How to Ask for a Pay rise or Promotion

Four Pillars of Value
If you’re looking for a pay rise or a promotion you will generally have to justify it on the basis of additional responsibility or commitment to delivering over and above what you deliver in your current role. The more senior your decision makers, the more likely they are to consider the hard commercial business case for your request.

There are four pillars that can help you justify your business case:

Demonstrate that if you take on a project or additional responsibility, that it’s going to unlock more sales, income or/recurring revenues for your organisation. You might also illustrate how your performance or responsibility over the last while has contributed to revenue retention or additional sales. If you can calculate a great business case, you may be able to justify your own share in that benefit. Providing figures will help validate your standpoint.

Identify cost and time efficiencies within your organisation. Notice opportunities in the work that you do, or could do, and draw a line back to a saving.

Be clear and quantify (where possible) how you will save money for the organisation through your direct and effective management, or a process or efficiency that you have introduced or could implement.

3. Avoid Risk

Identify the regulatory and reputational risks to your organisation or its leaders. Risks materialised always creates cost and difficulty within an organisation and to its senior leaders in particular. Demonstrate the way in which your involvement can reduce or mitigate the likelihood of things going wrong.

Protecting the personal profile of an individual, if they are likely to be particularly sensitive to reputational risk, will be important to them.

Observe a key decision maker within your organisation and establish what ‘pet’ project they wish to see thrive or are frustrated with. First, identify what they need versus what you have to offer. Then, speak to the individual directly about the project as they have an emotional attachment to it, likely to make them receptive to ideas for how to get it moving. Be clear on your willingness to commit to delivery of the project in return for further development and additional responsibility with a view to a pay rise and/or promotion.

Good luck!