9 tips to negotiate a salary raise

14/10/2019

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It’s not only about the bucks when it comes to life, but still. The Office Manager profession is an area, where it can be difficult to show the return on investment, in terms of the actions which were taken, and this doesn’t make negotiating salary easy. Moreover, often it’s the SME’s who hire Office Managers, small structures who don’t have an astronomical budget.

But in all circumstances, it turns out that the wages aren’t always in keeping with the importance of the Office Manager’s position. It’s key to regularly re-negotiate your salary. To do so, here are some practical tips:

Make sure you’ve been in the company for at least a year

To be credible while negotiating your salary, make sure that you’ve been in the company for at least a year. If not, you may end up looking like an opportunistic person. You’ll need tangible arguments to justify a salary raise: achieve goals, success, performance…All this requires some time. So be patient.

Show that you have a rare skill

By definition, an Office Manager can really multi-task. But it’s possible that you have a skill, which you master better than the others, a rare expertise which you’ve developed through your education, experience or simply through interest. Perhaps, you mostly specialize in assessment, integrating collaborators or organizing events. Regardless of the specialization, it’s about showing a rare skill, that you stand out compared to any other Office Manager and that it’s going to be hard to find someone else like you. This experience will strengthen your added value and it will be a strong argument while negotiating your salary.

Highlight your soft skills

Beyond your professional expertise, it’s also about highlighting your soft skills: capacity of listening, optimism, handling run-ins among colleagues, teamwork, analytical skills….

These skills are really sought-after in the sector of Office Management and you should know how to use these, like a formidable asset, in your negotiations.

Stick to a precise figure

While asking for a raise, don’t be vague about your expectations, stick to a precise figure. To do so, get information on the pay practices in force for an Office Manager, in your sector of activity and adapt these to your profile and experience. This will allow you to show that your reasoning is coherent. Plus, your boss might freak out seeing you, if he were to realize that you aren’t paid as well as other Office Managers, in your sector.

Promotion: the ideal moment

You worked well and your boss is offering you a promotion? Or your career is developing, and you have a wider scope of action? Congratulations. This is the ideal moment to talk about dough. Try to spot these timely moments, during which a salary raise seems suitable.

It’s not only about the bucks

Beyond just the salary aspect, you should know that there are other advantages that you can negotiate. Think about it, if your interlocutor refuses to give you a raise or that this raise isn’t in keeping with your expectations. Compensatory time, nanny, parking, remote working, flexible hours, Lamborghini company car…think about the other things that you can get. These advantages could improve your working conditions in a major way, without asking your employer to spend too much money.

Maintain a written record

After any kind of exchanges concerning a salary negotiation, maintain a written record. Generally, salary negotiation doesn’t take place through only one negotiation. Keeping a trace, will help you establish history and you won’t end up in a situation where your boss has suddenly forgotten, that he had promised to seriously think about this raise. For this, simply send a mail to your boss, establishing the main points of the interview (Hello Richie, thank you for your time during this exchange…we reviewed the goals that I was able to obtain during the year, given my performances, as I told you I would like a 7% raise blablabla…cheers).

Don’t accept immediately

Your boss has finally accepted to give you a raise. Yes, but this raise isn’t in keeping with your expectations. It’s possible that your employer strategically chose to give you a little raise, so that he avoids having you in his way and being at peace for a while. Don’t be hasty and accept a raise immediately and be patient: you can re-negotiate it, if need be, and agree on a slightly higher amount.