To Ask for a Raise or To Not?

Are you currently satisfied with your job, but unhappy with the pay?  Do you need an increase in pay to support your family?  If you do, you may be interested in asking your supervisor about a raise.  If that is the case, you may want to continue reading on. A few of the many factors that you should take into consideration, before you decide to ask your employer for a raise, are outlined below for your convenience.

One of the many factors that you will want to take into consideration, when trying to determine if you should ask for a raise, is your duties.  Have you recently taken on more duties at work?  If you have, were you compensated for those additional duties?  If you were not, you may be within your right to ask for pay raise.  With that in mind, you also need to examine the other aspect of duties.  If you recently had your workload reduced, you may want to refrain from asking for a pay raise, as it may give off an unpleasant impression of yourself.

Seniority is another factor that you will want to take into consideration, when trying to determine if you should ask for a pay raise.  Your length of employment can play a large role in whether or not you are able to receive the raise that you were hoping for.  Generally speaking, the longer you work for a company, the more likely it is that you will be able to get a raise.  In fact, before asking for a raise, you may want to refer to your employee handbook, as your company may already have a pay raise plan in place.

The minimum wage for your state is another one of the many factors that you will want to take into consideration, when examining pay raises.  In recent years, may states have made the decision to increase their minimum wage pay rates. In fact, some of these wage increases have been quite high.  You will first want to make sure that you are making more than minimum wage.  If your state recently increased its minimum wage, your employer should have done so as well, but there is no harm in checking.  You may also want to see about requesting a pay raise that will increase your wage in conjunction with any state minimum wage increases.  For example, you will want to make sure that you are making at least a few dollars more an hour than all new hires.

Speaking of the starting wage for your company, you may want to verify this information.  Generally speaking, long-term employees should be making more money than new hires, especially in similar positions.  You may be able to examine the average starting pay for new hires in your company by examining any company job listings that you are able to come across. You may also be able to get information from other employees about their salary. With that in mind, many companies require confidentially when associated with pay.  Therefore, if you are aware of a coworker’s income, you will want to refrain from citing that as an example with your supervisors.

The above mentioned factors are just a few of the many factors that you will want take into consideration, before you make the decision to ask for a raise.  Should you decide to ask for a raise, you will want to take a positive, friendly approach when doing so.
