Want to get a raise at work? Think about earning more money as an ongoing goal, that you can take an active role in year-round. ✌️
📍Make it an annual thing Have an annual beginning of year ‘kick-off’ meeting with your supervisor. In this meeting, you should talk about your goals for the year and lay out a path to promotion or raise, even if those things more than a year away for your role.
🙋 Advocate for yourself Regardless of what time of year it is, if you haven’t already, let your supervisor know that you appreciate and value your role, and want to take an active position in ensuring that you are able to bring your best work to everything you do.
📆 Get it on the calendar If you don’t already know, ask when you will have performance and salary reviews throughout the year, and then block those dates off on your calendar.
Tip: You need allies at work, beyond your manager, you should find mentors, and other colleagues who will advocate for you, and guide you. Your career is not meant to be navigated alone!
🗣 Formal feedback Your company likely has a method for collecting feedback on your performance, either at the end of the year, mid-year, or throughout the year. Maybe they even collect performance feedback with each project, which can be more timely and work in your favor when it comes to explaining why you deserve a raise. You can use this feedback as evidence to support your request, but you also want to take your own notes throughout the year.
👌 Accomplishments Helped a colleague, or did something that impacted the company? Met a goal, or surpassed expectations of your co-workers? Keep note of all of your accomplishments throughout the year in a document, and bring them up to your supervisor when discussing what your compensation package should look like this year.
🦸♀️ Your Role What have you worked on? How has your role changed? Are you going beyond your responsibilities, make a note, and remember to use it to tell your story in your discussions with your manager.
Tip: There's a difference between bragging and being proud of your accomplishments. If a co-worker sends you a nice message about something you’ve done, especially if it’s someone who is in a higher role than you in the company, feel free to forward it to your boss, with a note about how excited you are to be making an impact at the company.
3️⃣ Start 3 months out from your review Once you find out when raises and bonuses are decided, block off a date on your calendar three months prior to that with a reminder to ask your supervisor when you should have a preparatory discussion to talk about your goals for your upcoming review. It’s important to have this discussion before the year-end review, so that your supervisor knows what you want before they begin any year-end discussions with management.
👉 State what you want, why you deserve, and make it collaborative! In this meeting, you’ll state your desires for a raise and/or bonus, mention some of the accomplishments that you hope will be taken into consideration in your updated compensation package and promotion decision (if applicable), and ask your supervisor to weigh in on what needs to be done to earn those amounts.
Tip: Even if you know it’s not a raise or promotion year for you, still have this discussion with your supervisor so that you can prepare for the following year, and stay on their radar as someone who won’t be overlooked when it comes to opportunities.
Once you have collected information about your past accomplishments, it’s time to prepare for your year-end review.
Talk to a Bolder Money Coach today about how we can help you reach your goals, and build confidence in whatever comes next.
