Dad and my grandfather owned an electronics business while we were growing up and Dad tried very early to provide us with an opportunity to experience working for someone. I remember working on Saturdays for about 50\u00a2 per day when I was about 10 years old. The work wasn\u2019t hard, we weren\u2019t expected to do a lot, and we usually got a free soda while we were there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, when I was 13, I would ride the bus home from school and work the afternoons at the store, emptying trash, sweeping and generally getting in the way. For my efforts, I was paid well (probably more than I was worth), 40\u00a2 per hour. Working two hours each afternoon and four hours on Saturday, I could earn a full $5.60 per week. I knew I\u2019d be rich soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day, after emptying an extra amount of trash, I went to Dad\u2019s office to ask for a raise. He handled it rather well, as I recall, asking me why I thought I needed one and why he should give me one. When I had trouble answering the questions, he explained that a person could be paid more when they were worth more to the company. Further explaining, he pointed out that when I had a list of reasons that I could provide to him, including skills I had learned or increased productivity, he would consider giving me a raise. So, here\u2019s the wizbit: \u201cNever ask for a raise until you are worth more to the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leaving his office somewhat disgruntled, but determined, I set out to make the list. Just what I put down on the list, I can\u2019t recall, but I did return to his office later in the week to present my case. After hearing the evidence, I was awarded a full 10\u00a2 per hour raise. It doesn\u2019t sound like much now, (nor did it then) but a 25% increase in pay is nothing to sneeze at!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad didn\u2019t always pay me 50\u00a2 an hour. I went to work for him after I finished college and eventually made very good money in commissioned sales. But I never asked for a raise unless I had some reason to back it up. And sometimes I even asked for a cut in pay when I changed positions to something that I knew would be less productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that I work for a large corporation, I still see the relevance of this rule. I\u2019ve had an opportunity to ask for a raise since I\u2019ve been here, but not without my manager seeing the reasons that backed up my request. Having been an employer, I advise managers to look for the added value that employees offer and give occasional small raises to those who show increased productivity and learn additional skills. It means a lot more to an employee to be recognized for increased value than for them to have to ask for the raise and feel that they have gotten it without merit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To employees, I recommend that you look around you for things that are not getting done, then do them. Your manager will notice, you can include your manager in your enthusiasm and it will pay off. Do not lose faith. You\u2019re much better off doing work that is not appreciated than not doing anything more than is expected of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dad and my grandfather owned an electronics business while we were growing up and Dad tried very early to provide us with an opportunity to experience working for someone. I remember working on Saturdays for about 50\u00a2 per day when I was about 10 years old. The work wasn\u2019t hard, we weren\u2019t expected to do … Continue reading “Never Ask for a Raise Until You\u2019re Worth More to the Company”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/54"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}