Asking for a raise

Quietly suggest to a few other co-workers about the idea of a peer production review. Get a few people with the idea of once a month, everyone sits down in a room, and discuss who is doing what, what is going well, where someone might need to work harder, or what they could do different.


This is something that all small companies should do, helps cull dead weight.

Just remember that it is the free market that ultimately sets your salary...not you...or your boss. Any attempt to cheat the market usually doesn't last very long. I have always found that threatening to quit will make the purse strings open...good luck.

Also think about what his main tasks are compared to yours, what kind of qualifications he might have that you don't, what his working history looks like compared to yours, those kinds of things. Also, in my experience, the boss of whatever company your working for really doesn't want you to know how much everyone else makes.

Without saying it applies to this case in particular, in general I don't like the mentality that someone needs a raise because his co-workers are earning more. This is not directed to the OP but, people often tend to not have an objective view on their own work compared with others. Co-workers may have qualities you're not aware of and that you don't need to be aware of. I'm also strongly against the assumtion that the salery should increase with time even if you don't become any better (I'm quite sure this is not the case here though, since experience help a lot in the web programming buisness). The reason to ask for a raise should be that you believe that you deserve better pay than you get, not that someone else is getting more than you. The worst example of this is managers who can't stand to have subordinates that earn more than them. Face it, they might be more important even though they're not managers! Some managers are fresh from management school and could just as likely hurt the company as make a benefit, but they still expect to get more paid than the senior engineers who are the ones who stop every project from failing and who are vital for keeping most of their customers.

Never base your salary on someone else's. It's often a sackable offense to discuss wages with other staff as it can cause problems like the one you're having now. To get a raise, state a list of your achievements over the course of the last few months and discuss it with your manager. If you're earning below market rate (eg: what's out on job sites), raise this with your manager too and show them the adverts (as long as the job descriptions are comparable). Other than that, make it known you want a raise and ask them what you need to achieve to get it, this makes them commit some goals for you to reach and in turn you'll get your money.

Its quite easy... regardless of your coworker salary, do you think you could easily find another job that will pay you more? If yes, you can negociate. Over here, its common practice to re-evaluate employes performance and salary 1 time per year anyway. If not, stay put. But honestly, there are tons of job in the IT business right now, especially in web programming.

Again, your best negociation tool is to make yourself priceless in the compagny... but that work only with competent managers.

Also, threatening to quite *is* the best tool, especially if you have other offers, but know that this is a tool that you cannot use more than two times in a given compagny. The third time, any manager will let you go. Subtle hints work with some bosses, not with all.

I wouldn't take the road of basing your salary on someone else's salary at the company. that's way too much office politics. I'd just simply ask for a raise based on your performance and merit in the company. If that doesn't work, then, quite frankly, you needed to find someone who will pay what you believe your time and effort is worth. Within reason of course.

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Original post by evolutional Never base your salary on someone else's. It's often a sackable offense to discuss wages with other staff as it can cause problems like the one you're having now. To get a raise, state a list of your achievements over the course of the last few months and discuss it with your manager. If you're earning below market rate (eg: what's out on job sites), raise this with your manager too and show them the adverts (as long as the job descriptions are comparable). Other than that, make it known you want a raise and ask them what you need to achieve to get it, this makes them commit some goals for you to reach and in turn you'll get your money.

You know, people in the military and government all know what each other make, as it's a matter of public record, and they don't have dischord over salary issues. Probably because management isn't playing games with salary because they know they'll be caught over it.