How long has it been since you've received a raise? Has it been a year? Has it been longer than a year? If it's been longer than a year, then it's time to advocate for yourself. Here's an outline that can help you formulate your communications with management.
OK, how do we go about asking for a raise? It all starts with an email to your manager. Here's the general outline:
- Ask to connect to discuss compensation
- Enumerate how you are contributing value
- Show current salary, prior salary, and time frames
- Share BLS CPI and SSA AWI numbers (Appeal to Authority)
- Recommend a raise (Appeal to Logic) above CPI/AWI
- Ask what the next step is
You'll need to do you homework to determine:
- current BLS CPI (Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index)
- current SSA AWI (Social Security Administration Average Wage Index)
- your last raise percentage
- what your wage would be if it tracked inflation using the CPI Inflation Calculator
Here's an example letter, where the CAPITALIZED terms are there for you to replace with your own MANAGER, COMPANY, PROJECT, SALARY, etc.
MANAGER,
I’d like to connect with you to review my current compensation.
I feel valued at COMPANY and love the opportunity I’ve been given to be a TITLE and work with great team members.
Some of the contributions and milestones I’ve had with COMPANY include:
* PROJECT_1
* PROJECT_2
* PROJECT_3
* Mastered many new technologies to include: TECH_1, TECH_2, TECH_3
* Provided mentoring to peers
* Received the following awards:
* AWARD_1
* AWARD_2
I wanted to give you some background on my current compensation.
I am currently paid $SALARY_1 per year and have been since YEAR_1.
Prior to this, my wage was $SALARY_2 since YEAR_2.
The difference between these two salaries represent a one-time raise of RAISE% in a span of DIFFERENCE years.
According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the US inflation rate, also known as the CPI - Consumer Price Index - was between 1-3% yearly*, and only in 2021 was it closer to 6% due to the global pandemic.
* https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
This means that between YEAR_1 and the present, US inflation has increased INFLATION% cumulatively, and my compensation has increased RAISE% over the same time period.
As well, the Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes the Average Wage Index**, which tracks the average increase in salary paid by US employers, and between 2015 and 2021 US employers paid or gave raises to their employees of between 1.1% - 3.75% / year.
** https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awidevelop.html
My recommendation is to take my starting salary of $SALARY_1 adjusted at 3% / year from YEAR_1 to present, and use that as a fair starting point, which equates to a suggested new salary of:
$NEW_SALARY_1
This represents a modest increase, and is marginally above the average US inflation over this period (1-2% depending on the year), and is in keeping with US average salary increases by employers as published by the SSA.
Also, of interest when using the BLS CPI calculator, the original salary of $SALARY_1 if it grew at only the US inflation rate from YEAR_1 to the present would have been $NEW_SALARY_2 which is very close to the amount recommended.
Please let me know what the next step is.
Thank you,
EMPLOYEE
