essendoubleop

Of all the sensitive topics to talk about, by far the most difficult one for me is talking about money with an employer. What makes it so difficult is I have a tough time holding back what I truly feel. When I'm discussing money, obviously I want as much as possible from an employer, but I'm not going to say, "I want more money." That's always in the back of my head and I overcompensate for it by being too quick to comply and acquiesce to whatever they want to pay me.

I've been working at a company for nearly two years now and I make $9.50. Before I started there, I was making $9.50 for the past two years as a cook. I've done a lot of research and crunched a lot of numbers. See if you can follow me:

My Wage........Year......WA Min Wage........My % Over Min.......My True Est. Earnings
$9.50..........2004...........$7.16..............33%..............$9.50
9.50...........2005.............7.35..............29..................9.78
9.50...........2006.............7.63..............24.................10.15
9.50...........2007.............7.93..............20.................10.55
................2008.............~8.16.............16..................10.85


I have another table I created that estimates the the Washington State Minimum Wage for 2008, but I'll spare you unless you want it. So by these calculations, to earn as much as I was in 2004, I would have to have a wage of $10.85, just to keep with inflation. However, my current company is not responsible for 2004-2005, when I was not employed there. Only taking into account those years, this is the table I have come up with:

WCW Wage........Year......WA Min Wage........My % Over Min.......My True Est. Earnings
9.50...............2006.............7.63..............24.....................$9.50
9.50...............2007.............7.93..............20......................9.83
....................2008.............~8.16.............16......................10.12

My standard wage if I had NOT been given ANY performance wage increase would be $10.12.

Assuming I have earned just a 5% performance bonus for each year I have been employed at my company, I would be at 34% over minimum wage for 2008, with a wage of $10.93.

Now, I think it's fair that I should get a raise to at least $10.50, but my boss is notorious around the company for being a cheapskate. Of all the people I have ever known, he is probably the most miserly and I certainly do not look forward to asking him for a raise. I was hoping to get your opinion on this. Do you think it is a good idea to bombard him with these number tables and factually show him how much money I deserve? The reason why I'm finally getting the fortitude to ask for a raise now is I am starting school soon and I am hoping to use that as a bit of leverage, kind of like, "if you aren't willing to pay me what I'm worth, than CYa. I've got better things to do." But I've never had a better job, and I like the people I work with.

One other thing I almost forgot, the guys who have been promoted over me are making around $10.50-$11, even though they haven't been working there longer than me. It's not that I don't have the ability to do what they do, I simply don't want to get bogged down with that kind of work when school starts.

Push-Pull

Don't have much experience except to say that 2 years is a long time to go without discussing a raise. Hell, I got a dollar raise at the 3 month mark at my job.

I would guess that the table would probably piss him off more than help you, as well as the whole "well if you won't pay up than see ya" bit. You need to give him a reason to give you a raise. Are you doing anything additional as to when you started? Any more responsibilities? Are you "the person" when it comes to one (or many) things at your place of employment? Those coupled with the "cost of living" should be your best bet IMHO.

If you get shot down, then maybe find another job, and THEN give him the "give me a raise or I'm gone" spiel. At least you'll be ready if he says "see you around".

Good luck.

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Racnad

Have you looked up your position at salary.com or payscale.com?

If you are below the norm in your area for your position, that would be good data to bring to your meeting. Next, if you have anything positive about you written or said by customers, that would be great, as well as sales if they're rising.

Also, always be prepared to start job hunting if you don't get what you want.

essendoubleop

Yeah, I don't know if any of that applies to me. I'm a college kid, just looking for a job that can cover my bills. I don't have a salary so none of those sites do me much good. I'd more likely just dedicate more time to school than get another job immediately.

LiBan

have you taken a look at the cost of living index for your area? if you don't make that much or make just around it, then you can talk about the things that make the cost of living go up, like taxes and inflation. look at those numbers and talk about how they have affected the cost of living and so you would like a raise in order to be able to pay your bills.

some sites to look at:
http://www.coli.org/
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/latestCOLA.html
http://salary.nytimes.com/

Racnad

When I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s. I took the rents for 1-bedroom apartments near the office, applied the so-called rule that says your housing should be no more than one third fo your income, and explained to my boss that I needed $60,000 per year. He just laughed.

Cynthetiq

all bosses are cheapskates.

we want as much performance out of the least amount of money spent on payroll as possible. conversely, employees want as much money out of the least amount of performance as possible.

What astounds me is how you've tied your salary to minimum wage. Your salary has nothing to do with how close to or how far away it is from minimum wage. Keeping up with inflation also is a misnomer, since if you really were trying to do that you'd have complained about not getting a raise each and every year.

This is plain and simple, you want to get more money. Period.

Mark you expenses and how much work time you have. That's how much you need to be earning at the minimum. If he can't provide it, it is up to you to find an employer who can. If you aren't able to, then you need to find out what skills you need to get higher up on the food chain.

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Jinn

I've worked for a company for 2.5 years. In the first six months I got a $.50 raise. By the end of the year I was making $3/hr more. The next year I got another $.60 raise.

And that's part time.

If your company doesn't at least match inflation and your distance from minimum wage (unlike Cyn, I think it is important) you need to find a job that shows their appreciation for your culinary skills with $$$.

How much is YOUR time worth? After all, you're burning hours of your life that you're not ever getting back. Are you being remunerated for them?

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amonkie

My question - why did they get promoted and not you? What are they doing that you're not, that even with tenure you've not gotten raises.

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telekinetic

So wait, you make it sounds like you were given the opportunity to be promoted to a position of increased responsibility and thus increased pay, and turned it down ("I simply don't want...").

If that's the case, I'm afraid you've got no good case for getting a raise in your current position.

essendoubleop

While I still do catering on the weekends, I am no longer in the food industry. This is an entirely different field of work and I couldn't be happier to get out of that one, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

You hit the nail on the head with where my frustration is coming from. I'm working on two majors and a minor at college and am trying to pump in as much extracurricular activity at the university as I can and any time I spend at work is an hour I could be spending accomplishing something with more meaning in my life. However, due to financial constraints in my life, I don't any other option but to continue to work. This job is tenfolds better than what I've had previously, but the fact is I AM giving them the best years of my life and I feel it's worth more than $9.50

Well, I was never formally offered a promotion. I had been working at job-sites and doing everything I would normally do if I had been given that position. To this day, I am probably more knowledgeable about the new guys' who got promoted over me job than they are. They do much more stressful work than what I'm doing right now, I certainly would not want to do their type of work when school kicks back in in the fall. The tenure thing is really frustrating, though. I'm better at their job, work harder, and have been there longer, yet they make more money than me.


Once again, I wasn't FORMALLY offered the job, but if I had expressed interest, there's absolutely no doubt I'd be doing that type of work right now. It's not a good idea for me to get caught up with that type of work when I should be focusing on schoolwork. I certainly do not think that disqualifies me for receiving a pay raise at my current position.

Jinn

Yep. I agree completely. I only get to be 22 once, and I value my time quite a bit. An interesting thing to consider is that 30 hours a week at $10/hr is the same as 15 hours a week at $20.. with one important distinction - you have twice as much free time.

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

Datalife2

I quit my last job cause they were cheap
You need to put your foot down or use it to put on the boot.

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where's my lighter?

Lasereth

I started out at $6.50 an hour at my old job. Six years later I was making $7.50 an hour. I feel your pain.

It sounds like raises are at least allowed at your job, even if your boss doesn't like giving them. At my old job, raises weren't allowed beyond $0.10 per year. Yes, 10 cents per year. I begged my boss for a raise multiple times and there was nothing she could do about it...the head of the place said no raises more than 10 cents so there ya go. I would have quit if I worked there more than 4 months of the year. I was a master of that job though and liked the people I worked with so it wasn't too bad.