Wiggle Out of a Rotten Deal?
What should you do if you recently—and happily—accepted a job offer, but just discovered that the compensation you agreed upon is way below what your peers are getting?
Yes, you enjoy the new work and like your new colleagues, too, but you are kicking yourself about the pay. You shook hands on it and know that a deal is a deal. Asking so soon for a raise would make you feel like an idiot. Is there anything you can do about it?
That’s the question that was posed to Roxanne Gay’s “Work Friend” in the business section of this past Sunday’s New York Times. You can find it under the caption, “Bad Negotiator,” which is how the writer described himself. (For this article, let’s assume that he’s a male, though I don’t know if that’s the case.) As he put it, “I am a very poor negotiator and rely on a sense of fairness, Making matters worse was the fact that he was “so anxious to return to work.”
Roxanne Gay responded:
Many people can relate to being a bad negotiator. It’s hard to ask for what we deserve or dare to think we deserve. And we work in a professional culture where all too often it is taboo and frowned upon to talk about money, so it can be hard to know what we should be asking for. It will probably be challenging to request a raise after only four months but you won’t know until you try. To do so, you need to write a rationale for a raise — but you can’t say you want a raise because you negotiated poorly or because it would be fair.
I agree with some of those points, including that many people have doubts about their negotiation competence. It’s hard to measure our performance, after all. We seldom know how much room there is for agreement, hence whether we left some value on the table. Nor can we know what would have happened if we had been more assertive (maybe a better deal, or maybe a deadlock.)
I also agree with Gay’s warning not to play the “I negotiated poorly” card, especially if your job ever involves negotiating with outside parties on behalf of your organization. Ditto for not pleading about fairness. Your employer could hear that as a complaint about how they’ve treated you.
I’m not so sure, though, that building your case around what you’ve achieved the last few months should be at the heart of your conversation. It might be better to look to the future and make this as a problem to be jointly resolved. Something in the spirt of how much you love the job and being specific about what you find most engaging.
From there you could go on to say that you’ve learned that others doing similar work are getting higher compensation. Make it clear that you’re not looking for back pay. That’s on your shoulders.
Instead ask, “What can we figure out going forward to bring me up to the standard level before too long?” Mike it a mutual issue and discuss appropriate metrics and milestones. In short, what’s done is done. Do your best to shape your future.
Whatever approach you choose, Gay’s, mine, or something else, do not say anything like, “I’m not looking to leave,” even if that’s true. The very fact you’re denying it will be misheard as revealing that’s exactly what you’re planning to do. If there’s ever a moment to make such a threat, it’s not now.
P.S. This is already the sixth article this year that I’ve posted one the challenge of internal negotiations. Others include:
“Negotiating Your Salary,” February 15.
“Difficult Conversations at work,” March 17.
“Negotiation at Work,” May 4.
“How to Quit Your Job,” May 14.
And Roxanne Gay’s recent “Work Friend” also responds to a question of what do with a boss who keeps stringing you along about a supposed promotion.
Housekeeping
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Be well! Mike
(Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash)