providing more value by accomplishing more works. Sales person, on the other hand, has no limit to the value they can bring to the company. For example he could be earning a whopping $20k per month because he is capable of bringing in million dollar contract to the company. To make it simple, what you earn is directly proportional to how much value/(or money) you bring to the employer.
- Personal growth – Are you doing the same thing for a very long time ? It is probably not a good idea if you ask for increment using the reason of seniority. Most people have the perception of entitlement when it comes to increment or bonus. While it is true that you can always persuade for market rate by switching companies, or asking for increment but then the limit is there for how much employer willing to pay you compare to the task you are able to accomplish, further more there are bound to be people willing to be paid lower to do the same thing. If you have been doing the same thing or possess the same skill set for a long time, probably it’s time to pursue for further education or acquire new skill set to increase your value to your employer.
- Whole new challenge – Lastly (end is another beginning), if you think you can’t go any further. I know some people in person who switch to new field in later age , they face a lot of challenges but then they were able to continue to grow beyond the field they were previously in, and they are happy about the work and pay (so far). However, of course you should always aim only to switch to the field you have interest and passion.
In my opinion it is good thing that some time we must not feel contented with our current situation, that’s what drive the fighting spirit for a better life and pay. Of course when asking for higher pay, we also need to understand our own and company’s stand point, so instead of just asking for more money, you should be telling your manager how much more you are about to offer with higher pay by taking on new challenge. If you have done your best and are still under paid, probably a new play ground is the only option, that also includes be your own boss.