# How to Negotiate a Pay Raise

> How to negotiate a pay raise step by step: when to ask, the one-page case for what has changed since your pay was set, the market range, how much to ask for, the exact words for the meeting, what to say to each answer (yes, a smaller yes, not now, no) and the mistakes that get a raise refused.

A raise is the hardest pay conversation, because nobody has just chosen you. At a job offer the employer wants you and expects a counter; where you already work, your pay feels settled to everyone but you. So you have to show what changed. Here is how to do that: the moment to ask, the one-page case, the number, the words for the meeting, and what to do with each answer you might get.

## The short answer

1. **Pick the moment**: before the budget for next year is set, right after a result you delivered, or at your review. Ask for twenty minutes and say what it is about.
2. **Write the one-page case**: three to five things you do now that you did not do when your pay was last set, each with a result, plus the range the role pays where you live.
3. **Choose one figure**, not a percentage: inside the market range, usually five to fifteen percent above your pay, more if your role has grown.
4. **In the meeting, say it plainly**: the case in two minutes, then "Given this, I am asking for my pay to move to 62,000", then stop talking.
5. **Know your reply to each answer**: a yes goes in writing with a date; a "not now" becomes "what would I need to show, by when?", which you send back by email the same day.
6. **Say the number out loud before the meeting**, three times, until it comes out steady.

## Why a raise is a different conversation from a job offer

At an offer, the employer has chosen you, turned the other candidates down and wants the role closed. One counter is expected and usually met part-way. A raise has none of that. Your manager was not planning to spend money on you this month, often cannot decide alone, and has to take your request to someone who has never met you.

That changes what works. At an offer, the market range and one reason are enough. For a raise you need a short written case your manager can carry into the next room and repeat without you: what you do now that you did not do before, what it produced, and what the role pays elsewhere. The case is not for your manager. It is for the person your manager has to convince.

It also changes the timing. Most organisations set pay once a year, inside a budget agreed months earlier. Ask after the budget is fixed and the honest answer is often "not until next year", however good your case. Ask before it is set and the same case can go straight in.

If you have never researched what your role pays where you live, start there. The steps are in [How to negotiate pay](/guides/how-to-negotiate-pay/): job ads that state a range, two salary sources, two people who do the job, and three numbers of your own.

## Step 1: pick the moment

The same request gets a different answer in a different week. Before you write anything, find out when your organisation sets pay, and who decides. Ask a colleague who has been there a few years, or your manager directly: "When does the team look at pay for next year?" That question alone tells your manager what is coming, which is a good thing.

| Good moments to ask | Moments that usually fail |
| --- | --- |
| Six to eight weeks before the yearly pay or budget round. Your manager can still put the number in. | The week after pay letters go out. The money is spent; you will hear "next year". |
| Right after a result you delivered that people noticed: a launch, a saved client, a target met. | The week a project failed or a client left, even if it was not your fault. |
| At your performance review, if the review is before the pay decision. Ask whether it is. | During a hiring freeze, layoffs or a public cost-cutting push. Wait, unless you hold an offer. |
| When your role has grown: you now manage people, own a system, or cover work someone who left used to do. | Less than a year since your last raise, unless the role has clearly changed since. |
| When you have a written offer elsewhere and would rather stay. | In a corridor, in a group chat, or at the end of a meeting about something else. |

Ask for the meeting in writing, so your manager is not ambushed: "Could I have twenty minutes this week or next to talk about my role and my pay?" Managers who know the topic in advance arrive with the budget in mind, and are far more likely to say yes than ones who have to react on the spot.

If your organisation has a formal cycle, your ask may need to land with your manager a month or two before the decisions are made, because the manager then has to argue for it upwards. Earlier is almost always better than later.

## Step 2: write the one-page case

Your case fits on one page, and it answers one question: what has changed since my pay was last set? Not "I work hard", which everyone says, and not "I have been here three years", which is time, not value. Changes, with results.

1. **List what you do now that you did not do then.** Go through your calendar and your messages for the last year. New systems you run, people you train or manage, clients you own, work you took over when someone left, problems you now get asked to solve. Pick the three to five biggest.
2. **Put a result next to each one.** A number where you have one: time saved, money brought in or kept, errors cut, people trained, tickets closed. Where you have no number, use a fact: "the audit passed with no findings", "the client renewed for two years".
3. **Add the market range.** Five to ten job ads for your role in your city or country that state pay, one or two salary surveys, and what two people in similar roles said they would expect. Write the range down with its sources.
4. **Write your number at the bottom.** One figure, chosen in step 3. Not a range, not a percentage.
5. **Keep it to one page and bring two copies.** One for you, one to leave with your manager. A page your manager can forward is worth more than an hour of talking.

| When my pay was set | Now | Result |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Handled support tickets for one product. | Handle tickets for three products and train each new hire. | Four people trained this year; the team's first-reply time fell from a day to four hours. |
| Followed the monthly reporting process. | Rebuilt the monthly report so it runs itself. | Two days of manual work a month gone, and the finance team now uses the same report. |
| No client contact. | The named contact for two of our largest accounts. | Both renewed; one added a second contract. |

Notice what is not on the page: your rent, your loan, the price of food, a colleague's pay. Those may all be true, and they do not move a pay decision, because employers pay for the value of the work, not the cost of the worker. In a year of high inflation it is fair to say your pay has fallen in real terms, and many employers adjust for that separately; your case is for a raise on top of any such adjustment, and it rests on what changed in your work.

## Step 3: how much of a raise to ask for

Ask for a figure. "I would like a raise" gets you whatever is easiest to give, and "ten percent" invites "we usually do three". A figure inside the market range, tied to your case, is hard to wave away.

| Your situation | What to ask for | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Same role, done clearly better than when your pay was set. | Five to ten percent above your pay, inside the market range. | This is the normal size of a merit raise in most organisations, and it is usually inside a manager's own authority. |
| Your role has grown: more people, systems, clients or responsibility. | Ten to twenty percent, aimed at what the bigger role pays. | You are not asking for more for the same job; you are asking to be paid for the job you now do. |
| You are paid below the market range for your role. | The middle of the range, and show the sources. | Employers know the cost of replacing you is higher than the gap. Say it as a fact, not a threat. |
| You hold a written offer elsewhere and would rather stay. | The offer figure, or close to it. | Only if the offer is real. Be ready to leave if the answer is no. |
| You want a promotion as well. | The lower part of the new role's range. | A title change with no pay change is common; ask for both and get the pay in writing. |

Above twenty percent you need either a role that has changed beyond recognition or an outside offer. Below three percent, in most places, you are asking for the cost-of-living adjustment you may get anyway; aim higher and let them land lower.

Then set your own two numbers before you walk in: the figure you will ask for, and the smallest figure you would accept and feel fine about. If the answer lands below the second, your next move is a review date, a non-pay item, or a decision to look elsewhere, and you should know which before the meeting.

## Step 4: what to say in the meeting, word for word

The meeting is short. Your manager already knows the topic, so do not warm up for ten minutes. Open, make the case, say the number, stop. Then listen.

- **The request, by message or email a week before:** "Could I have twenty minutes next week to talk about my role and my pay? I will bring a short summary so it is an easy conversation."
- **The opening, warm and direct:** "Thanks for making time. I like this job and I want to keep growing here. I want to talk about my pay, because my role has changed a lot since it was set."
- **The case, two minutes, from the page:** "When my pay was set I handled one product's tickets. Now I cover three and train every new hire; first-reply time has dropped from a day to four hours. I also rebuilt the monthly report, which saved two days a month and is now used by finance." Hand over the page.
- **The market, one sentence:** "I have also looked at what this role pays here: the ads and surveys I found put it at 58,000 to 68,000."
- **The number, then silence:** "Given this, I am asking for my pay to move to 62,000." Then stop. The silence will feel long. It is your manager's turn; if you fill it, you will fill it by lowering the number or apologising.
- **The close, whatever the answer:** "Thank you. I will send a short note of what we agreed so we are both clear." Then do it, the same day.

Say the whole thing out loud at least three times before the meeting, including the number and the pause after it. The first time, most people rush the figure or soften it with "if that is possible". By the third time it comes out as a plain statement, which is what you want your manager to repeat upstairs.

Things that do not belong in the meeting: a colleague's pay, a threat to leave that you are not ready to carry out, an offer you do not hold, your personal costs, and a second, lower number in case the first fails.

## Step 5: what to say to each answer

You will hear one of five things. Decide your response to each before the meeting, so none of them catches you out.

| They say | What it usually means | What you say |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "Yes, I can do that." | You were inside what they could approve. | "Thank you. Could you confirm the figure and the date it starts by email?" Then stop; do not add a new ask. |
| "I can do 58,000, not 62,000." | A real move, often the edge of what they can approve alone. | "Thank you for moving on that. Could we put a review at six months in writing, to look at the rest? If so, I am glad to accept 58,000 now." |
| "Not now; the budget is set." | Often true, and often a test of whether you will follow up. | "I understand. What would I need to show, and by when, for this to go through at the next round? I will write it down and send it to you today." |
| "I will have to take it to my manager / HR." | Normal. Your page is about to be forwarded. | "Of course. Is there anything you would want added to the summary before you do? When should I check back?" Agree a date. |
| "No." | Said plainly, with no door left open, it is a no for this year. | "Thank you for being straight with me. Could you help me understand what would change the answer?" Then decide, away from the room, what the no means for you. |

Whatever was said, send a short email the same day: what you asked for, what was agreed or what you were asked to show, and the date you will talk again. It is polite, it is a record, and it turns "let me think about it" into something with a deadline. If the agreed date passes with no word, ask again, warmly, on that date. A raise that was "agreed in principle" and never followed up is one of the most common ways people lose money.

## If the answer is no: what else to ask for, and when to move on

A no on base pay is not always a no on everything. Pay bands are often fixed by policy; the rest is not. Pick the one or two of these you value most and ask for them in the same meeting or in the follow-up email.

- **A pay review on a date, in writing.** "Could we agree to look at this again on 1 March, against the targets we have just discussed?" Dates in writing get kept; "later in the year" does not.
- **A title that matches the work.** It costs nothing now and raises what you can ask for at every future job.
- **A one-off payment or bonus** tied to the result you delivered, when the yearly budget is fixed but a one-off is not.
- **Training or a qualification paid for**, extra leave days, remote days, or a four-day week at the same pay. Each has a value you can put a number on.
- **Scope you want**: the project or the team that would make the next raise easy to argue.

Sometimes a no is information. If your case is strong, you are paid under the market, and the answer is a flat no with no date and no reason, the market is telling you that the fastest way to a raise is a new job. That does not mean resigning in the meeting. It means quietly updating your CV and looking at what is out there; when you want to do that, [How to write a CV](/guides/how-to-write-a-cv/) and [Job interview tips](/guides/job-interview-tips/) are the next two pages to read. If an offer arrives, you negotiate it with the steps in [How to negotiate pay after a job offer](/guides/how-to-negotiate-pay-after-job-offer/), and you may then tell your current employer, honestly, that you hold it.

Two warnings on offers. Never mention an offer you do not hold: it is checked more often than people think, and a bluff that is called ends more than the conversation. And think carefully before accepting a counter-offer to stay: the gap in trust can outlast the money, and the reason you looked is usually still there.

## A worked example: from 360,000 to 385,000, a title and a review date

Thabo has been a support analyst for two and a half years. His pay, 360,000 a year, was set when he joined. Since then a senior colleague left and Thabo took over the two biggest accounts and the training of new hires. Job ads and two people in similar roles put the range for what he now does at 340,000 to 420,000.

- **Early October.** He learns the company sets pay in December for January. He messages his manager: "Could I have twenty minutes next week to talk about my role and my pay? I will bring a short summary."
- **The page.** Three rows: the two accounts (both renewed, one added a contract), the training (five new hires this year, each productive in two weeks instead of six) and the night-shift roster he now runs. The market range with its sources. His ask: 400,000. His private floor: 380,000.
- **The meeting.** Opening, the three rows in two minutes, the range, then: "Given this, I am asking for my pay to move to 400,000." Silence. His manager says she agrees the role has changed, and that she can take 380,000 to her director herself; above that needs a second sign-off.
- **His reply.** "Thank you. Could we put 385,000 forward, with the title Senior Support Analyst and a review in six months to look at the rest?" She agrees to ask.
- **The same evening.** He emails the three rows, the figure, the title and the review date, and thanks her. Three weeks later the director approves 385,000 and the title; the review date goes into his file.

He gained 25,000 a year, a title he can carry to any future job, and a date that turns "the rest" into a scheduled conversation, with one page, one meeting and one email.

## The mistakes that get a raise refused

- **Asking after the budget is set.** Find out when pay is decided and ask six to eight weeks before.
- **Arguing from time served or from need.** "Three years" and "my rent went up" are true and do not move the decision. What changed in your work does.
- **No page.** Your manager has to argue your case to someone else. Give them the page to do it with.
- **Asking for "a raise" or a percentage.** Name the figure.
- **Threatening to leave without an offer.** If it is called, you lose; if it is not, it is remembered.
- **Comparing yourself with a named colleague.** It turns a conversation about your value into an argument about theirs.
- **Filling the silence.** The pause after the number is your manager's turn. Let it be.
- **Not following up.** "Let me think about it" without a date in writing is how most agreed-in-principle raises disappear.
- **Never practising.** Said for the first time in the meeting, the number comes out fast, small and apologetic.

## Your pay raise plan

1. Find out when pay is decided and who decides. Ask six to eight weeks before, in writing, with the topic named.
2. One page: three to five things you do now that you did not do then, each with a result, plus the market range and its sources.
3. One figure: five to ten percent for the same role done better, ten to twenty if the role has grown, the market middle if you are under it. Privately, the smallest figure you would accept and feel fine about.
4. In the meeting: open warmly, the case in two minutes, the range in one sentence, the number, then silence.
5. Know your reply to all five answers: yes, a smaller yes, not now, "I have to take it upstairs", no.
6. Same day: an email with what was agreed or what you were asked to show, and the date you will talk again.
7. If base pay cannot move: a review date in writing, the title, a one-off payment, training, leave, remote days.
8. Say the whole thing out loud three times before the meeting, including the pause.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much of a pay raise should I ask for?

For the same role done clearly better, five to ten percent above your current pay, inside the range the role pays where you live. If your role has grown, ten to twenty percent, aimed at what the bigger role pays. If you are paid under the market range, ask for its middle and show the sources. Always name a figure, not a percentage.

### What do you say when asking for a raise?

Four things, in order: that you like the job and want to grow there; what you do now that you did not do when your pay was set, with results, in two minutes; the range the role pays where you live, in one sentence; then "Given this, I am asking for my pay to move to 62,000", and silence. Bring the case on one page your manager can forward.

### Can I ask for a raise by email?

Ask for the meeting by email, and send the summary by email the same day, but have the conversation itself face to face or on a call. A raise request that arrives only as an email is easy to answer with one line; a meeting with a page in front of you is not.

### What if my manager says there is no budget?

Take it as "not yet" and turn it into a plan with a date: "What would I need to show, and by when, for this to go through at the next round?" Write the answer down, send it back the same day, and ask again on that date. Meanwhile ask for a review date in writing, or a non-pay item such as a title or training. If the no has no date and no reason, and you are paid under the market, start looking.

### How often can you ask for a pay raise?

Once a year is normal in most organisations, timed to the pay round. Sooner is reasonable when your role has clearly changed, for example when you take over a departed colleague's work or start managing people, or when you hold a written offer elsewhere.

## Practise the pay conversation out loud

In the LoWisa app, Career has interview practice: real questions asked out loud, including a salary and conditions round, with a score, one thing to fix and a stronger sentence to say instead. Level 1 is free, with a screening round and a panel.

---

Source: https://lowisa.dev/guides/how-to-negotiate-a-pay-raise/ · Updated 2026-11-10 · By Samuel Kamau, founder of LoWisa