How to ask for a raise: A step-by-step guide

Have you ever asked for a raise? If your answer is no, then know that you’re not alone, 60% of us haven’t asked either.

But, if you don’t ask, you don’t get, and by settling for incremental raises offered by your employer you could be falling behind with salary. It’s time to take some initiative and ask!

To make your life easier, we’ve outlined when to ask for a raise, how to do it (with some useful templates), as well as what not to do when asking for a salary increase.

We’ve also addressed how women can go about asking for a salary increase as a way of addressing the current gender pay gap.

How to know when to ask for a raise

In the US, an average of just 37% of people have asked for a raise, but 70% of those who asked received it! So your chances are pretty high.

However, there’s a big gender gap when it comes to raises. While women are as likely as men to ask for a raise, they are 25% less likely to receive them.

Here are some of the reasons you might ask for a raise:

When it’s been 6-12 months since your pay last increased

Some companies have an annual pay review, or a review even more frequently. At these set points in the year, often an entire business or team will see an increase. If your organization doesn’t have set measures in place, make sure you’re asking for pay increases in regular increments.

With inflation at 8.3% if your pay isn’t increasing, then your pay packet is worth less than it was before so it’s more important than ever.

A couple of months prior to annual salary reviews. If you’re lucky enough to have an employer that regularly reviews pay don’t make excuses about taking initiative.

An employer might increase everyone’s pay by 2%, reflecting business growth. For some employees who have exceeded expectations or helped grow the business, the increase could be a lot more.

Rather than wait for your annual increase and then dispute it after budgets have already been set, ask ahead.

Work out when your employer will review your salary and plan your request ahead of time. Make your case for more pay early, so they can budget this in. No doubt some of your colleagues will be doing this, so don’t miss out!

When you’ve taken on a new responsibility

Very few roles don’t change over time and usually more responsibility is a good sign that your employer recognizes what you do.

Say you work in marketing and have been asked to take over the running of the company’s LinkedIn account, or you work in hospitality and have been asked to look after some high-net-worth clients, these are jobs that would demand a higher wage if your employer advertised them externally.

When you’ve started managing more people

There’s a huge difference between managing a team of 5 and a team of 50.

Just because your job title hasn’t changed, if the scale of your team has, you should be thinking about asking for more money.

When your job has changed

If you’re in a role that no longer matches your job description, then make sure your employer recognizes this.

Examples could include a remote role that now requires you to commute into the office or an office-based role that requires lots of travel.

When you’re doing well

If you’re a high-achiever and your employer recognizes that then it’s the perfect time to ask for more money.

Asking for an increase when you’re not hitting your targets, have made loads of mistakes recently or are just blending into the background can be really challenging.

When you’re doing well and your employer and boss are happy with you is the perfect time to ask about a salary increase.

If you’ve got any numbers to back up your successes, even better. This could be growing your sales, growing followers on a social media channel, or even saving the business money by making an operational improvement.

How to ask for a raise

So, you feel like now is the right time to ask for a raise? Here’s a step-by-step guide to asking for a raise with some examples.

Step 1: Check it’s the right time

Spend some time doing your research and reading between the lines a bit at meetings. Does everything seem ok in the team? Or does your boss seem a bit stressed? If there are no obvious tensions, it’s time to begin.

If your team is currently struggling to meet targets, or your boss is under a lot of pressure, it’s best to take a step back and wait until everyone is feeling a bit more positive.

Step 2: Set up a time to ask

How you go about this could depend on the way you work. If you’re remote, you’ll need to send an email, whereas if you’re office based and sat next to or near to your boss, this initial conversation may need to happen face-to-face.

There’s no right time of year to set this meeting, although make sure it’s not just after your pay has increased, but try and set a meeting in the middle part of the day. Be mindful that your boss might be stressed or tired in the morning and itching to get home later on.

You could choose to simply ask for a short additional conversation outside of your usual 1:1.

Hi [Insert Manager’s Name],I was wondering if you could spare 20-30 minutes today to talk in private. I’d like to discuss something with you.

Very best,

Or you could ask for more time to be set aside in your 1:1 itself.

Hi [Insert Manager’s Name],I was wondering if I could add an additional 20 minutes to our next 1:1 meeting on Friday? I notice that you have some time on either side. I was hoping to discuss something with you and would like to allocate some additional time as I know there’s plenty to discuss already.

Very best,

Asking for a raise in a meeting, face-to-face, or on a video call shows that you’re able to approach the topic of your salary with maturity. Therefore it’s best not to ask for a raise in an email.

If you’re asking for this meeting face-to-face, be prepared, as your manager may have time when you ask.

Step 3: Asking for a raise

Don’t start the conversation with an apology (I’m so sorry for taking up your precious time) instead prepare a confident opening few lines in advance.

This could sound something like this:

Hey [Manager], thanks so much for meeting with me today. I’m really enjoying my role and feel that things are going really well, and with this in mind, I would like to discuss increasing my salary.

This may continue in a number of ways.

If you haven’t had a salary review in some time:

My salary has not been reviewed for 14 months and during this time I have [Insert achievement 1] and [Insert achievement two]. I feel that now is a good time to ask for an increase in compensation.

If the annual salary review is coming up:

Ahead of salary reviews coming up in the next two months, I wanted to discuss my compensation. In the last year I have [insert achievement] and [insert achievement] so would like to discuss how this might be reflected in the annual salary increase.

If you’ve taken on a new responsibility:

With the additional responsibility that has come with [responsibility] and [responsibility], I feel that the seniority of my role has increased and I would like this to be reflected in my rate of pay.

If you’ve started managing more people:

I have found growing my team really rewarding. It’s grown by over 200% in the last 6 months and I thought now was a good time to ask for a salary increase.

When your job has changed:

Since beginning this role a year ago, the scope of this role has changed quite dramatically. I particularly want to highlight [new responsibilities] and [nature of work]. I’m grateful that you’ve trusted me with so much and was wondering if there was an opportunity to increase my salary based on these changes.

When you’re doing well:

Things have been going really well and I’ve been able to [achievement 1] which has led to [% increase in sales / % decrease in costs to the business]. With things going so well, I feel that now is a good opportunity to discuss an increase in my salary.

Try to have a number in mind, as your boss will ask. On average people ask for between 10-15%, with 20% considered as at the top end that employees can ask for.

If you have a role, where it is easy to measure your impact, it might be easier to come up with a figure. For example, if you work in sales and your annual sales have increased by 12% then asking for 12% makes sense.

This year I have managed to surpass my sales targets by 12% and I was looking for my salary to match this increase.

For most of us, it can be harder to measure. If this is the case for you, you’ll need to spend some time working out what you could be paid elsewhere. First things first, you can value your resume as well as search for jobs like yours in your industry and location in order to benchmark where you’re at.

It’s also worth speaking to people you know. You could ask trusted colleagues, ask in a forum, or speak to recruiters who work in your industry. If you’d like to ask within your network, you could ask what they’d expect to pay someone at a certain level in a certain industry, rather than asking for their full salary history.

If this shows that you’re being paid below the average, use this to work out how much you’d like to ask for.

I’ve noticed that starting salaries in [job/industry] have increased by 12% in the last year, meaning my salary is now below average for my skills and experience. What are your thoughts on increasing my salary to meet this increase?

If you’re being paid well, it could be harder to make your case, so look at roles a level above you and see what you can do to also change your job title.

With everything I’ve achieved in the past year, I am looking for my salary to increase by 10-15%. What are your thoughts on this?

What happens next?

Unless your boss has full control of the budget, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to make a decision then and there.

Ask them what the next steps would be and what this timeline would look like. When you know when you can expect to hear back, suggest putting in another meeting to discuss outcomes.

Make your boss’s life as easy as possible and either summarise the meeting in a follow-up email or provide a 1-page document outlining your reasons for asking for a raise.

Most of the time, your boss will be on your side, but they also need to make sure that everything is fair and that it abides by company policy. You being as helpful as possible, and making their busy life easier, can only reflect positively on you.

What happens if my request for a raise is rejected?

Ask for feedback.

Thank you for taking the time to discuss increasing my salary, I appreciate the feedback. Would you be able to advise what I need to do to see my salary increase in the next 6 months?

It may be that without promotion, your salary is set within your company’s pay scale. If this is the case ask how you can change your role.

I see a long future at this company and would be keen to understand what steps I need to take in order to advance to the next level. Are there specific timeframes for this process?

What do I do if my employer negotiates?

Be prepared to negotiate. Most probably, you will have negotiated your salary when you started your role and this will be much the same thing. Therefore, prepare to receive a bit less than you’re asking for and factor it in.

Say you’re asking for a raise of $5,000, and your employer counter-offers at $3,000, you could suggest meeting in the middle at $4,000.

If $3,000 is the most they can do, ask what you would need to do to achieve your $5,000 goal in the next 6 months.

I’d first like to emphasize how pleased I am with the $3,000 offered. In order to increase my salary by $5,000 total, I was wondering if there’s anything specific I could do over the next 6 months.

Perhaps I can set a diary reminder to discuss this again then?

What not to say when negotiating salary

Throughout this process, make sure that you’re putting your best foot forward, and always showing that you’re excited about your job.

There are a few things that could really turn off employers.

Saying that you know so-and-so is earning such-and-such

There’s no law in the US, preventing you from discussing salary with your colleagues. Though your employer may have made it company policy to restrict these conversations in front of customers or during working hours, there is nothing stopping you from having these discussions in your own time. However, stating that this is what you’ve done could put your employer’s back up.

Some employers might ask you to sign a secrecy agreement. Even though this isn’t a legal document, this shows that they’re definitely sensitive about salary.

Use discussions with peers and colleagues as a method of benchmarking, but steer clear of specific examples that could come across as “bitchy”.

Asking for a raise due to inflation

Employers and employees are all struggling with the rising costs of living, and no doubt for many of us, it’s a reason for a rise.

Employers will probably know this, especially if they’ve seen an increase in the number of employees asking, but ask for a raise based on something positive rather than negative.

Asking for 8% because that’s the rate of inflation, could come across as entitled, even if you’re not!

Threatening to leave if they don’t pay you more

Threats are rarely received well and could damage your relationship with your boss and your employer.

You also never know who is in your boss’s network and making threats could mean they put off another potential employer from hiring you.

How to ask for a raise as a woman

When women do ask for a raise, they typically ask for 30% less than men do.

Despite The Equal Pay Act of 1963 stating that equally qualified men and women must receive equal pay for equal work, the current US gender pay gap is 16%, and not asking for a raise is a huge factor.

Like asking for a raise just because of inflation, asking for a rise due to a gender pay gap can be really tricky to navigate.

First things first, know your facts. Rather than assuming a male counterpart is earning more because he has a nicer car or goes on more holidays, you could ask. If they are earning more, compare the responsibilities you both hold in order to assess if your work is of equal value.

You could ask said male colleague if they’ve asked for a salary increase and how they went about this. Their advice could be really useful.

If you decide to broach this subject with a manager the conversation could be framed as a conversation, rather than an accusation.

Hi [Manager],Thanks for taking the time to speak to me. I’m really enjoying my role and am finding my new responsibilities really rewarding.

I was made aware recently that some of my male peers are earning more than me. I was wondering what I needed to do in order to bring my salary in line with theirs.

This might lead to a raise, but equally, it may not. The next step would be filing an EPA charge, if you believe you are being paid less, solely based on gender.

However this is a flawed process, and one of the many reasons that campaigns such as Equal Pay Day and International Women’s Day take place.

You may decide to broach a raise based on one of the reasons above, rather than a lack of equal pay, as one of the best ways of addressing a pay gap is by asking for more money.

Ready for that raise?

We’ve guided you through some examples of when to ask for a pay increase and how to ask, as well as some things you should and shouldn’t be saying.

The most important things are keeping a record of your achievements and being gracious to your employer.

If your conversations don’t go the way you want them to, one of the best ways to make more money is by moving to a new role. If your employer is unable to provide you with a clear roadmap to your desired salary, then it could be time to look elsewhere.

Let us help you with that. Explore Adzuna’s latest roles.