Got Copied (by Accident) into Performance Review, How to Ask for Raise?

Lord Fart Bucket on 06/07/2017 - 18:39

My wife got cc'ed into a discussion between HR and her managers about her performance review… looks like it was an accident.

She works in a kind of support role (designer) for a sales team for a very, very large (international) company. She thinks the face to face review is happening in the next few weeks and wants to see if there's a chance of raise. Sales team get commissions/bonuses, my wife doesn't. She also hasn't had a raise in the past 18 months. So… time to ask for one? Probably.

How do you approach this?

(I've suggested bikies, to which i got a weird look).

Education & Work

Comments

  • BillyG687 on 06/07/2017 - 18:46

    What was said in the email she was copied on to? I would think that any idea if a raise is worth asking for would be hinted at in the email, regardless of whether she was meant to see it or not.

    • Lord Fart Bucket on 06/07/2017 - 18:49

      Terms like "high achiever", "excellent job", "picking up slack of others".
      I've seen the email, it doesn't talk about money.

      • Hardlyworkin on 06/07/2017 - 19:22
        +2

        Seems like she has good reasons then, best to concentrate on what she is doing right than what others are doing. It's also that time of year for wages rises in general so a good avenue to approach it.

      • sparkles on 06/07/2017 - 22:22
        +2

        That's good. Imagine if you got cc'd into an email about you that said "useless, worthless, please retrench".

  • teacherer on 06/07/2017 - 20:52
    +1

    This would do well in r/personalfinance

  • dizzle on 06/07/2017 - 22:30
    +7

    I'd suggest telling the boss that she received it by accident. It could tip your hand, but it also shows ethical and honest behaviour so that when she asks for a raise it's fresh in their mind and gives another reason to trust her.

    • the-mal on 07/07/2017 - 07:55
      +4

      Definitely this!

      She may have been CCed on purpose if it was a positive review - it's nice for your employees to know when they're doing a great job.

      As for asking for a raise, do some research first. What are similar roles getting at other firms? How long has she been there (how much IP is she holding)? Is her department performing well as a whole?

      The thing is, her manager already thinks she's great so there's no need for her to go and remind them how much she does, how hard she works etc. What employees often forget is that this is purely an economic decision for her manager (who likely has to justify any increase to HR or to their manager). It's simply "Is it more cost effective to retain this employee than it is to hire a new one?". What she needs to do is answer that question for her manager. This gives them the ammo they need to say "yes" and get approval.

      I tell my staff this all the time - if it were only up to me, everyone gets a raise. But it's not - I have to justify increases to execs, to HR, to the CEO. So here are the things I'd get her to articulate:

      • What are the market rates for someone of her experience and position?

      • How many years has she been there, how many processes/jobs/people are dependent on her daily?

      • Has she had offers from other firms? This always helps. To say "I've had offers via LinkedIn for other roles, and I'm so happy here so I don't want to leave, but it's getting harder to turn them down when I know it's significantly more than I'm on here."

      • Would she be happy to, or has she already, taken a jump in responsibility above her job description? Would she be happy to have her job description altered to add some responsibilities to reflect the pay increase?

      These things all help so much as a manager. Way more than "I work so hard and life is expensive" kind of arguments.

      Lastly, never ever say anything that could be construed as blackmail or a threat to leave if you don't get a raise. That's an easy way to get your bluff called and shown the door.

      Be confident, be concise, do research and answer the questions that will help her manager get approval for the raise, because that's likely the only hurdle.

      And congrats on the great review! Well done to her either way.

      • robertbruce on 07/07/2017 - 09:40

        so you don't think a "reply to all" in 20 point saying
        "Thanks guys, how about a cut on the quarterly turnovers then" with a big smiley would do it?…

        in all honesty, this is a sales organisation, blatent to me they are trying to teach her to ask for more money - you go girl, well done!

  • TheBilly on 07/07/2017 - 13:40

    In the face to face review they will go over all the stuff as discussed in the email, they will either raise the money component themselves, or alternatively if she doesn't she should just say, "I would also like to do the salary review with this as well" simple. You just got to be up front and ask, managers can't read your mind, and their also not in the business of just spending more money for the sake of it. If you don't say anything then it means there is no issues.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join