At Habr Career, we help IT specialists earn more, and companies to stay abreast of trends in the hiring market.

In August, we wrote about how to ask for a raise. We received many comments and observations from readers that helped us look at the question from a different angle.

Launched an anonymous survey where users were asked to share their experiences: how did they discuss the need for a salary increase? How did these conversations go, what conclusions were drawn and what is the optimal way to achieve a salary increase? We present its results to you.

By the way, to find out what salaries are now in the IT market, look at the salary calculator.

How to discuss a salary increase with the manager? Share your experience, how you prepared for this conversation and how it went.

1. If you and the manager are on the same wavelength, then you should learn how to act directly. In this situation, the manager on your side is interested in your growth. I directly asked how I could get a promotion, and we thought about what tasks I could take so that, based on the results of their performance, the management could approve the promotion (not indexing!). After closing the quarter with new, more powerful tasks, we went to the promotion request, and I just had to wait for the result. The main factor is to complete the assigned tasks of a new level (and a good manager will help you with this). Tip: take your time, plan and negotiate future changes. Not all companies take well to a good offer from another company. But at the same time, everyone feels good about the desire to grow and receive more money for new competencies, because this is a direct association with the growth of the company.

2. I did not prepare for the conversation. He said that he deserved a promotion six months after employment, gave reasons and a list of what was done, successfully implemented and implemented. The amount was not discussed, the salary depends on the position category, I jumped through one, it is approximately +15-20 thousand.

3. I planned in advance what the conversation would be, thought out the arguments in favor of the promotion, and found out what the promotion should achieve. After the conversation, there was periodic monitoring of the progress of reaching agreements. Never received a rejection.

4. I collected all my achievements for 1.5 years, highlighting the most important ones. I also conducted an open source market analysis and interviewed acquaintances. I didn’t go to interviews, because I don’t see the point of wasting this time. Before starting to discuss the promotion, I received feedback about my work from the manager, in which he himself praised me, which made it possible to move smoothly to the discussion of the salary increase. I took an open and honest position. My goal was not to push through the promotion, but to reach mutually beneficial terms, so I was ready to refuse. I found out what I was missing to get the amount I wanted and offered other forms of compensation, such as a bonus or reduced workload. Even though I didn’t get the promotion at the time, we agreed when it would happen.

5. At my first job, about a year ago, I talked to my manager. In the company, it was customary to set goals and discuss them once or twice a year. As a result, the salary was raised by about 5%. I resigned. At one of my next jobs, I just talked to the CEO and we both agreed to a raise.

6. Unfortunately, the best way is to immediately agree on a large salary at the start. A little more than you wanted will increase your interest and allow you to postpone the promotion conversation until later. The worst option is to work at a low rate and simply leave the company for another job that pays more without notifying the manager.

7. The best way to raise your salary is to celebrate your merits every day, especially those that greatly affected the work in the company, the team. By the time you come to ask for a promotion, you can prove with these awards that you are a valuable professional. In addition, you need to show that you have grown since your last promotion (or hire), learned and successfully implemented (it is important to note the benefit to the business) new approaches and technologies.

8. Everything is trivial: I found several vacancies, received an offer for a higher salary and came to the manager with this information. I asked for a little less than in the offer, because everything suited me at the current place, except for the salary. Raised 🙂

9. Usually this moment is always exciting. I have been gathering the strength to bring up this issue for a long time, it has been brewing in my head for months before I dare. Sill provides market salary analysis so that I can be sure that my salary can be higher. And when I decide, I ask directly if there is a salary increase in the future and how to bring this future closer. I always conducted this conversation live: either at a corporate party, when I was working remotely, or in the office. There were no rejections 🙂

10. Based on the offers received in the past, I determined which percentage I belong to. Every year, I look at how much the salary has increased in this percentage, and I simply write to the manager: “From the first of January, I want this much.” They never refused. Once they could not give the entire requested amount, they demanded compensation with non-financial forms of motivation.

11. No way, it doesn’t make sense. If there are better offers, I will change my job. If not, then no.

12. This is rather anti-advice, but there was one funny case in my practice. This was back in the days when ICQ was widespread. At one point, it occurred to me that my boss was using an ICQ traffic sniffer to keep track of what his subordinates were talking about. I wanted to check it out, but I couldn’t think of anything better than creating a little provocation. I wrote to one of my friends that another firm made me an offer of +50% and I don’t know if I should change jobs. A few days later, my manager came to me and said that they had consulted and decided to raise my salary by 50%.

13. It is better to approach the salary increase in advance before the annual increase (indexation), because at this time the market is most volatile. As arguments, you can include projects for the company outside of the main job duties, necessarily with showing the increase in percentage or in natural terms. For example, I built a crash reporting bot that resulted in a 20% reduction in remediation times. If you can calculate the result in rubles, it will add advantages. The recommendations of a colleague (Mentor) work well. Look for a mentor, a colleague who has weight, he will tell you how to raise this issue and, perhaps, add additional weight to your arguments.

14. No way, but there will be no salary increase, and if there is, the management will add more work. Therefore, if the salary is not regularly indexed according to the results of the performance review, it makes sense to look for a new job without haste, stating the desired figures in 15-25% of the current ones. I thus upgraded from $3500 to $6500 for the same position (senior dev) by changing three companies.

By the way, about job search: now there are more than 4,500 open vacancies for IT specialists of various levels on Habr Career. Service filters will simplify the search for the right job.

We also talked to experts and collected their opinions on what the company’s salary increase system should be and what to do if the manager is in no hurry to raise your salary.

What, in your opinion, should be the optimal salary increase system in the company?

Natalia Lebedeva, HRD Khabra: The optimal system is the one that works), as a minimum, it is an adopted policy of indexation of wages (as compensation for inflation), then regular reviews and evaluations are connected, which allow timely monitoring of the growth of competencies and offering adequate growth until the employee arrives with an offer from another companies

Nikita Tokar, senior Golang developer: It should be transparent and understandable for employees: for the initial and intermediate levels, you can highlight specific criteria and duties for promotion by position, and once every six months, conduct a review of how ready the employee is to move to the next grade. For senior developers, due to a larger pool of tasks to be solved, it is more difficult to allocate exact grades, therefore, at this level, it is easier to personally agree with the management about further career goals and development paths, to receive feedback from colleagues with a similar or higher level of competence. Also, the salary must be indexed to compensate for inflation annually.

What to do if you think it’s time for you to raise your salary, but the superiors do not initiate this step?

Nikita: Independently initiate a meeting with superiors to discuss this issue. Give convincing reasons for increasing your salary: for example, increased responsibility, increased workload, good results, etc. In case of refusal, it is necessary to ask what did not suit and what needs to be done for promotion.

Natalia: Argue salary increase with objective reasons: salary offers on the market, your professional growth, increase in loading, and not personal reasons (loans, change of marital status, etc. do not belong to your work). Also, if you like the rest of the company, offer to define a KPI for you or a project tied to good bonuses. If after several conversations you continue to be ignored, this is a reason to enter the market.

Do you think it is ethical to discuss salary with colleagues (for example, to compare with your own)?

Natalia: Rather not: if the company does not have an open salary policy, then this lies in the realm of the NDA. Even if there is no non-disclosure clause in the NDA, from experience such conversations never lead to positive thoughts, someone is more often than not left unsatisfied. It is best to follow industry groups, job market.

Nikita: I believe that there is nothing unethical in this. If an employer tries to hide the amount of salary within the company, this is a huge red flag. According to the laws of the Russian Federation, salary information is not confidential information and its disclosure cannot be prohibited. A discussion between colleagues can help find a mismatch between an employee’s current role and responsibilities and the salary they receive.

Some users recommend that if the management is in no hurry to raise the salary, bring an offer from another company. How would you rate this method?

Nikita: If the salary was refused to increase, then it is quite common and normal practice to come with an offer. Often due to inflation, and generally small increases in companies, the starting salary from which a person comes becomes after a year or two lower than the market. And for an employer, an offer from another company is a convincing proof that you are underpaid here. Staying at your current job or not is an individual choice of everyone. But other things being equal, if the current employer gives a competitive counteroffer, it is easier to stay.

Natalia: If you’ve been treated well at the company, it’s still best to first talk to your manager about the fact that you’re not happy with the current conditions and you’ll be leaving the market if they don’t change. Your boss may actually think that everything is fine and not know that you are unhappy. The fact that you will pretend that everything is fine and at the same time secretly go to interviews will still be considered as a kind of “betrayal” + most likely, you will no longer be considered a very reliable person, and may not be included in the long-term strategies or personnel reserve.

Briefly, what experts advise:

1. Openly raise questions and do not be afraid to talk.

2. Prepare for the conversation: gather arguments in favor of a salary increase, highlight your strengths and achievements, prepare statistics of your contribution to the company: what solutions you have developed or proposed and what results you have achieved.

3. Some advise immediately naming an amount higher than desired or agreeing on when and by what amount the increases will be “on the spot”.

4. The advice to evaluate other jobs and come with an offer to the manager is also popular, although readers note that this is a risky move that not every manager will appreciate.

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