Your preparation for any salary review meeting should include the following four items:
- Establishing and maintaining a personal activity log.
- Making yourself aware of relevant salary statistics.
- Improving your profitability to the firm, and demonstrating your worth.
- Establishing the salary and options that will be acceptable to you.
Plan your moves; then move your plans.
1. Establish and Maintain a Personal Activity Log
It is recommended that you keep an up-to-date job journal, recording significant accomplishments from the first day of your employment with the firm. Record your achievements and ideas for making progress, referring specifically to material in your field. Be sure to include a record of your past raises, with dates and percentages; a graphical presentation may be advantageous. Study your business associates (your supervisor, subordinates, subcontractors, customers), and record anything that may be significant as an indication of their skills versus yours.
Any time you receive a commendation, make sure it is in writing and placed with your activity log. If the human resources department maintains a personnel docket system, request access to it periodically. Retain a file of ways in which you have improved your performance over the current period to the benefit of the firm, including courses taken to improve your skills, accomplishments beyond the routine work tasks, awards received within and outside the company, articles written for trade publications, and professional projects in which you were involved.
In addition, keep your resume current. Your resume states your qualifications, which may sometimes be challenged during a negotiation.
2. Be Aware of Relevant Salary Statistics
As far as possible, familiarize yourself with your company's salary administration policies , including the creation of wage levels, frequency of raises, and methods of rating jobs. Research the field of your expertise to determine what other firms are paying managers with similar skills. Study survey reports. Place yourself within various salary structures, and determine your worth to the firm and to the outside market.
Regardless of any backlash that may result from downsizing, firms need reward systems to assure loyalty, increase productivity, and facilitate the recruiting of new employees. Studies have indicated that many firms have reward programs for managers based on the corporation's annual profit and that firms recognize the need to emphasize long-term benefits. An award system of longer than a year's duration is also described as a means to encourage improved performance and retain managers for longer periods.
3. Improve Your Profitability to the Firm, and Be Ready to Document It
You demonstrate to your company how necessary and how profitable you are when you make things happen. The actual work may be done by your subordinates, but your administrative abilities- your direction and control-lead to accomplishment and results.
Become an expert in your area of responsibility, so that others will seek you out and recognize you as a reliable source of information. Improve your knowledge of company operations and policies, both within and outside your department. Be recognized as a high achiever by accepting more than your share of work and delivering good results. If given the opportunity or responsibility, hire top-notch subordinates who will earn you respect and credibility as a leader. Be friendly to all personnel on all levels of the company; recognize people as individuals and avoid office politics, which can backfire very badly. You can end up rubbing the right people the wrong way.
How you achieved performance goals since your last raise and what you plan to achieve after you receive your next increase should be considered. Always use specific figures to support any claims of increased productivity, new skills acquired, labor-hours saved, and long-term benefits that you have initiated, such as improved employee morale and new product developments.
How does your compensation differ from the salaries of your subordinates? There should be an ample difference to adequately differentiate management status from lower levels. This difference serves to motivate those reporting to you to set their goals on replacing you as you move up the ladder in the organization. Of course, you may seek increased compensation for subordinates who demonstrate superior performance. In that case the salary gap may shrink and provide you with another reason to request a larger paycheck.
Superior performance merits acknowledgment, by your supervisor and by management that you are an outstanding manager and an excellent team leader, whose efforts help make the firm profitable.
4. Establish Acceptable Salary and Option Limits
How do you establish what you consider acceptable salary limits? Before establishing any limit, you should examine the slope of a maturity curve showing pay distribution to see where you best fit in respect to your position and where you think you should fit relative to your performance. Do you think you are being compensated fairly, on the basis of the pay distribution curve?
In your review, you may discover inequities in your salary as compared with the compensation of fellow managers on the same level. Alternatively, the outside market may he competing for experienced individuals like you. These disclosures may assist you in the negotiation. As stated previously, however, the best weapon is a reasonable salary range and a list of perks (with dollar equivalents) to supplement the salary that you plan to demand.
5. Surviving Downsizing
In a downsizing economy you have little job security, so as previously stated, you should avoid confrontation with your supervisor. Furthermore, you should find out about projects being planned and what positions may suit you or may match your qualifications. Be alert to opportunities and look to where you can move ahead. (Most companies provide job postings for any openings.)
Staying late when necessary or offering to work overtime will show your interest in and dedication to a project. More recognition is possible when you approach your supervisor to discuss work assignments informally. But make sure you've done your homework and are prepared for any questions that may be asked of you.
Recognize your deficiencies in fulfilling current and future roles at work. Perhaps an advanced degree is required or more experience in the industry is needed. Take advantage of educational or seminar programs that may be offered. Make yourself more valuable. Let your superiors know what your goals are and what you expect of them and the company.
