How to ask for a raise?

[Raenia]

Removed for privacy.

[Mgmny]

I'm a contractor, and I would absolutely advise you NOT to reach out to your client-boss for a raise. This would put you a really awkward situation with your contracting company, and they could get really upset that you did that. Your client-boss hired contractors so he wouldn't have to deal with personnel issues like reviews, $$, firing, etc.

When is your contract up? That's when you need to negotiate. You agreed with your contracting company that you would do a specific job for a specific pay for a specific time period. I understand that you are doing more, or things outside of your job description, but you are still under contract.

The only time i could see you trying to re-negotiate during your contract is if these new job duties put some type of unanticipated strain on you - longer hours (unless you're hourly), more health-risk (thought it was a desk job, but they actually have you doing lineman work).   

[dandarc]

My experience is in IT contracting for government, but here it is:

Old contract firm refused to even ask for a bill-rate increase on our tiny contract (2-3 positions) for 10 years.  Finally they're going to ask for a $5/ hour bump, but to keep it all for themselves - not even a token increase for us.  Instead we jumped ship to a small local firm on our next renewal.  The old firm briefly, halfheartedly acted like they were going to put up a fight, but ultimately, old contract firm didn't even try and stop us.

Now, we had leverage - the 2 of us on the contract at the time were the only ones with up to date knowledge of the system we were supporting, and had done very good work for client for over two decades combined.  Basically the client wanted US.  They were willing to pay more for US.  They did not care who the middle man was - the state has literally hundreds of contracting firms on a kind of collective contract that are willing to fill the middle-man's role in these arrangements.  Therefore, we had a lot of leverage in that situation, and the middle-man had very little.

If you've got that kind of leverage, you can try and organize something like that for the next renewal.  If not, ask for your raise at renewal (many months before renewal is the time to start asking), and be prepared to look for another position.

[dandarc]

I'm a contractor, and I would absolutely advise you NOT to reach out to your client-boss for a raise. This would put you a really awkward situation with your contracting company, and they could get really upset that you did that. Your client-boss hired contractors so he wouldn't have to deal with personnel issues like reviews, $$, firing, etc.

When is your contract up? That's when you need to negotiate. You agreed with your contracting company that you would do a specific job for a specific pay for a specific time period. I understand that you are doing more, or things outside of your job description, but you are still under contract.

The only time i could see you trying to re-negotiate during your contract is if these new job duties put some type of unanticipated strain on you - longer hours (unless you're hourly), more health-risk (thought it was a desk job, but they actually have you doing lineman work).

It is a long-term contract, so there is no clear renewal date at which to negotiate.  That's part of the trouble, I agreed to do a specific job for specific pay for an indefinite time period, with the expectation of annual CoL raises.  We have been told before by SSM that the acquisition of new job duties outside the scope of the contract is the appropriate time to ask for a re-negotiation, but what I hear from other employees is that she will not budge even in this case.  So basically, what you are saying is my only option is C) leave for a new position somewhere else?

I'd at least ask first, if you want to stay.

[Mgmny]

Yikes, with an open ended contract that's tricky. I guess at the 1 year mark I would ask for a bump in pay (at least CoL), unless the end was in sight. How long have you had this contract?

[JoshuaSpodek]

Negotiation is a skill. Like any skill you improve with practice and don't without it.

Getting To Yes is the book on negotiation. Reading it and practicing your skills will give you a lifelong skill to face such situations with confidence and to negotiate effectively.

[Hargrove]

I'm a little confused. How can a "long-term contract" have no... term?

If the person in charge told you exactly how to ask for a raise, tell that person you're asking for a raise within the guidelines he/she prescribed. Stand your ground - don't apologize or look hopeful. You believe you earned a raise by taking on x,y,z responsibilities for the company and your reviews have all been very good. Be "accommodating" and say you're willing to wait for the CoL adjustments if you want (which is not the same as saying you're out if you don't get it, but carries a little more weight and makes you look like you're being cooperative).

[Retire-Canada]

We have been told before by SSM that the acquisition of new job duties outside the scope of the contract is the appropriate time to ask for a re-negotiation, but what I hear from other employees is that she will not budge even in this case. 

So ask for a raise from your SSM and support the request well. Until she actually stonewalls your request you are just making an assumption, which could prove to be incorrect.

[Ocinfo]

As has already been discussed, it's all about leverage. This type of situation is always interesting because your justification for a raise is the same justification for the company to not give you one.   What I mean by that is you took on new responsibilities and apparently did well in a short amount of time. From your perspective this means you should get paid more. From your bosses perspective it means if you can do it then someone else probably can too. The part that gives you leverage is if the customer is unwilling to take the risk of someone else being just as good. You have more leverage if there are deadlines that would be put in jeopardy (example halfway through a multi month software cycle and losing you would risk the release date). If you don't have leverage, then it's going to be a struggle and you're probably better served looking for a new employer and aiming for a 10-20% raise, which is pretty common...


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