When it comes to asking for a raise, as an employee, it is somewhat a little bit difficult especially if one hasn’t done it before. And as an employer, it can be a little a bit confusing as well especially if you didn’t see it coming.
In this article, let me share with you a step-by-step process of what you can do when your employee asks for a raise and how to be able to softly reject someone when you’re unable to give them a raise just yet.
ASK THEM FOR MORE INFORMATION
This is the first that you must do when your employee asks for a raise. There would be a number of reasons why they would ask for raise. These are the most common ones:
- Your employee has been working with you for too long
- Their responsibilities have leveled up instead of what they were originally hired for
- Change in lifestyle (eg. Medical issues, shift to being the sole breadwinner)
- Family (eg. Started own family)
There are a lot of different reasons why an employee asks for a raise but it’s usually between the 4 reasons mentioned above. So, you want to make sure that you actually ask them and hear them out why they need the raise.
THINK BEFORE YOU REACT
Whether it is a good reaction or a bad reaction, you must have that pause and think it through so that you don’t react based on emotion. You have to pause and think so you can decide rationally.
ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR EMPLOYEE
What this means is simply to acknowledge that you heard or receive the request and that you need time to think about it. By doing this, again, you’re giving yourself that pause between deciding right away and them requesting and at the same time your making them feel heard and not just being brushed to the side.
FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO
This is where a system on raises really helps. For example, for us in 2xYou, we have a couple of factors that we look at before we give one of our employees a raise.
𝟏. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝.
Most of our remote assistants start off with admin tasks or social media tasks then evolve into being more inside of the business like them doing sales or managing their client’s clients. By them being more involved in the crucial part of their client’s business, then they deserve a raise.
𝟐. 𝗪𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲.
Inside of 2xYou, we have 5 values, and every month we have a self-assessment for all our employees to go through to evaluate themselves against those values. If they are not meeting up to a lot of the criteria, then they probably don’t deserve that raise yet until they raise those soft skills themselves. And if they do, that’s another addition to the responsibilities and then that value is checked.
𝟑. 𝗪𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲.
We check our employees how invested they are beyond just the work they are doing. If they are someone who has been helping the other employees or gives suggestions for the improvement of the company, acknowledges problems, and provides solutions, then that’s a good sign of how engaged they are and will definitely deserve a raise.
𝟒. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐬.
If the employee is willing to grow with us and with the client and we can see that they would want to stay with us moving forward, then giving a raise would be considered.
So those are the different criteria that we look out for inside of 2xYou. It may be different for you in your company, but this is just to give you an idea of what having a raise system could look like.
GATHER AS MUCH DATA AS YOU CAN
You must check their hours rendered, their performance, and their output against what they claim as to why they deserve the raise. You want to have that data to be able to move forward further with your decision. You want to look at actual data to separate who they actually might actually be versus who you hear they are.
CHECK YOUR NUMBERS
There is a big difference between a bonus and a raise. A bonus is just a one-off expense while a raise is an ongoing expense inside your company. So, you want to make sure to check your numbers if you can actually afford giving out a raise. It makes sense, for example, if this person has been reeling in a lot of clients a month, then if you give him a raise, he will be happier and probably bring in more clients, so that equals it out. But again, make sure you check your numbers that if you give this person a raise, your company will not go bankrupt after a few months.
GIVE THE GOOD NEWS
After going through everything that’s mentioned above, if you have decided to give a raise, then give them the good news right away but then also tell them what it would take for them to get to the next level. This way you are already setting up the system of what it would be like for them to get the next raise or promotion that they might be after. You are also setting up the boundaries and clarity of what they need to do moving forward. You must set the expectation so that they won’t think that they can get another raise just because they got the last one.
LET THEM KNOW HOW TO GET APPROVED
If they didn’t get the raise, then let them know what are the different areas that they can give value in so then they’ll get to a point where they can get the raise.
If the problem is more about the funds inside the company, then you can let them know that a raise can be given once a certain revenue is reached. The important thing is you are setting what could or needs to be done in order for that raise to be granted.
For your employees, asking for a raise can be nerve-wracking. So it is important that as an employer, you make sure that you don’t react or make decisions hastily especially if you are caught off-guard. It is important to know that there are raises that are rightfully deserved even if you’re not the one who initiated it.
Comment below on what other tips you can give an employer when their employee asks for a raise.