salary negotiation

[Leaky Eye]

[ QUOTE ]
Do I tell my managers now, before April, that I expect a healthy raise (and in all likelihood, another promotion). Or do I wait to see what they 'give' me in April, then negotiate for more if I'm unhappy?

[/ QUOTE ]

Communicate your desires beforehand. It will be a lot easier for them to accommodate you this way, if they choose to do so.

[punkass]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Do I tell my managers now, before April, that I expect a healthy raise (and in all likelihood, another promotion). Or do I wait to see what they 'give' me in April, then negotiate for more if I'm unhappy?

[/ QUOTE ]

Communicate your desires beforehand. It will be a lot easier for them to accommodate you this way, if they choose to do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Plus, if you ask after they already set your raise, they'll tell you that they already did the budgets and etc. It's easier to ask beforehand.

[Josh W]

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Do I tell my managers now, before April, that I expect a healthy raise (and in all likelihood, another promotion). Or do I wait to see what they 'give' me in April, then negotiate for more if I'm unhappy?

[/ QUOTE ]

Communicate your desires beforehand. It will be a lot easier for them to accommodate you this way, if they choose to do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Plus, if you ask after they already set your raise, they'll tell you that they already did the budgets and etc. It's easier to ask beforehand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously, what you say makes at least some sense. My fear is that....well....the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I feel like if I complain at all (or anybody else in a position similar to mine), they will be accomodated, as long as they don't make a habit out of complaining. That is...most "good" employees will get the raise that they ask for at least once in their career. If they make a habit out of asking for more than what is being offered, they may not be accomodated.

So, in my position, say that the managers are planning on accomodating me without me even asking. Then, if I ask before hand, that may be taking up my one opportunity to be the "squeaky wheel". Does that make sense? Now, if they are NOT going to compensate me (without my prodding) fairly, I don't lose anything by saying something beforehand. However, if they ARE planning on giving me what I want, without me asking, then by asking, I'm losing a negotiating tool later in my career.

Does that make sense? Given this (the "The squeaky wheel gets what they want at least once") factor, do you still ask ahead of time?

Josh

[jeffnc]

"Salary" is more or less meaningless by itself nowadays. It's really about "compensation package". Which, by the way, gives you the perfect answer to the question "What is your salary requirement?" "It depends on the overal compensation package."

It's so complicated that they probably wouldn't feel like explaining it all at that second, just to get an answer from you anyway.

When negotiating, one important thing is to decide what you really want. To me, for example, more vacation time was more important than more salary. If you're willing to make tradeoffs, then it will be easier. Often the hiring person will have more leeway in some areas than others. In my case, it was easy because the salary was almost set in stone from above, but they had leeway in the vacation time. In your case, try to find out what they can be flexible about. It might be work at home hours, more stock options, whatever.

[turnipmonster]

this is just not true unless the OP is going to work in a cookie cutter job with a huge company.

good thread btw, I have definited f'd up salary negotiation in the past. although I've improved a bit, still something I need to work on.

[BukNaked36]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Do I tell my managers now, before April, that I expect a healthy raise (and in all likelihood, another promotion). Or do I wait to see what they 'give' me in April, then negotiate for more if I'm unhappy?

[/ QUOTE ]

Communicate your desires beforehand. It will be a lot easier for them to accommodate you this way, if they choose to do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Plus, if you ask after they already set your raise, they'll tell you that they already did the budgets and etc. It's easier to ask beforehand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously, what you say makes at least some sense. My fear is that....well....the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I feel like if I complain at all (or anybody else in a position similar to mine), they will be accomodated, as long as they don't make a habit out of complaining. That is...most "good" employees will get the raise that they ask for at least once in their career. If they make a habit out of asking for more than what is being offered, they may not be accomodated.

So, in my position, say that the managers are planning on accomodating me without me even asking. Then, if I ask before hand, that may be taking up my one opportunity to be the "squeaky wheel". Does that make sense? Now, if they are NOT going to compensate me (without my prodding) fairly, I don't lose anything by saying something beforehand. However, if they ARE planning on giving me what I want, without me asking, then by asking, I'm losing a negotiating tool later in my career.

Does that make sense? Given this (the "The squeaky wheel gets what they want at least once") factor, do you still ask ahead of time?

Josh

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of this depends on your relationship with your boss.

I'm a manager. If I had an employee who wanted a big raise and deserved it, I'd appreciate if he requested it ahead of time, and gave me data to back it up - hours worked, level of work, what is competitive in the market. Give me the info. and let me go to bat for you.

If you don't have a good relationship with your boss, or think he will shut you down ahead of time, then I'd suggest doing it during the review. If your review is great and your raise sucks, then you have to challenge your boss and HR on it. Presenting your case in writing would be the best way to go about this. Reviews often have a box for employee feedback. Don't do it there during the review as anything you scribble down will look half assed. Take your time after the review and write a letter documenting why you deserve a larger raise and provide a range you feel is acceptable.

[midwestkc]

This is a great thread, but I have a (somewhat) different question. Within the next 6mos-year I will be getting a promotion that involves moving with the company. Now, this is a retail sales outfit, and I will still be doing some selling, etc, and compensation is pretty set in stone for the extra duties that I will be doing (and the commission will be the same, based on sales). My question is what types of thing are generally negotiable regarding moving expenses, etc.?

This is something I'd like to have ready to go, as they literally will just call me (our corporate office) and say, "We'd like you to go to city X. What do you think? Ok, your offer letter will be sent out shortly." At which point I'll get their offer for how I will be compensated for the move.

At this point, I don't know what is in their "standard" offer, and how much I can negotiate this. However, I do know that some closing costs on homes are paid, as well as movers for all my junk. What else should I look for?

[BadBoyBenny]

Have you checked if your company has an offical relocation policy for internal transfers? Most large companies do.

Where I work you get differential for 4 years if you move somewhere more expensive. We get movers, mileage, 10 days paid house hunting trips, and a predecision trip of a couple days before you have to accept the offer. Expenses are reimbursed for those trips as if they were business travel. Other benefits are closing costs on both transactions or lease break fees if you rent. Also one month's salary for misellaneous expenses. There are other minor benefits but these are the big ticket ones. Also the relcoation package is not negotiable, they will give out a supplementary cash bonus if they want to sweeten the deal but it is not officially part of the package.

[suzzer99]

Well you all might appreciate this. I got my offer letter from the place I mentioned in my previous post. I told them I was making about $118/$117 at my previous job with bonus. Some have flinched at that number so I was relieved when they didn't. Then they got me even more curious when she told me today that I would be REALLY HAPPY with my offer. So the offer letter came in an hour or so ago.


Dear Matt,
Congratulations! On behalf of the Executive Team here at Company X, I would like to extend this official offer of employment to you as Software Engineer. The offer is composed of several pieces including Salary, Bonuses and Benefits that are outlined within the attached offer letter and benefit summary.

We approximate the complete package to be valued at $118,070.00. This amount includes the following:

$95,000.00 - Base Salary
$3,800.00- 401(k) Matching (following eligibility under the provisions of the Company X 401(k) plan)
$4,384.00 - First year Vacation Pay (based on your base salary, accrued and calculated by your date of hire)
$7,916.00- Discretionary Year-End Performance Bonus (this amount is a maximum based on 1/12 of base salary and will be pro-rated if employed for less than calendar one year by December 31, 2007)
$2,970.00 - Health Benefits (averaged at $330.00 per month). This first year calculation is estimated based on a 9-month year to account for the 3-month wait period.
$1,000.00 - Annual Travel Reimbursement (based on calendar year)
$3,000.00 - Annual Year-End Trip (value is based on previous year(s) spending though is determined solely at the discretion of Company X management)


Ummm throwing in 401k matching is ok, as I always counted that in my salary in the past. But vacation pay and health care? I really don't think so. I think I would have appreciated it a lot more if they just said, "well we can't quite match your previous company, but here's why we're a good place to work ... (blah blah) ... and here's the best we can do: XXX".

I think all things considered I'm still ok with this package. But I'm not getting the best vibe from how they're going about it. Also I'm wondering if I could squeeze out up to $10k more. But I hate negotiation and I don't want it to get yucky.

I think I might try to say though that I'll have to think about it and go over each piece with the HR girl, culiminating in how this is less than what I was making. Somehow I'd like to get the point across that with this package they'll get my answer at the end of the week. But another $10k and I'd sign now w/o talking to anyone else. (I am talking to others and have a pretty good work-at-home contract job lined up, but I'm kind of tired of being a shutin.) The one thing I want to avoid is making some kind of ultimatum that I may have to back down from later.

If anyone has any strategy ideas or pearls of wisdom I'd appreciate hearing them. One thing I'm starting to learn from this and other experiences, you're never pleasantly surprised by the first offer.

[skunkworks]

suzzer,

I would really not be happy if they counted the value of my benefits as part of my salary. I'd probably go back to them and find a nice way to let them know that there is a gigantic misunderstanding.

Also, wtf is up with $3000 for the year-end trip hahahahaha talk about strangeness.