Strong openings set the scene in pay rise negotiations

Once you have your boss in a meeting to discuss your remuneration, it is up to you to set the scene and take control of the negotiation. You have asked for this meeting, now it’s up to you to run it.

Opening with gratitude for your boss is polite and sets a respectful tone for the negotiation. While it is arguably part of your bosses job to manage concerns raised by their direct reports, it is also tactful to acknowledge that your boss is a busy person, and they have taken time from their day to meet with you, so be grateful! You may wish at this point to check in with your boss to confirm how much meeting time you have, this will help you to manage the speed with which you get to your core negotiating points.

Eg. “Hi boss, thanks for taking the time out of your day today to meet with me. I’ve been working with you now for XX period of time and I very much enjoy working in this department, I think we are doing good things and I like the culture and goals you are setting for us, so thank you.

Overall you then need to get to the point fairly promptly. Busy people like your boss do not like their time to be wasted and you don’t want to leave them with the impression that you are wasting their day. Start with a bullet point summary of what you expect to discuss.

Eg. “What I wanted to speak with you about today was three things. My salary level,  some of my conditions and I would also like to speak with you about “Strategic project” [insert name of project that you would like the opportunity to be involved in]. 

Start with salary

Always start with salary because this will get it out and on the table quickly. If you get a strong push-back, you may need the time to counter the push-backs and circle back to it. This is where you explain why and how you formed the view that your salary needs revising. 

Eg. "I have been speaking with my colleague from department XXX who informed me that in their department roles like mine [state the relevant roles] attract salaries in the XXX to XX range, so I did some research to check that out further and this is what I found…."

Expect to get push-back. As I explain in my Pay Rise Negotiation course, this most often comes because your boss needs time to think. Get your boss to reject you three times before you consider it to be a firm “No”. Most often a “No” means “I'm not ready to agree just yet”. Turning a “No” into a “Yes” is the objective of the information sharing that comes as you take the next step and explain your proposal. However as part of your opening, try to get all your proposal out and on the table before you get into exploring each of your three points in more detail.

Talk about conditions

Your conditions of employment and the benefits that you enjoy as part of that are often considered “standard” in many organisations. There is an organisational efficiency in keeping them standard, however the more senior you become in your career, the more fungible “standard conditions” becomes. Draft a pitch for each condition and why if you got that benefit it would help you to create more value for the organisation.

Compile between three and five of separate items in your negotiation. Try to choose items that it would be easy for your boss to agree to. Expect to be successful on some but not all conditions.

Finish with career enhancing opportunities

When you think about your career trajectory and where you would like to go, you will have an idea of how you want to take a “step up”. Working on strategic level projects alongside your boss is a great way of showing up for your organisation and being seen to add value at a strategic level. You must (a) be visible and (b) be seen to be adding value to the organisation, in order to be considered for a more senior position.

Negotiating a career enhancing opportunity for yourself is a great way of signalling to your boss that you are ready and keen for the next work opportunity. Pitch to your boss which project you want to be involved in and outline what you could add to it. When you are negotiating this, be clear how it would actually work. You must negotiate time away from your 'business as usual' duties to do this project work, otherwise you are setting yourself up to fail.

In the next stages of your negotiation, explore each of these three areas with your boss to get into your zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) and explore possible win/win solutions for you both.