Workplace Lab

As a supplement to podcast episodes 1 and 2 where we covered some aspects of negotiating for raises in base salary, we wanted to provide even more practical examples of what elements make up a successful negotiation.

• Start from a place of partnership; assume good intent and start from a place of trust. What does this mean? When you broach the subject with your manager or the key decision maker who can influence your wages, disclose more behind your thinking and rationale instead of starting from an oppositional/ zero sum position. Antiquated thinking around negotiations assumes that when sitting at the proverbial “negotiation table” that one must be at odds with who they are negotiating with. This is no longer accurate in most settings. Especially when you think about the fact that you have been working for and producing great output for the organization/manager in question.
• Know the story behind your unique strengths; this is a very important one and most probably the most difficult because it sets you up as the hero or heroine in your own story so it requires some reflection on your part. Storytelling can have profound impacts on influencing individuals in almost any setting and demonstrating how you have created value for the organization, but more importantly, how you will continue to deliver value to the organization based on your unique strengths can go a long way when negotiating for more.
• Time it appropriately; try to align it with the organization’s annual or biannual pay review or performance discussion period. This also ensures their ability to quickly integrate your input into their review and potentially can lead to a faster outcome.
• Do your research; It always helps to have some data, so to that end equip yourself with some pay data. Most organization’s use pay for use market and benchmarking data that you wouldn’t necessarily have access to, but it doesn’t hurt to go in with something so you can quote it if necessary. Sites like glassdoor.com and payscale.com are useful here.

For even more information on pay negotiations, check out the guardian.com here for a very useful article.

We also will have an upcoming episode discuss negotiating non-salary benefits such as vacation time and stock options. Please tune in for more useful tips and don’t forget to connect with us on social media to stay up to date!