Do you want a salary raise?

Simple Quiz:
Do you want a salary raise?
Do you 'feel' that you are being paid lower than what you deserve or being paid lower than what your peers are paid?
Are you feeling cheated and let down by your manager who has not 'recommended' a good hike for you?

If the answer is 'Yes' to any of these, then you are like what I was ten years ago.

When I went to my manager (who eventually is my mentor now) complaining about my salary rise this is what he said: 'Go check out your price in the market'. Many years later, I learnt the same from the pricing class when my professor stressed on how prices are determined by the market.

You are a product. Now determine:
1. What is your value within your company or your team? Essentially your value = value of the alternative available plus or minus the differentiating features.

So, lets take an example. I'm a project lead and I 'feel' I'm doing a great job and I must be getting 20% raise. What alternatives does your employer have? Can you be dispensed off with in which case your value is negative and the employer is losing money by employing you. Or are other in the market being paid more for the same work? If yes, what are your differentiators and what value would you give for those? If your salary is 5 lakh rupees and your peers in the market are getting 6 lakhs, you must be sure you are providing more than 1 lakh of value than your peers in order to claim.

So, on a positive note, work on how you can increase value and then by all means ask for a raise. If you are already providing more value (working and getting better results) to the company then please list down your rationale in objective terms and approach your management.

Now the game changes to how eager your management is to retain you. If not you know you are providing a great value and the market will grab you.

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