Pay rise?

Danye

My girlfriend is a team leader, she arrives early, stays late and has improved her team. She feels she should be given a pay rise considering the job she does and what she brings to the table. The people on her team, who would do lesser jobs with no responsibility are on the same salary.

Has anybody got a pay rise in recent times? If so how did you go about it? Did you call a meeting with your employer and just ask? Did you sit down and explain why it is you feel you deserve a rise or did you just demand it and say that if you don't get it your walking?

Any advice or tips about how to go about it?

Nino Brown

I've gotten a few recently, I just keep track of every thing I do that's above and beyond whats expected. I email it to myself and store it in a seperate folder. At the end of the year, I then have a case to present as to why I deserve a pay rise.

Itsallrelative

What Nino said - she should list out all the things she's done to improve the team and present her case in a 1-to-1 with her manager. Small tip: focus on the value she's added, not the extra hours she's worked.

It might not hurt to also do some research on average salary ranges for comparable roles; you can get data on this from job ads, Glassdoor or free salary surveys by recruitment agencies. This gives you the other side of your case (ie. that you could get more elsewhere, but in a subtler and non-aggressive way) If the company values her they will do what they can to keep her.

Mr. Loverman

I agree with the above.

Her coming in early and working late is not necessarily a good thing. I wouldn't mention this.

Also, improving her team is surely part of her job description.

However I see no harm whatsoever in her pleading her case to her manager. As the above posters say, she lists why she deserves a raise, and includes things like her salary in comparison to the industry average, her education, etc.

Nino Brown

To make a good argument she will have to be able to quantify her success. Just saying she "improved" the team won't help. She'll have to show how she improved it, for example did output increase?, did yield increase? by how much? etc.
Most people tend to feel they deserve a pay rise, so broad statements mean very little, numbers/stats are the way to go.
Also as mentioned by previous posters, arriving early and staying late is not something you mention when asking for a pay rise. However she can make it work for her, she should make sure it's seen that she does it, if the boss is in early too make sure to say hello. If she needs to send an email towards the end of she shift, and she know she's staying late, hold off and send it later so people see she's there late.

Danye

Thanks to everybody for the replies.

Just in relation Mr. Lover mans comment about not mentioning and coming in early, why in your opinion should that not be mentioned?

Also her job wasn't to improve the team. It was to keep it at, it's already good standard. But she's raised the bad beyond her job spec. Surely that's another good selling point?

Creamy Goodness

Danye wrote: »

Thanks to everybody for the replies.

Just in relation Mr. Lover mans comment about not mentioning and coming in early, why in your opinion should that not be mentioned?

Also her job wasn't to improve the team. It was to keep it at, it's already good standard. But she's raised the bad beyond her job spec. Surely that's another good selling point?

Just because you come in early and leave late doesn't mean there's work being done or if there is then what's the cost to the company when she burns out and has to take a career break?

Mr. Loverman

Danye wrote: »

Thanks to everybody for the replies.

Just in relation Mr. Lover mans comment about not mentioning and coming in early, why in your opinion should that not be mentioned?

Also her job wasn't to improve the team. It was to keep it at, it's already good standard. But she's raised the bad beyond her job spec. Surely that's another good selling point?

Coming in early and working late suggests to me she has poor organisational skills and can't manage her workload properly. Or maybe it means she works really hard and is in an overworked position. But maybe her manager will think it's the former? Not worth the risk IMO.

Her job as a team leader is to improve the team. You're absolutely kidding yourself if you believe the boss thinks her job is to just keep things ticking along.

The reality is management is a hard job and managers do not get the salary they deserve. I'm guessing your girlfriend is going through a bit of a reality check.

I wish her the best of luck though.

Itsallrelative

Just to add to Mr Loverman's comments on working extra hours; one person doing this can start to set a precedent within the company, especially if they then get 'rewarded' with a pay rise/promotion/etc. Other people may feel pressured into doing the same - even if they don't need to - and eventually it becomes 'the norm' in the office.

Absolutely agree that it can imply that you're not organising your day well, or not delegating enough (something a lot of managers struggle with!) If I was consistently working extra hours my manager would be concerned about me and worry I was taking too much on or needed some help. I appreciate that not all companies are like this though.

Tar.Aldarion

I got a raise last week, via meeting and asking, just have her talk to her manager regarding the work she does, quality and value added. Similar to above no need to make ed nation extra hours just what she brings to the table, a leader should mot be on a subordinates salary