Getting a Raise

The goal of this lesson is to earn money quickly and start earning more each month without putting in extra effort.

Ask for a raise or bonus

Getting a raise is one of the easiest ways to immediately increase your disposable income. And the main reason why most people don’t get a raise is that they never ask. 

This survey showed that more than 80% of Americans feel entitled to a raise, but only 60% intend to ask for one. 58% of people felt apprehensive about asking for a raise.

It’s time for you to get out of that statistic entirely. Let’s get you a raise! 

Understand your company’s perspective

Most companies don’t want to let people go. It’s more expensive for them to find a new worker to do the job than it is to increase an existing employee’s salary. 

If you leave the company, they have to:

• Put out a new job ad
• Spend weeks interviewing candidates
• Train the new person for months
• Fire the new person if they turn out not to be the right fit

Your boss does not want to do the above because it’s all time consuming and expensive.

So, as an established employee, you have a lot of leverage. 

How to prepare yourself

Even though you know why you deserve a raise, you need to make sure your boss knows as well.

First, you need to know what everyone else is making so you know how much you can reasonably request.

Know how much you “should” earn

Use a salary guide

For example, you can use Robert Half’s Salary Guide to check your position and city

For example, enter “Accountant”

Google it too

Additionally, you can Google “position + salary + city + experience”

For example:

• high school teacher salary new york city 8 years experience
• software engineer salary oregon no experience

Ask your colleagues how much they make

Write down why you deserve a raise

Now that you know how much you “should” be earning, based on data, it’s time to figure out exactly why YOU deserve a raise.

So we’re going to get together a list of achievements and arguments that highlight why you deserve a raise.

In the next step you will put these together so you can ask your boss for a raise.

Here are some examples of arguments that may or may not apply to you:

• You have saved the company money
• You have earned the company revenue
• You improved the company’s service or product
• You improved company efficiency
• You have taken on more important responsibilities
• You have taken very few days off
• You often work overtime 
• The customer’s are very happy with you
• You never miss a deadline
• You have educated yourself further

Create your own list and be specific. 

Write down exactly which education you got, exactly which extra responsibilities you have taken on and so on.

For example:

• I took the lead on [project]
• I saved the company [amount of money] when I [what you did]
• In [year] I have only had [number] days off, while the company average is [number] days

Email template – asking for a raise

Here is an email template you can use. Do reword the template into your own words. You know your company best and which tone of voice and formality to use.

Note: Additional tips:

• Express appreciation: Say thank you for considering giving you a raise.
• Pick the right time: 
  • Good times: You just had a major win, a performance review is coming up, 
  • Bad times: Hiring freeze, recent lay-offs, your boss just lost a close family member