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4 May 2022
Reading time: 5 minutes
Posted
by
Anika Forsman
, 237 Comments
With the rising costs of living, talk of the ‘great resignation’ and a talent shortage to boot, is now the right time to ask for that raise, or go large on negotiations if you’ve landed that new role?
For many women asking to be paid what they are worth makes for a challenging, sometimes uncomfortable conversation. And for some, asking about pay can be difficult or inappropriate due to a range of cultural and personal reasons.
When Sarah landed her dream role, she had already asked what the salary band was, and knew she needed to negotiate the best deal possible once she had the offer.
“In the past I’ve not felt comfortable asking for more money and often regretted it. I know now that negotiation is a standard part of the recruitment process,” she says.
“I am also conscious that future pay increases are usually going to be capped, so if you don’t get within a decent ballpark of what you want at contract signing time, it will take a while to get there once you are in the role.”
Dr Jo Cribb, co-founder of Mind the Gap and co-author of Take Your Space: Successful Women Share Their Secrets, says it pays to know what you’re worth before you hit the negotiating table.
“Do your research. Talk to recruiters to get a benchmark for what similar roles and skillsets are paying, or check out other jobs being advertised. Chat to your peers or people you know in the industry,” she says.
“Talking about pay is uncomfortable, but we all have the right to ask. Once you know what you’re worth, have the confidence to highlight this to your prospective employer.”
Most employers will have some wriggle room on what they offer, but it pays to consider the full package and not just the pay. It’s a good idea to weigh up what is also important to you. That might be flexibility, staff benefits like higher contributions to KiwiSaver, extended parental leave or professional development opportunities.
Check out our KiwiSaver calculator to see what the difference can be if you’re employer contributes 6% compared to 3% to your balance over time. This can really add up!
The ‘great resignation’ or ‘great reshuffle’ is making headlines, with reports of millions of people chucking in their jobs around the world for other opportunities.
It’s certainly causing many employers to stop and think about the best ways they can retain their staff – and they’re thinking more broadly than what they can pay their people.
For the most part coming in cold and asking for a pay raise is probably not the best approach. You really want to hinge it on performance or if you’ve ended up taking on more responsibilities. Have a read of your company’s renumeration policy and practices. Often the best time to do this is around annual performance reviews.
You can apply some of the same approaches you use when negotiating a new role. Do a bit of research to know what you’re worth, but use the added weight of being able to demonstrate what you’ve achieved in your current role to make your case.
A top media exec, who has done her fair share of hiring people and performance reviews, recommends coming armed with a list of your achievements and some clear points about why you deserve to be paid more.
She would like to see more women having the confidence to ask for what they’re worth.
“In my experience as a manager, men don’t think twice about asking for more money, but frustratingly women just aren’t asking like their male counterparts. I’ve seen plenty of scenarios where women are happy to accept an offer for the same role at a lower salary to a male candidate, who will almost always try and push it up.”
Across the board, Kiwis generally don’t like talking about money – particularly sharing what each of us get paid. This culture of pay secrecy is doing nothing to help the close the gender and ethnic pay gaps experienced by women, Māori and Pacific Peoples.
According to Stats NZ, the gender pay gap is 9.1% and has remained stubbornly around 9-10% for the last decade.
Jo says if we can start normalising conversations about pay and pay gaps, we will encourage greater transparency and we can bridge the pay disparities in Aotearoa.
“Not talking about pay gaps makes it worse. About 20% of the gender pay gap in Aotearoa New Zealand can be accounted for by differences between men and women in education, occupation choice, age, type of work and family responsibilities.
“The remaining 80% cannot be easily explained other than by behaviour, attitudes and assumptions about women in work, including unconscious bias and discrimination.
“We want an Aotearoa New Zealand where everyone is paid fairly for their work, where pay discrimination based on ethnicity, gender or ability no longer exists.”
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Comments (237)
Comments
5 May 22
Mae
When my contract was renewed it was printed with a mistake which was that the salary was 20% higher. I thought it was a pay rise so signed it and returned it. Then the company tried to back out of it when the found the error a month later. I fought to keep it because I believed I was worth that much. I had a list of reasons why the salary was fair because of my skills and experience (also it was illegal to put the salary down after I'd signed the contract).
5 May 22
Anna
I negotiated my salary when being promoted at my current employer. It was the first time I'd done so and I'm nearly 43!
5 May 22
Tara
I have never as I have always been to afraid/shy. I have received 2 however in the last 2 years due to applying for other jobs. One way to get your employers attention
5 May 22
Philippa
I have asked for a payrise
5 May 22
Sandy
No. Would love to ask for a pay rise, but don't know how to go about it.
5 May 22
Yes, several times, some successfully, often not
5 May 22
Sheralee
I've not really ever truely asked for a pay raise, but I've sat in a conversation and agreed that despite me putting in the mahi, going above and beyond for the role, I've agreed (wrongly) that I still needed to do more than my male counterparts to get a pay raise to take my salary to a level 15% less than theirs. I've since realised that I need to acknowledge my worth and stand up for myself.
5 May 22
Yes
5 May 22
Asked for a raise from minimum wage after completing my first project at the company and getting praise for it but got some silly excuses from HR as to why it wasn't possible, then saw a bunch of presentations showing how we had record profits for the next few months. Tried asking a few times after that but people didn't seem to want to engage.
Eventually got a recommendation from a friend to apply elsewhere and got the raise that way. Then on the leaving day I found out that everyone at the company was severely underpaid, not just me. No wonder my manager wasn't comfortable in my requests for a raise - his requests weren't getting met either. One of my managers had actually even been applying to the same company I got hired by, since when he got given managerial duties he didn't get a raise.
TLDR: Before asking for a raise, check how other people in the company have faired with negotiations. Could alert you to red flags you might otherwise not have noticed.
5 May 22
I have not asked for a raise.
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