Best Way to Negotiate for a Bonus/Pay Rise

[jazz_lover]

I joined my current company August 2022. 

The annual pay review is every April. April 2023 I just got about 2%. This was calculated as the 5% inflation increment pro-rated for time I was at the company with no bonus. 

My performance review is coming up this week so seems like an ideal time to discuss a pay increase/bonus. 

My role has changed a lot since the one anticipated when I have joined and that is reflected in a change in my job title which I asked for and was granted around March 2023. I was hired as a general financial accountant but have been able to position myself as the technical accounting expert in the company and as we have faced a lot of technical accounting challenges I have made a valuable contribution to the company in resolving these challenges whereas in previous years we would have had to enlist outside help (e.g., paying a Big 4 accountancy firm for technical advice). And I believe a lot of the work I was performing was way above my pay grade. I have been getting a lot of praise from my bosses and have been involved in a lot of key meetings with the CFO so my profile has been raised considerably in the company and I imagine that they would not want to lose me. 

My starting salary was also fairly low because salaries have been slow to reflect the massive amount of inflation post-COVID. The general price level has gone up around 20% since COVID and my starting salary was only marginally higher than the previous role I was in. And the 5% inflation increment used by the company globally isn't reflective of reality, and my rent has gone up a lot and so have my grocery bills and if I cannot get some kind of pay increase/bonus I probably will have to look for a higher paid job elsewhere.

The sticking point is that the company was taken over by a private equity firm. Their key motivation is to control or cut costs as much as possible and there have already been a lot of layoffs and restructuring initiatives. Meanwhile they have hired a lot of new people in revenue-generating positions e.g. sales. And motivated them with share options. There is also a share option scheme that is very favourable to people considered to be senior leadership. And my understanding is that there are other incentive schemes where bonuses are linked to KPIs and sales targets. So there is less incentive for them to reward non-revenue generators even though my role is still important in the sense that if they want to sell the company they need statutory accounts that are accurate with clean audit opinions and window dressed to the maximum extent possible. 

The company is also HR dominated as we have thousands of employees and HR create a lot of roadblocks that make it difficult for rank-and-file employees to get pay increases. A colleague of mine went through a process last year and they had to basically change the reporting structure and organisational chart to make it seem like he got a promotion with presumably the motivation being to allow them to pay him more.  And there is the usual challenge that pay is relative. So if my superiors are underpaid or aren't earmarked for bonuses then there will be a reluctance to give me anything more in case it results in a ratchet effect and triggers demands from them. 

So I need to approach it in the right way..

Is it better to send an email in advance of the performance meeting so that I have my case clearly set out in writing rather than springing it on him before the meeting? 

Also what is the best way to make my case in a succinct way that is likely to be persuasive to my manager and HR/higher ups that he would need to get approval from?

And in rough terms what would be something to aim for.

I was thinking of saying a combination of a bonus and a pay increase to reflect my contribution over the last year and my progression in terms of role and responsibility and asking for a 15% bonus 15% pay rise. This seems reasonable when you consider that a lot of companies offer an automatic 10% annual bonus to accountants of my grade and with 5% inflation to get a real pay increase of 10% you need to ask for 15% and again a 10% annual pay increase seems reasonable if they accept my case that my role and responsibility have changed in a major way.. 

In an ideal world I wouldn't have to say anything and the rewards would come automatically. But as I only got a 2% pay increase last year and this was handed to me without even being discussed I think that if I say nothing there is a chance that I will just get the company wide 5% increment and by that time as the pay review will have past there will be nothing in the budget for adjustments. 

[Batya33]

How about doing a bullet point list of the top ways you have contributed to the company including the bottom line -profits -and any additional goals/ways you plan to develop your role in the coming year and share this at the meeting?

[rainbowsandroses]

What I did back in late 2022 was this:

1.  I told them I really enjoyed working there (which I did and do), but straight out told them I could no longer survive on the salary they were paying me.  Which was kind of a lie as I have a large savings but on the salary alone, I couldn't.

2.  A previous employer was seeking a new assistant and offered me a position at a higher salary.  They asked how much, I told them, they left the conference room and returned an hour later offering me a salary literally 15% more than I was currently making. 

An offer by another company is great leverage.  It's a gamble but in this competitive market, it typically works when you know they value your work. 

A 2% increase is insulting. 

Anyway, good luck, and let us know!