Asking for a pay rise: when, how and with which arguments

You don't ask for a pay rise “because it's been a while”. You ask because your value has changed, or because the market has moved, and you prove it. Here is how to build your case, choose your moment, lead the conversation and respond to the answer.

Choose your moment

• Before the budget is drawn up: in many companies, the pay rise budget is decided several months before the annual review. Asking during the review often means asking too late for the current year.
• Right after a visible result: a project delivered, a client won, a responsibility taken on. The memory is fresh and the argument is concrete.
• When your scope grows: new duties, managing people, covering for a colleague who has left. A job that changes deserves pay that changes.

Build your case

Gather on a single page: your results since your last pay increase (figures, deadlines, savings, satisfaction), the responsibilities you have taken on, the skills you have acquired, and how you compare with the market. For that last point, search for your job on the site and see where your salary stands within the range in job ads: if you are below the median with more experience than the job ads ask for, that is your central argument, and it is backed by a source.

Put a figure on your request

Ask for a precise amount in gross annual terms, not a vague percentage. Build it from the gap with the market and how your role has changed, then quietly set the amount below which you will look elsewhere. A precise figure shows you have done your homework; a round percentage looks like habit.

What that amount gives you in net pay, what it costs your employer and how to calibrate it: our guide on how much of a pay rise to ask for does the maths with the site's engine.

Lead the conversation

1. Ask for a dedicated meeting: “I'd like to talk about how my pay is going to evolve”. Don't spring it on them in a weekly catch-up.
2. Open with the facts: what you have contributed and what has changed in your role.
3. State your figure, then stop talking. Silence is uncomfortable; let the other person fill it.
4. Listen to the answer and note the objections without disputing them straight away.
5. Close with a concrete next step: a decision by a set date, or a follow-up meeting with written objectives.

If the answer is no

Ask what is missing for it to be a yes, and when the question will be looked at again. Get written objectives and a date. Explore the alternatives: a one-off bonus, variable pay, a certified training course, remote-working days, promotion to cadre (executive) status, a new job title. And look at the market straight away: job ads for your occupation show, month after month, what your experience is worth elsewhere. If the gap persists, the guide on negotiating a job offer takes over.