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I’m glad to see this topic and the ideas I have shared recently have created such a response. Let me start by saying that I’m not naïve to think that your circumstances will be such that you will never have to ask for a raise. But ideally, the best answer is to have an effective pay-for-performance system in place in your organization. The ideas and suggestions I shared in the “Why Nadella Was Right: Don’t Ask for a Raise” article are intended to put the emphasis on objective performance and on your true value.
The message I intended to send in that article was that relationships are important in every phase of work and I believe Nadella was talking about that as well. He talked about the long term strategy of showing your value so that bosses would see you as someone they wanted to work with for the long term. He thought that the company would recognize the person’s value as a result. I do not think, however, that this is always the case as I have seen many managers and supervisors who recognize little about an employee’s value.
In fact, we work closely with companies to change that very problem. So how can you rectify a situation where you know that your value to the organization is more than you are paid? First, let me share some things that will likely decrease the chances of getting a raise.
It is always a difficult to be in a position where you have to ask for a raise no matter your gender. If you take the offensive, you put the boss on the defensive. That is never a good strategy. In addition, you are likely to be seen as a complainer or even aggressive and demanding. Such does not bode well even for employees who may deserve a raise. Now, let me suggest some things that will enhance your chances.
My opinion is that companies benefit when they take the offensive relative to pay. That is that they pay more than they need to, or have to, but the most they can, given their needs to grow the business. Financial types don’t always understand that it is not satisfying to show employees that their company pays above the average for their industry or location. If the company is profitable, it is ideal for the employees to be able to share in the profit —and I mean all employees. But the caveat is that they share based on their individual contribution. That means that everyone in the same job may not get the same bonus. We have such a plan at ADI and it works extremely well. Dr. Alyce Dickenson at Western Michigan University has spent many years studying pay and performance, and has shown that even in salary positions when employees have some pay based on performance; it improves both satisfaction and performance. The fact that so many people responded to my article says that companies are doing something wrong in the way they pay employees. The best way to pay for anything is to pay for value. When you do, rather than asking for a raise, employees will know how they can increase their value which under a good pay-for-performance system leads to more money, of which the organization will be happy to pay. In the limited space that I have here, I am not able to address all the many issues related to pay. I have written rather extensively about the issues in my books and blog. If you cannot find an answer to your problem, please let me know.
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