wage negotiation

[Caryl]

Easier said than done when he has never met most of the managers. His immediate boss I think he has only met once, if at all. One of his manager was his boss ofr 2 years before he met him and even then the man didn't seem to realise Grant was an employee under his jurisdiction :roll: . All communication is by email and the occasional phone call.

[Jennifer]

I completely agree with Alan. You can sit down and have a casual friendly conversation with your boss but if your boss is even a little bit better at negotiation than you are, you will walk away with less. Management is power play. They are there because they are confident and often they are protecting the bottom line. Having sat on both sides of the fence, I can say that it is attitude, rather than skills, that often wins in a wage negotiation.

An example: Someone who I had trained in the workplace two years previously was wanting to apply for a supervisory role. The position was a bit out of her league considering her minimal experience but she had a very good work ethic and a lot of confidence. She was looking at a going wage commensurate with her inexperience (about $17/hour, well below what a supervisor should make in that business). I advised her about how to negotiate and she went in and asked for $30/hour and supported her request with a line of skills and attributes that convinced the manager that they couldn't live without her. She walked away with an offer of $25/hour, well above what she had expected.