Introduction

A salary hike can be considered an increase in an employee’s wage or pay. The raise can be given to an employee for a variety of reasons including the retention of valuable employees, rewarding exceptional performance, or keeping up with the cost of living. The raise amount can either be fixed or a percentage increase. It also differs depending on the job role, level of experience, industry and company budget. Salary hikes can be given annually or at other intervals by employers while accompanied by other benefits such as stock options, bonuses or an increment in vacation time.

A hike in salary can also have a significant impact on the future earning potential of the employee because it raises the basic salary from which future bonuses and raises are calculated. They can be considered an essential tool for employers to use in retaining and attracting talented employees and keeping the workforce motivated.

Comprehending the Value, You Bring

Self-awareness can be defined as the conscious knowledge of one’s character, skills, feelings, motives as well as desires. Self-awareness is the ability to focus on oneself and how your actions, thoughts or emotions do or don’t align with one’s internal standards. If you are highly self-aware, you can clearly evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behaviour with your principles and values and correctly comprehend how others perceive you. In simple words, those who are self-aware can interpret their actions, thoughts and feelings objectively. This helps you assess your value in an organisation. It is a rare skill, as many of us spiral into interpretations of our circumstances through emotions. The development of self-awareness is crucial because it allows leaders to analyse their effectiveness and growth and change course whenever necessary.

Resume metrics can be considered quantitative measures or data points that clearly articulate the value you have brought to a previous role or project. Metrics on a resume could refer to various achievements depending on your industry and role:

• • Financial metrics: These include the generated revenue, management of budgets, cost saved or other monetary figures that portray your financial impact.
  
  
• • Operational metrics: These metrics include various processes that are improved, efficiency gains, time saved, production volumes or any other operational improvements you contributed to an organisation.
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• • Performance metrics: These are the metrics that reflect team performance or individual performance such as exceeding targets, meetings or KPIs, achieving higher consumer satisfaction scores, or ranking within the organisation or team.
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• • Project or Program metrics: if you have managed programs or projects, these metrics might include the number of managed projects, project sizes, project completion rate or success rate.
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• • People metrics: For those in HR roles or leadership, these are the metrics that include the number of people hired or managed, rates of retention, or improvement in team performance.

Research Industry Standards and Market Trends

Market research can be considered the way of gathering and assessing information about the industry, the organisation and the role you are applying for or negotiating with. Market research can effectively help you comprehend the demand and supply of talent, the average salary and benefits as well as the challenges and expectations for the job. You can effectively use market research for the estimation of ZOPA and reservation prices of both parties and to prepare your arguments and evidence for your negotiation.

Online salary databases like Glassdoor, PayScale and Indeed can be considered convenient and valuable resources for researching salaries. These are the websites that provide comprehensive data on average salaries for various industries and job titles. By searching for your desired job title and location, you can acquire a clear comprehension of the current market rate for your role. The utilization of these online databases can provide you with valuable insights and can help you negotiate a fair compensation package, so you feel confident when defending your desired salary.

Constructing Leverage Through Skills Enhancement

Negotiation skills are inherent qualities that help two or more parties to agree to a common logical solution. In the workplace, you may have to display your negotiation skills in a variety of situations:

• • Negotiating a hike in salary with an HR manager after promotion
• • Negotiating a project deadline with your manager and team lead
• • Negotiating a few days off for the purpose of a family holiday with your manager
• • Negotiating contract terms with a potential consumer

Lack of negotiation skills affects businesses’ bottom line and could ruin consumer relationships. Negotiation skills are soft skills that are essential to mastering negotiation and resolving workplace conflicts. However, this skill set largely depends on the work environment, the involved parties and the outcome desired. Often, when one party is ready to reach a compromise, the other party can be resistant. This makes negotiations difficult and you are likely to encounter such situations at the workplace.

Crafting a Persuasive Pitch

• Do your research first: Before your negotiation, it is crucial to plan. You don’t want to start your negotiation without doing research first. It would be like going to war while forgetting your gun.

• Negotiate with a team: When comparing negotiation on your own or with a team, team negotiations are far more efficient.

• Approach with a win-win attitude: Negotiations should always be approached with a win-win attitude. If you do not, you are doomed to fail from the start.

• Learn when to say no: Not all your negotiations will always go your way. There will be a time when you need to comprehend that there is no point in continuing the negotiation.  

• Always anticipate concessions: Concessions are a must for negotiations. Be prepared to have a number of concessions based on the information you got from the other party.

• Active listening is a must: Among professional negotiators, active listening is a must.

Conclusion

From the above, it can be concluded that negotiation is a distinct skill which is required for every professional. You have to comprehend the value you bring to the table at your organisation. It includes self-realisation of your worth in an organisation. Researching industry standards and marketing trends is also essential for negotiations as it brings solid ground to your negotiation strategy.