To ask for a raise, book a meeting with your manager and say beforehand that it is about your pay. In the meeting, make a short case from what you have done and how the job has grown, name a specific figure, and then stop talking and let them answer. Put it in writing the same day. The preparation and the timing decide more than the wording does.
Before you ask
Collect the evidence. Write down what has changed since your pay was last set: results you delivered, work you took over, things that now depend on you. Be concrete. "Took over the supplier contracts when Lars left" is evidence. "I work hard" is not. Keep it to one page. Your manager may need to hand it to someone else.
Find your figure. Look at what similar roles are advertised at in your area, your employer's pay bands if they are published, and what a recruiter or a professional body in your field says the role pays. Choose one number, or a narrow range, that you can explain. "I looked at six adverts for this role locally" is an argument. "I feel underpaid" is not.
Pick the moment. Good times: after a clear success, at a review, or a couple of months before budgets are set. Bad times: the week of a crisis, the day after layoffs, in a corridor, at the end of a meeting about something else.
Know who decides. Your manager often cannot say yes alone. Ask them how pay decisions are made and when, and give them what they need to argue for you.
Asking in person
A conversation is the better route where you can have one, because you can answer questions on the spot.
- Ask for the meeting and say what it is about. Nobody should be surprised by this.
- Open plainly. One sentence.
- Make the case in three points. What you have done, how the role has grown, what the role pays elsewhere.
- Name the figure.
- Stop. The silence after a number feels long. Do not fill it by talking yourself down.
- Agree what happens next, and by when.
The message asking for the meeting:
Hi Ruth, could we find 30 minutes this week or next? I'd like to talk about my pay, and I would rather you had notice than be put on the spot.
What to say once you are in the room:
Thanks for making the time. I'd like to talk about my salary.
Since my last review I've taken over the supplier contracts, cut the month-end close from eight working days to five, and trained both new starters.
It is a bigger job than the one I was hired for, and similar roles are advertised above what I'm paid. I'd like to ask for [your figure].
What would you need from me to make that happen?
If the change is that you absorbed someone else's job:
When Lars left in January I took on his accounts as well as mine, and that has now been the arrangement for eight months. I'm glad to keep doing it, and I'd like my pay to match the job as it is now.
Practise the opening aloud once. Hearing yourself say the number makes it easier to say it without apologising.
Asking by email
Write when you work remotely, when your manager prefers things in writing, or when your employer's process asks for a written request. Keep it short, like any professional email. It opens the conversation and does not have to win it.
Subject: Request to review my salary
Hi Ruth,
I would like to ask for a review of my salary.
Since my last increase in March last year, my role has grown. I now run the supplier contracts on my own, I cut the month-end close from eight working days to five, and I trained both new starters.
Based on that, and on what similar roles are advertised at locally, I would like to ask for a salary of [your figure].
Could we meet this week or next to talk it through? I can bring anything that would help you make the case.
Thanks,
Devi
It states the request in the first line, gives three facts, names the figure once and asks for a meeting. It does not mention rent, a colleague's pay or how long she has waited.
The follow-up, the same day
Whatever was said in the meeting, write it down and send it. It gives your manager something to forward, and it turns "I'll look into it" into a date.
Subject: Following our conversation today
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for talking through my pay this afternoon. To check I have it right: you are taking my request for [your figure] to Marcus this month, and you will come back to me by the 28th.
I have attached a one-page summary of what I covered, in case it is useful.
Thanks again,
Devi
If the answer is no, or not now
A no is often about budget or timing, not about you. Stay calm, and turn it into something you can act on.
- Ask what would need to be true for it to be a yes, and by when.
- Ask for a date to look at it again, and put it in the diary there and then.
- Ask what else is possible: a new title, a one-off bonus, training, extra leave, a day working from home.
Thanks for being straight with me. Could we agree what I would need to show for this to be a yes, and a date to look at it again? I'll put both in an email so we each have them.
What to avoid
- Personal costs as the reason. Your rent is real, but pay is set by the job. Argue from the work.
- Naming a colleague's salary. Compare yourself with the role, not with a person.
- A threat you would not carry out. Do not mention another offer unless you have one and would take it.
- Apologising. "Sorry to bring this up" weakens everything after it.
- An ambush. A manager who is surprised says "leave it with me" and nothing more.
- Settling for "we'll see". Thank them, and ask for a date.
Writing the request with Hemmingway
If you have the facts but the email will not come out right, the salary raise request generator writes it from your notes. Give it who the request is to, what you have done since your pay was last set, and the figure you are asking for. It uses only what you tell it and will not add an achievement or a number you did not give.
It does not know what your job pays, and it is not the place to get pay advice: get your figure from real sources first. Read the draft, check every fact in it, and send it yourself. If you are also writing a self-review, the performance review generator works the same way. There is a free trial with no card needed.
Try HemmingwayDownload the app
Common questions
What do you say when asking for a raise?
Say that you would like to talk about your salary, give two or three specific things you have done or taken on since it was last set, say what similar roles pay, and name the figure you are asking for. Then stop and let your manager answer.
When is the best time to ask for a raise?
After a clear success, at a performance review, or a couple of months before your employer sets its budgets. Avoid the middle of a crisis, the days after bad company news, and any moment when your manager has not been told the subject in advance.
Should I ask for a raise in person or by email?
In person or on a call if you can, because you can answer questions and it is harder to put off. Use email to ask for the meeting and to confirm afterwards what was said. If you work remotely or your employer wants a written request, a short email with three facts and a figure is fine.
How much of a raise should I ask for?
A specific figure you can explain, based on what similar roles are advertised at in your area and any pay bands your employer publishes. Ask for a little more than the number you would be glad to accept, so there is room to meet in the middle.
What if my boss says no to a raise?
Ask what you would need to show for the answer to become yes, and agree a date to look at it again. Ask whether anything else is possible in the meantime, such as a title, a bonus or training. Confirm what was agreed in a short email the same day.