How to Get a Big Raise!
I was recently asked on Quora about how to get an "awesome salary appraisal". Based on the phrasing (international english) I tried to answer in a global context.
The simple answer is:
1. Do your job well -- better than expected.
2. Do your job better than your how your peers (cohort) do their job.
3. Make sure the decision-makers (your boss and the management team, and even your peers) know #1 and #2.
The more complex answer is to also make sure you have realistic expectations. What do I mean by that? The top 10% of the performers in a given cohort, could expect to get as much as 50% above average in terms of an increase.
In the US, salaries in technology jobs increased about 3% in the last year. So an "awesome salary appraisal" would be a 5% increase. This assumes that many of your colleagues would get a 2% increase.
In other countries, salary amounts moved more and sometimes less. For example, in India the average amount was about 10%. So an "awesome salary appraisal" would be a 15% raise for top performers.
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Those are the "steady state" large company practices in place at most international tech firms. But there is one other choice, the big bang approach:
Get an offer for a new job at a higher salary. You can use this to hold your company hostage ("pay me more or I will quit" -- but be careful, they may call your bluff). Or, more constructively, you can move to the new company with the bigger salary.
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We can leave it to your future learning that a big salary increase is the least satisfying part of a healthy, satisfying and inspiring employment situation.
The simple answer is:
1. Do your job well -- better than expected.
2. Do your job better than your how your peers (cohort) do their job.
3. Make sure the decision-makers (your boss and the management team, and even your peers) know #1 and #2.
The more complex answer is to also make sure you have realistic expectations. What do I mean by that? The top 10% of the performers in a given cohort, could expect to get as much as 50% above average in terms of an increase.
In the US, salaries in technology jobs increased about 3% in the last year. So an "awesome salary appraisal" would be a 5% increase. This assumes that many of your colleagues would get a 2% increase.
In other countries, salary amounts moved more and sometimes less. For example, in India the average amount was about 10%. So an "awesome salary appraisal" would be a 15% raise for top performers.
---
Those are the "steady state" large company practices in place at most international tech firms. But there is one other choice, the big bang approach:
Get an offer for a new job at a higher salary. You can use this to hold your company hostage ("pay me more or I will quit" -- but be careful, they may call your bluff). Or, more constructively, you can move to the new company with the bigger salary.
---
We can leave it to your future learning that a big salary increase is the least satisfying part of a healthy, satisfying and inspiring employment situation.