How to get a raise at work

Everyone wants to earn more to thrive in the current market situation with high inflation rates. Here I am going to share my top tips to achieve what is possible and how to get a raise at work. By following these tips I have managed to get from a medium salary to 1% in less than 4 years!

When to change your job?

Before giving your all to your work you should consider if this is the right company to do it in.

Is there a way to grow?

At first your should consider is there a way to grow in your company. Are there any positions where you see yourself in a few years? Will there be new positions where you could grow in the future? Is there a way how to get a raise at work?

The best kind of company to to do this is a large company with many levels of management or a fast growing company to creates new positions every year.

If you want a high salary you shoul avoid small companies.

Management views

Another thing you should consider is how your management sees their emploees. Do they value them and reward them ofter? Or do they completely ignore people and there a huge change of people in your company.

The best way to go is with a company that values their people and do not let them go easily. A good manager always asks the question of how to get a raise at work. Usualy it is very cost ineficient to change people often because it costs more to train new people instead of keeping the old ones.

Work climate

Do you like your job and your coleagues? I think this is the most important part because you spend around one third of your life in work.

If you are not happy there you probably should search for a new place.

For example, I have this red line where if someone at work shout at me it is either they are going or I am. In the past I left a good position because my manager was yelling at me at a daily basis and it was not good for my health.

Work Ethic

If you are already at the company that you like and there are ways to grow you should really put your best there. Your manager and coworkers are judging you by your work ethic.

You can be the best specialist in your field but if your work ethic is lacking everybody will hate you. Well at least the ones that are working closely to you.

Be kind to others

As much as you want a good working climate at your job you should create it yourself. If you are in a higher position than somebody else it does not give you a choice to downspeak to anybody.

The saying that you should treat others as you would like them to treat you is true here.

Don‘t slack around

It is very uncommon that you have finished all your mandatory tasks early if you were not slacking. If that is the case you create a free time for yourself to reflect, plan your next tasks and think about improvements to the company or your position. Always have this question on your mind – how to get a raise at work?

Always do thing before deadlines

When taking on tasks always consider time buffer if anything were to occur, so that you would still finish your tasks on time.

This most valued thing in the work place. As I was lacking in other fields I made sure to finish my work on time and it got noticed.

Both my direct manager and the CEO noticed this and praised me for ti.

Possitive atitude

We all have good days and bad days, but the truth is that nobody really cares about your bad days. At work what is important is finished work on time.

You should make sure that if you are feeling down if would not reflect on your work. Negative emotions should be kept at home and you should deal with them yourself, with your family or your psychologist.

Do extraordinary things

To get a raise at work and be noticed you have to more or do things that others can‘t/won‘t. Nobody is going to give you rises or promotions just because you asked for it. You must have something to back your request.

Learn how to do your job

When you are starting at a new position no matter what everyone else is saying your first priority is to learn to do your work like you are supposed to. Usually this takes those 3 months trial period.

If by 3 months mark you feel confortable in your position and do not make mistakes in everyday tasks you can start thinking outside the box.

Thinking outside the box means looking for things to improve like to save time or to do something in a better quality.

Always think how to get a raise at work.

Help others

In every workplace you should treat your colleagues with trust and respect. Only when you do this you can really do a better job with your clients or suppliers. If you have internal company conflicts you are wasting energy that can be direct to earning more for your company.

This starts with helping your colleagues when they ask for help. If you made an impression on them surely they will mention it to at least one other colleague and sooner or later this goood feedback will come back to your boss.

Find ways to create value

The more direct way to get noticed by your boss is to create value, even more than expected. When you manage to do that make sure to mention it to your boss. It is always the best to know your numbers.

If you managed to get a big sale or managed to reduce prices from your suppliers it is very good for your resume. It means you are a valueble employee.

Use your free time at work

A lot of difference between you and your collegues can be made during brake periods. At work I notice that there are always people who like to socialise with other, have a laugh and so on. The people usualy say that they do not have enough time, have to work overtime.

And then there are people who can be social but for most part they leave the social aspect to after working hours. These hard working people show better results and gets noticed.

Be proactive

Everyone solves problems that are with a highest priority. But really you are a lot better of solving a problem before it really becomes a problem.

This is called being proactive. Usually people do not solve these because it does not seem like highest priority, they do not have time, they do not care and so on.

Learn

Most people go to their jobs without having big goals. They do it to pay their bills, to pass time or to socialy interect. People who want more and actually makes an effort to get more usually does.

This is pretty much like in sports – hard work beats talent everytime if talent does not work hard.

Even in music this is the case. If you do not believe me you should listen to Ed Sheeran singing before he became famous.

Take courses

You can find a lot of usefull information that you need for your work in the internet. The are plenty of cources both free and paid.

My personal experience is that what is free does not neceseraly have good quality and may have outdated topics. The paid cources usually can get you were you want to get.

Attend conferences

Depending on your field there might be conferences that you could attend to broaden your views, learn something new and get new usefull contacts.

For example, my wife is a great speaker, so after every conference she gets new contacts to Linkedin. Some of these leads then offers her a job at their firms.

Read news about your sector

To learn more and be up to date in your industry you can read related articles to find what is relevant and new. This can get you an advantage in making decisions.

For example, my sector is electronics and there are plenty of news sites which publish news regularly. After I subscribed to them I get all the newest information to my email.

Prepare for the meeting

After a succesfull year in your company when you manage to show results in your positions you problably have built quite a resume to yourself if you did everything that was written before.

If that is the case all you need to do now is to prepare for the meeting with your boss.

Be clear what you want

When you have this annual meeting with your employer you have to state what you want.

If it is the raise that you want then you have to specific about the numbers. For example, if it is a 10% raise then you have to tell that.

On the other hand, if it is the promotion you have to know what position you want. Here timing might be more important because it is a lot easier to get a promotion if there is an open spece for it.

You can even ask your boss this question – how to get a raise at work!

Research similar work salaries

When you want a raise at first you should start by reasearching what other companies are paying for your position even better if you see that your company is hiring for the same position that you are in right now.

Always check salary ranges for the position an try to figure out where do see yourself. Do you make more value than everyone else? If so can ask for the highest possible salary or even a litter higher if your really created more value than it was expected.

List your achievements

You do not have to write every 10 dollar achievement that you made. Figure out the bigest 3-5 things you did in the last year that generated most value.

You can also mention things like were you helped your colleagues and how they look up to you for your advice.

Think what tasks you can do

When you want a higher salary than it is planned for the position you can think ahead what other tasks you would be willing to do that your colleagues do not do.

It is only fair that you get paid more than your colleagues if you do more work than they do or you do something that nobody else can do or want to do.

Don‘t mix up your personal life to work

In these kind of meetings do not talk about your personal life and how you need more money because of your health or that you want a better house.

Your employer does not pay for that nor should he or she.

Don‘t threaten your employer

The absolute worst thing you can do is to threaten your employer that if you do not get a position or the salary you will quit. No matter how good person is performing if he is decited to leave now it is only the matter of time before he things of a higher number of positions.

Personaly I let these people go and I believe a lot of other managers do to.

You have to be very delicate about these situations and when, for example, you have an offer from another company that offers better conditions you probably just be honest were you stand.

Meaning that if you want to stay in your current company let your manager know that and tell what you would like to get to stay were you are.

There is not much else you can do just to let your boss decide whether he or she is willing to pay you more to stay.

If you want to read a more in-depth guide on how to prepare for the meeting – you can check this Indeed.com article.

Conclusion

  • To get more money from your workplace you have to evaluate if the current company is right for you and if it can offer you a space to grow as a specialist or a manger.
  • You have to have a good work ethic. In some companies you can be the most valuable person but if nobody else can work with you then most likely you could be let go.
  • To get noticed by your boss you have to stand out of the crowd and deliver more value.
  • To stand out your current knowledge might not be enough, so learning my boost your salary a lot.
  • Think about your situation – how to get a raise at work. It may be diffrent!
  • When you do all these things do not miss your change and prepare for the big meeting with your boss.

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