10 ways to get a stress-free raise

• Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 11:41

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The question is not how to change jobs often enough so that you can get a hike in your salary package. The

question you should be asking yourself is, now that I’m in this job, how can I plan to get a raise? Plan to get a

raise? Yep. That’s my point exactly! For the most part, getting a raise is in your hands.

Of course there will be times in your career, where you will be offered fabulous job opportunities out of the blue,

with even more fabulous pay packages. In times like that, you are able to see what a company thinks you are

worth and the value they attach to your talent and skill-sets. That is certainly a stress-free raise, but this article

will not cover times like that.

When you are in a good job, and the only thing that needs changing is the maximum limit of your salary package,

here are some methods you can use to help you achieve that hike.

1. Become more compatible/ friendly with your boss, thereby ensuring a good raise.

2. Don’t beg. Begging is for beggars who don’t have a job. You’ve got one, so don’t do it.

3. Don’t underestimate yourself. Your employers will value you only as much as you value yourself. Even if you

are going through a low patch in self-confidence, use your acting skills and portray a calm, collected and

confident you.

4. Make sure you are aware of the company’s financial standing. If the company is sinking ship and completely

broke, your best salary option may be to just leave rather than to look like a hawk preying on the company when

they are at their weakest.

5. Keep a track of the work you do. When it comes time for an appraisal and salary hike request, you’ll be glad

you did. Keeping these ensures you can always refer back to them if or when you’re asked what you contribute to

the company. Even if you just make or take calls, keep a log of how many you successfully did, how many you

did in total, satisfied customers, etc.

6. Find out the market norms for someone with your work experience and your level. If you are a fresher, it’d be

pretty pointless to request the salary package of a CEO.

7. If your suggested salary doesn’t fly, have another alternative to offer. This doesn’t mean bargaining like you

would at the fish market either.

Ex: “10 dollars?”

“No can do.”

“Okay, 9.5 then?”

That is pointless. Instead offer a different alternative such as: “Then could you do this by the end of next month?”

8. Pick a sensible time to make your salary hike suggestion. When the boss calls in sick from home, that is NOT

the right time to ask for one. Similarly, if he or she is rushing out for an important appointment with a client…

clearly, that’s not the right time.

9. Don’t make it personal. That just gets on people’s nerves since no one likes to feel inferior. Example: “Well you

never appreciate my work. It’s as if you don’t care about little ol’ me.” Instead try asking after your boss has

complimented you on your top performance at work.

10. If your boss says the classic ‘not now’ don’t go bitching behind their back to the rest of the team. That will not

earn you a raise…not even after a year.

http://blog.timesjobs.com/2009/06/10-ways-to-get-a-stress-free-raise/
This century has belonged to the manufacturing sector. Starting from the days of Fords
assembly line to the present emphasis on quality systems. The next millennium will
belong to the convergence of Information Technology. How organisations are able to
leverage IT to get advantage in a highly competitive market will be the key to success.
Leading the way would be the organisations which are in the IT industry. These are the
ones which have shown that the quickest way to business excellence would be through
optimum utilisation of IT.
The IT boom has brought with it, its own set of challenges to organisations. How to put
in place systems and process that are in tune with the IT revolution, how to strategies
and compete in the IT era? etc. But a major challenge that the IT industry per se has
been facing is in the field of Human Resource Management.
The IT industry is a service industry. How well are you able to offer quality service to
individuals and organisations will determine the success of your organisation. This leads
us to the fact that the creativity, innovativeness, knowledge and skill of your employees
are your important assets. How you are able to manage these assets is the challenge
that the IT industry is facing. It is not capital or finance or marketing management that
gives the competitive edge but rather how well you are able to manage your human
resources whose intellectual applications drive your business.
Recruitment has become an important sub system in HR especially in the IT industry.
When your major asset are your Human Resources, it is important that quality people
join your organisation.
How you are able to fine tune your recruitment process in a manner that you are able to
get the best talent available and how well you have been able to put systems in place so
that the people that you recruit are a perfect fit for the job and the organisation is one of
the major challenges.
The challenge does not stop with recruiting the right person but with how you are going
to manage the performance of your employees. The challenge would be to create a
performance culture wherein opportunities are provided for enhanced performance and
where giving out optimum performance becomes a way of life.
Training & and Development is another area where challenges arise. In the IT industry
training takes a new connotation. It will not be just identifying training needs and giving
the required training. It is foreseeing and anticipating the requirements and develop
suitable training so that the employees are well equipped to handle the challenges
forehand.The IT industry is one of the high paying industries. Since it is also very
competitive, vying with each other to attract the best talent, offering the best possible
compensation package to their employees is in itself a challenge.
But the real challenge would be how we are able to incorporate all the sub systems in HR
and help them in achieving the ultimate goal - exceptional performance. In a high
performance driven industry like IT, this becomes all the more important. People have to
be groomed to get in tune with the performance culture. Creating an environment that
stimulates the creation of knowledge, its sustenance and its dissipation throughout the
organisation will be the challenge for organisations in the future. How to go about doing
this will fall on the HR department. No longer will the HR department carry on with its
traditional functions. That will take care by Human Resource Information Systems that
will be put in place. The function would be to build and sustain a performance driven
culture. The role will shift to that of a facilitator. Facilitate the process of change, for
change would be the only thing that will be constant in the future. HR will have to
involve the whole organisation in this process and act as a guide, counselor and
facilitator. In the future the competitive edge that the organisations will get will only be
through their human resources. How organisations are able to manage them, will
determine whether they will run the race or be left behind.
HOW THESE CHALLENGES HAVE AFFECTED US :
Any organisation in the IT industry will have to face these challenges.We are leaders in
the industry. And the reason we are leaders is of the fact that we have been able to
meet these challenges quite effectively. As far as recruitment is concerned we have been
able to address the issue effectively. We have an excellent databank where updating
takes place on a daily basis. This serves as the major chunk that addresses our
recruitment needs. Further we also use the services of placement agencies. The real
catch lies in our selection process. All the probable candidates have to go through a
battery of tests that not only test their technical skills but their all round personality to
find out if they will fit into the job as well as into our organisations culture. The rigorous
selection process ensures that we get people who will fit into a culture that is our own.
But this challenge of recruiting the right person is a continuos one and one that needs
continuos refinement.
Performance management is a practice that few organisations follow. We happen to be
one of them. We have put in place a system that evaluates the organisation as a whole,
the systems and processes that are followed in our organisation and the performers. This
is done on a contineous basis and the feedback is passed on to the concerned people to
take corrective measures. Thus we have been able to tackle the question of performance
in a fairly efficient manner and the quality of our services serve as a testimony for this.
In the software industry where skill reduncy is very fast there is this need for giving
technical training to the employees on a continuos basis. We are one of the very few
who provide our employees with the opportunity to get trained on various platforms.
This apart from keeping our employees highly skilled, also gives them a sense of
security. Apart from this, training is also given in personality development, team working
related areas etc to enhance the quality of life of our employees.
As discussed earlier the most important of all challenges is in culture building. Now all
our efforts are diverted in bringing about a performance driven culture. The very tight
schedule ensures that our employees have to perform to the optimum. Apart from this
the various systems that we have put in place like the performance management system
helps us to work towards achieving a performance driven culture. We are constantly
refining our practices in order create an atmosphere where our employees are able to
perform to their full potential.
MAJOR ISSUES FACED IN RECRUITMENT, ATTRITION AND RETENTION:
- RECRUITMENT:
The major issue would be of getting the right type of person. The issue would be that we
first have to find a person with the required skills and experience, and also he must be
suitable for our organisation. Finding such a suitable person is the obstacle that we will
have to cross over.
- ATTRITION AND RETENTION:
Software is one of the industry with the highest attrition rate. The challenge facing
software companies is how to keep this as low as possible. Various companies adopt
different techniques to retain their employees. Most of them offer exorbitant pay
packets. But the attrition rate is low compared to industry standards. Though our
compensation has been on par with what the industry is offering, that's not the reason
why our rate is low. It has to do with the opportunities that are offered to our employees
and organisational climate prevailing here. Our employees are given the opportunity to
learn and grow in the company itself. They are given a lot of technical training and
exposure to various types of project. The challenging work makes it difficult to leave our
organisation.
- WORK FORCE RETENTION AND MOTIVATION
Retention and motivation of personnel are major HR concerns today. People in
management of human capital in IT organizations has observed that the average tenure
for an IT professional is less than three years. Further, the use of new technologies, the
support of learning and training, and a challenging environment ranked higher than
competitive pay structures as effective retention practices. Our own recent survey of
1028 software professionals from 14 Indian software companies, showed that while the
professional gave importance to personal and cultural job-fit, HR managers believed that
the key to retention was salary and career satisfaction. Money was a prime motivator for
'starters', but for those into their third or fourth jobs, their value-addition to the
organization was more important. Monetarily, offering 'the best salaries in industry' is
the minimum every company is doing, apart from performance-based bonuses, long-
service awards, and stock options. Many organizations frequently conduct employee
satisfaction and organization climate surveys, and are setting up Manpower Allocation
Cells (MAC) to assign 'the right project to the right person'. In fact, some are even
helping employees with their personal and domestic responsibilities to satisfy & motivate
their workforce!
- ATTRECTING THE BEST TALENT
In a tight job market, many organizations often experience precipitous and simultaneous
demands for the same kinds of professionals. In their quest for manpower, they are
cajoling talent around the world. In such a seller's market, software companies are
striving to understand which organizational, job, and reward factors contribute to
attracting the best talent one having the right blend of technical and person-bound skills.
This would mean a knowledge of 'the tools of the trade' combined with conceptualization
and communication skills, capacity for analytical and logical thinking, leadership and
team building, creativity and innovation. The Indian software industry suffers from a
shortage of experienced people such as systems analysts and project managers, and
attracting them is a key HR challenge.
- COMPENSATION AND REWARD
Increasing demands of technology coupled with a short supply of professionals (with the
requisite expertise) has increased the costs of delivering the technology. This makes
incentive compensation a significant feature, with the result that software companies
have moved from conventional pay-for-time methods to a combination of pay-for-
knowledge and pay-for-performance plans. With the determinants of pay being profit,
performance and value-addition, emphasis is now on profit sharing (employee stock
option plans) or performance-based pay, keeping in view the long-term organizational
objectives rather than short-term production-based bonuses. Skills, competencies, and
commitment supersede loyalty, hard work and length of service. This pressurizes HR
teams to devise optimized compensation packages, although compensation is not the
motivator in this industry.
- ENCOURAGING QUALITY AND CUSTOMER FOCUS
Today`s corporate culture needs to actively support quality and customer orientation.
With globalization and rapid technological change, quality is of utmost importance for the
Indian companies, which earn most of their revenues through exports. Hence, the HR
professional as a strategic partner needs to encourage a culture of superior quality to
ensure customer satisfaction. To be competitive today, an organization needs to be
customer responsive. Responsiveness includes innovation, quick decision-making,
leading an industry in price or value, and effectively linking with suppliers and vendors to
build a value chain for customers. Employee attitudes correlate highly with customer
attitude. The shift to a customer focus redirects attention from the firm to the value
chain in which it is embedded. HR practices within a firm should consequently be
extended to suppliers and customers outside the firm.
Where HR can add the most value
- Start the culture conversation at all levels. One way to accomplish this is to conduct a
cultural assessment or audit of your organisation through employee surveys, focus
groups or interviews. Review your organisational history, leadership styles, HR
programming and industry practices to determine what currently drives and reinforces
the culture. Finally, what is your customer experience? What cultural elements are
obvious to customers? Is culture aligned with business strategy? What needs to change?
This can be the basis for healthy discussion at team meetings and employee chat
sessions.
- Develop a business case for cultural change. Why is the change needed? How will
desired changes in culture support the business strategy?
- Work with the senior leadership team to determine the desired culture. Core values,
desired behaviours and shared vision are essential for a positive culture change effort to
succeed. Every leader must embrace the need to change.
- Develop an agenda or action plan for enhancing the culture or bringing about change.
Start with the highest priorities and work on the toughest issues. For your culture to
become self replicating, the way things are done will have to reinforce the core values
and the culture.
- Communicate what needs to change and why. Solicit input from people. Once the
needed changes and process for change is defined, tell people what is expected. What
are the rewards for changing, and the consequences for more of the same.
- Change the organisational structure to enable change. Find new ways to accomplish
work tasks. Use teams for one-time projects. Broaden roles and responsibilities.
- Acquire talent based on cultural fit. Identify the characteristics of people who exhibit
those behaviours that you've identified as desirable. The people who fit and thrive in
your culture will perpetuate that culture in everything they do. If you have to choose
between the candidate who has better skills or knowledge but doesn't fit, and a
candidate who is slightly less qualified but fits culturally, choose the slightly less qualified
person and provide the necessary training or on-the-job experience. Get rid of those who
don't fit in the culture.
- Redesign your on-boarding process. Make sure that every new hire knows what it will
take to fit in, and understands the cultural imperatives. Talk about the ways of working
that lead to success and those that will derail careers. Create legendary stories of
successes and failures.
- Create cultural messages. Be sure that every meeting, every training program, every
communication to people includes cultural messaging and reinforces the values, mission,
traditions and practices.
- Involve everyone. Southwest Airlines has a culture committee, but there are many
ways to get people involved. Try focus groups around topics. Form cross functional
teams. Call random groups of employees together for monthly breakfast or lunch
meetings. Engage the help and support of a group of passionate, committed people to
identify cultural disconnects and recommend remedies.
- Build an internal brand that supports the external brand. Make a promise to deliver a
consistent employee experience. Be sure that your employees know the differentiating
elements in their experience in the organisation that will enhance their work lives and
careers. Begin to create an employer of choice reputation internally and externally.
- Recognise and reward results. Your recognition and rewards should support the culture
that you are working to reinforce.
- Cultivate leaders who promote your culture. Develop excellent leaders who will propel
the culture down the ranks. Identify high potential leaders and promote them. Invest in
leadership development programs. Be sure content reinforces cultural messages. Keep
the good ones, and get rid of those who are unable to pass the culture on.
- Make it interesting and fun. Create contests, activities that enhance the culture.
Decorate the office in inspiring ways. Celebrations and events can reinforce the
message.
- Use of HR tools. Something as mundane as the annual benefits enrollment can be a
source of key cultural messages. Every training class should reinforce the basic
behaviors and values that reinforce the culture. Performance review forms should
measure cultural fit, as well as, job performance.
- No one should be locked out of the efforts to build a high-performance culture. Culture
has to become the DNA that forms the building blocks over everything else. So the
entire organisation must have a role in keeping it alive. Work with corporate
communications, advertising, and marketing to capture the culture messages and tout
these internally and externally.
With lifetime employment in one company not on the agenda of most employees, jobs
will become short term. Today's high-tech employees desire a continuous up-gradation
of skills, and want work to be exciting and entertaining a trend that requires designing
work systems that fulfill such expectations. As employees gain greater expertise and
control over their careers, they would reinvest their gain back into their work. HR
practitioners must also play a proactive role in software industry. As business partners,
they need to be aware of business strategies, and the opportunities and threats facing
the organization. As strategists, HR professionals require to achieve integration and fit to
an organization's business strategy. As interventionists, they need to adopt an all-
embracing approach to understanding organizational issues, and their effect on people.
Finally, as innovators, they should introduce new processes and procedures, which they
believe will increase organizational effectiveness. With the advent of a work situation
where more and more companies are having to concede that their valued employees are
leaving them, a new concept of career and human resource management is bound to
emerge. The focus of this new paradigm should not only be to attract, motivate and
retain key 'knowledge workers', but also on how to reinvent careers when the loyalty of
the employees is to their 'brain ware' rather than to the organization.