By: Spencer Rascoff (LinkedIn)
One of the trickiest issues out there for an employee is their own compensation. If you’re like me, you’d rather walk on hot coals than talk about comp. Pretty much the only thing I hate doing more than talking to an employee about their compensation is talking to my manager about MY compensation. I find the whole thing incredibly tacky, uncomfortable, distasteful and unproductive. Have I made myself clear?
With all that having been said, here are a few things I’ve learned about talking about comp over the years:
1. You have to advocate for yourself, because no one else will. No company, no matter how employee-friendly, does a good enough job advocating for its employees’ compensation or career path. If you want to take control of your career path and your compensation, do it. Don’t expect your manager to look out for you; they won’t.
2. Nag, but don’t be a nag. It’s OK to be a squeaky wheel periodically, but don’t do it constantly. At Zillow, we have 2 employee review periods per year, and only one of them is connected with annual compensation changes. I prefer that compensation discussion be confined to these one or two times per year when it’s meant to happen. You don’t want to become known internally as the ungrateful employee who’s constantly bugging his/her manager for a raise. Bring up compensation thoughtfully and infrequently.
3. Avoid internal benchmarking. Some people at a company, especially those in Legal or Finance, are privy to others’ compensation. It is a big no-no to cite someone else’s compensation when discussing your own. Never ever say “you should pay me X because you pay Tom Y”. That’s very unprofessional, and is perhaps grounds for termination.
READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121016161452-2298009-negotiating-your-own-compensation
