How To Get a Raise During Covid

Assuming your company has weathered the pandemic or has even benefited from it, now may be just the right time to ask for a raise. You may be overdue for an increase, your responsibilities may have increased, or you may have achieved a milestone to be celebrated. If any of this holds true for you, the rules around asking for a raise haven’t changed so much as they’ve been slightly altered. In addition to my own experience advising clients on negotiating salary, I’ve collected some of the best information out there for those looking for guidance on how to ask.

I spoke with Kathryn Valentine, Founder of Worthmore Negotiations, a consulting firm aiming to close the earnings gender gap by providing women-specific resources for salary negotiation. Here are some of her most salient points:

Your company may not be doing well because of Covid, but your value may have increased. The pandemic has put enormous pressure on companies in all sorts of ways they couldn’t have anticipated. You may be doing the work of others who were laid off or quit. You may be doing a new job in addition to your existing one required by new circumstances. You may be critical to the success of a merger and be unrecognized for your contribution.  These are all situations that may merit a raise.

The replacement cost of an employee is very high. According to Valentine, it costs a company 125-200% of your salary to find and train someone new. Not to mention the attendant disruption, especially during such a difficult time. In good times and bad, it behooves companies to retain their best people. So what’s the best way to ask for that raise?

Analyze the alternatives: What are those of the company and what are yours? Reviewing your own alternatives means you need to look outside, whether that’s conducting salary research through websites like Glassdoor and Salarylist.com and speaking with trusted contacts, or doing that plus interviewing with other companies. An offer in hand is the quickest way to bring things to a head, but then you do need to decide whether you’ll accept that offer if your current company doesn’t make an acceptable counter-offer.

Build your business case. Lay out how you’re uniquely valuable. Create a one-pager with your accomplishments and how they’ve moved the needle for the company, using metrics wherever possible. Make your ask -- ideally a 10-15% increase. And once you’ve delivered your ask, stop talking. Continuing to rationalize your number will not help you, and worst-case scenario, you might talk your way out of that raise.

It’s possible that the company may not be able to give you a raise. Valentine believes you should always ask, regardless, and so do I. It’s important to show your employer that you can advocate for yourself, a necessary skill and a sign of self-respect.

If you are willing to consider creative alternatives to cash, there are other things that you can leverage down the road, including, but not limited to:
-a better title
-an opportunity to run a department (perhaps they’ve let the department head go and you’re cheaper)
-the opportunity to participate in leadership meetings
-running a special project
-an acting Chief of Staff role to the CEO

This won’t be the last time you have a performance review or ask for a raise, so it’s important to cultivate good tools and resources, as well as a growth mindset. So here are some additional resources to help you get paid what you’re worth, both during and post-pandemic. I’d love to hear your comments, and of course reach out if you need help.

WSJ: How To Ask for a Raise During the Covid Pandemic

And The Forem, an organization providing excellent career advancement resources for women early in their careers, has produced an outstanding guide entitled The Ultimate Guide to Acing Your Performance Review. You can get your free copy here.