After 23+ years of being in the trenches helping bench jewelers and watchmakers find jobs, it’s probably time we woke up and began sharing some of the information that has come our way from being in those trenches.  To that end and in the spirit of help, you can expect a short and concise “newsletter” each month focusing on a topic we hope will be of interest to you….the bench professional.

Pay Raises and When to Ask for One

WHEN TO ASK FOR A RAISE

1. Know that it’s normal to ask.

It’s not greedy or entitled to ask for a raise.  Assuming your owner or manage is even a little bit reasonable or has any previous experience managing people, they know it’s normal for people to ask for a raise.  They’re not likely to think, “What an outrageous request” or, “How gauche — Bill is obviously just in this for the money!”  Unless you work somewhere truly dysfunctional, it’s understood that you work for money.  This is okay.

Even if your owner or manager doesn’t ultimately say yes, you’re not likely to damage your relationship by making the request, as long as A) you’re not asking for an amount that’s wildly out of sync with the market for your work, and B) you have a track record of strong and productive work.  You aren’t likely to fall out of favor simply because you asked to revisit your compensation.

Think of it this way:  a raise is recognition that you’re now contributing at a higher level than when your salary was last set.  A raise isn’t a favor or a gift; it’s a way for employers to pay fair market value for your work and to keep you around, because otherwise you’re eventually going to want to find a different job that does pay you competitively.

2. Be emotionally intelligent about your timing.

You’re going to approach your owner or manager to request this raise, they are human with normal human emotions.  That means that you shouldn’t ask to talk about your salary when they’re especially harried or having a bad day.  On the other hand, if you’ve just saved the day with an important client or garnered rave reviews for a high-profile project, or if your boss has seemed particularly pleased with you lately, now might be a particularly good time to make the request.

3. If you’ve been doing excellent work for a year since your salary was set, it might be time to ask.

Some companies will revisit your salary every year on their own, often tied to performance reviews.  But plenty won’t bring it up on their own, in which case you’ll need to figure out when to broach it yourself.

Generally speaking, if it’s been a year or more since your salary was last set, and if you’ve been doing excellent work during that time, it’s reasonable to ask to revisit your pay now.

But if your salary was already increased sometime in the last 12 months, expecting another one before a year is up generally isn’t realistic and is likely to come across as out-of-touch.  The same is true if you haven’t been in the job for a year yet.  There can be some exceptions to this, like if the job turned out to be wildly different than what was discussed when you were hired.  But for most people, expect to wait a year from the last time your salary was set before asking for it to be reassessed.

4. Factor in your company’s raise and budget cycles, if necessary.

If you work for a company that generally gives raises once a year, pay attention to when that normally happens.  In some companies, it might be around the anniversary of your start date.  Others might assess everyone’s salary at the same time, like each January, often tied to your employer’s fiscal year and budget process.  Once you know when that happens, plan to initiate the conversation with your boss at least a month or perhaps two before that formal process begins.  If you wait until decisions on raises have already been made, it might be too late!

BEFORE THE MEETING: HOW TO PREPARE

5. Know what your work is worth and start by researching online.

If you don’t know what the market rate is for your work – and in your geographic area in particular, since there can be wide variations by region – find that out before you ask for more money.  If it turns out that you’re already at the top of the market, you’d want to factor that into your thinking about what’s reasonable – and if it turns out you’re underpaid, that’s useful too.

Figuring out what the market rate is for your work isn’t always straightforward.  Salary websites typically don’t offer compensation numbers for jewelry bench professionals, and if they do they aren’t always accurate because the same job title can mean very different things from company to company.  They can be a helpful starting point, but it’s better to assume they’ll give you a rough range of pay.

6. Talk to co-workers, former colleagues, and acquaintances and phrase your questions carefully.

You can often get surprisingly good data just by talking to people in your field.  Most people don’t love being asked, “How much money do you make?” but will happily share if you ask, “What do you think someone with my skills doing the job I’m doing for my company should be making?”  You can also try talking to a “recruiter” who specializes in your profession and see if they have any salary or pay data that can help you.  They work in your field on a daily basis.

7. Factor in your company’s salary structure

Once you have a good idea of the going rate for the work you do, factor in your understanding of your own employer’s salary structure, too.  Some employers adhere to rigid policies around how large a pay increase anyone can get at one time, or rarely give anyone more than a 5 percent raise.  Others have been known to be much more generous and creative through jeweler’s commissions, bonuses on shop sales/profits, sharing in “sweeps” revenue, etc.  It’s useful to know how your company generally handles raises so you know what’s likely to be possible.

DURING THE MEETING

8. What to say to ask for a raise

People often think they’ll need to make a detailed presentation about why they deserve more money, but most of the time your request can be fairly brief.  You do want to touch on why you think you’ve earned a raise – i.e., that your responsibilities and/or the level of your contributions to the company have increased – but you don’t need to walk in with pages of note.  Most of the time something like this is sufficient:

“I really appreciate the opportunities you’ve given me for more responsibility in the shop like X and Y.  I’ve been getting great results in those areas over the last year and feel I have exceeded the expectations that we felt possible.  Could we talk about adjusting my compensation level to reflect this higher level of contribution?”

“I’m hoping we can talk about my salary.  It’s been a year since my last raise (if ever), and I’ve taken on a number of new and additional responsibilities since then.  I think things are going really well, and I’d like to talk about increasing my salary to reflect this new work”.

If you have a specific dollar figure in mind, it’s fine to name it (as in, “I’m hoping we can raise my compensation to $X).  But it’s also okay not to start out with a specific figure, although you should be prepared to be asked what you’re hoping for.

9. Keep the focus on your work accomplishments, not your finances.

You might be asking for a raise because your rent went up, or your wife wants a new car, or you want to save more for retirement, but that shouldn’t be part of your case to your boss.  Your case should stick to business reasons – the contributions you’ve made and your VALUE to your employer.

10. Know what to say if the answer is “No” or “Maybe”.

If your boss doesn’t give you a firm yes and instead says they’ll think about it or will get back to you, that’s fine!  Lots of owners or managers won’t say yes on the spot.  But if you get a “maybe”, make sure you’re clear on what next steps are.  It’s okay to say something like, “Could I check back with you in 10 days?”  Alternately, if your boss is generally good about following up on things, you might just go with a simple, “Thanks!  I appreciate it.”

And if the answer is no, all is not lost.  This is a perfect opportunity to ask, “Can you tell me what you think it would take for me to earn a raise in the near future?”  A decent owner or manager should be able to explain to you what you’d need to do to earn more – which could be anything from “manage your work more autonomously” to “stop alienating all your co-workers” to “you’re at the top of the range for your position”.

You can then assess whether you’re able and willing to follow the path your owner or manage lays out (or whether a realistic path exists at all).  And, if your owner or manager isn’t able to give you specifics about how you can earn a raise in the future, that’s a useful signal that if you want more money, you may need to leave in order to get it somewhere else.