Growing at Work
Most people either never ask, or ask once, unprepared, in the wrong week
Pay conversations are uncomfortable, so they get put off, or squeezed into an appraisal where the numbers are already fixed. This session is about preparing properly: understanding how pay decisions are made, building a case that can be discussed, choosing the moment and handling every possible answer. No conversation guarantees a raise, and this session does not pretend otherwise.
Explore this page6 sections
A raise is a decision somebody else has to be able to justify.
Your manager rarely decides your pay alone. There is usually a budget, a band, a cycle and an approval above them. A request that gives the manager something concrete to take upward, such as what you have delivered, how your scope has grown and what comparable work is paid, is far easier to support than a request that says only that you would like more.
Needs are real, and cost of living matters, but they are rarely the argument that moves a decision at work. The session helps people prepare the argument that does, and think through what they will do whatever the answer is. It does not recommend figures, and it is not advice about any particular employer.
What the session covers
34 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from understanding the process to what happens after. 6 apply to almost any business; the rest only in a particular case.
How Pay Decisions Are Commonly MadeKnowing the process tells you where the opening is.5
Practice varies a great deal between employers, and between a large company and a small business. The first step is simply to find out how it works where you are.
- Annual cycles, bands and budgets
- The manager's recommendation and who approves it
- Off-cycle raises, and when they happen
- Raises given with a promotion, and without one
- What a small employer's process looks like
Building the CaseWhat you have delivered, in terms the business uses.5
- A list of results since your last pay change
- How your responsibilities have grown
- Work you took on beyond your role
- Feedback from customers, colleagues or your manager
- What you would do next with more scope
Researching the Market HonestlyEvidence, with its limits stated.5
Pay information goes out of date quickly. Treat any number as a range to be checked, not a fact to be quoted, and be ready to say where it came from.
- Where to look: salary surveys, job listings, and people in similar roles
- Why a single figure from a website can mislead
- Allowing for city, company size, sector and experience
- Being careful with hearsay from colleagues
- Noting the source and date of every figure you use
Choosing the MomentTiming does not decide the answer, but it can shape it.5
- Before the budget is set, not after
- After a visible success
- Not during a layoff, a bad quarter or a manager's crisis
- Asking for a proper meeting in advance
- Why appraisal week may be too late
Having the ConversationCalm, specific and open to a reply.5
- Opening with the work and what you want to discuss
- Stating what you are asking for, clearly
- Listening to the response without rushing to fill silence
- Asking what would be needed if it is not possible now
- Not making threats you do not intend to carry out
If the Answer Is Yes, Not Now, or NoPlan for each before you go in.5
- A yes: asking when it takes effect and getting it in writing
- A smaller figure: whether there is anything else to discuss, such as scope or review date
- Not now: agreeing a date and what would change the answer
- No: asking for the reason and what the path looks like
- A vague answer: following up in writing
Outside Offers and MovingIf it appliesUsed with care, and only if you mean it.4
Before accepting or resigning, read your contract and the offer letter carefully, and ask a lawyer if you are unsure what you have agreed to.
- When changing employer is the realistic route to better pay
- Why using an offer as leverage can backfire
- Weighing the whole package, not only the headline figure
- Checking notice period and other terms in your contract
What to prepare before the conversation
- A one-page list of results and scope since your last change
- Two or three sourced and dated pay comparisons
- The figure or range you are asking for, and why
- How you will respond to yes, no and not now
- A date by which you will follow up in writing
What this session is not
- Not a promise that anyone will get a raise
- Not a script that works on every manager
- Not salary or investment advice
- Not a way to compare yourself with named colleagues
- Not a substitute for knowing your own contract
How the session runs
An experienced manager who has been on both sides of pay decisions explains how they are commonly made and what makes a request easy or hard to support. Participants then prepare their own one-page case and practise opening the conversation in pairs, including the less welcome answers. Nobody is asked to share their salary, and nothing about an employer is discussed by name.
What your students leave with
- An understanding of how pay decisions are commonly made, and who makes them
- A written case that describes the work, not the need
- A realistic way to research what comparable roles pay, with sources
- A plan for timing the conversation and opening it
- Ways to respond to yes, no, not now and a smaller figure than hoped
- Next steps if the answer is no, including looking elsewhere
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
You cannot make anyone say yes. You can make the question much easier to say yes to.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.