Wage Advice..

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Gmanc711

Whats up guys, so tommarow I have to go to my summer job and lobby for a raise (or quit) one or the other. I want some advice on what to ask for/expect. I'm going to give you a chart and then want to know what you think.



The number you see are Column 1 The Year I worked. Column 2, what I made that year. Column 3 is what minimum wage was/is that year and the % is the amount I made over minimum wage.

2002 5.25 5.15 2%
2003 5.50 5.15 6.7%
2004 6.00 5.15 16.5%
2005 6.50 6.00 8.3%
2006 ? 6.75 ?

So my raises went +4.7% in 2003, +9.8% in 2004 (yr I became manager) but I took a -7.8% over minimum wage in 2005.


So my question is what should I be asking for when I go in tommarow?

My bargaining position would start like so:
In 2004, I made $6 while the minimum wage was $5.15. I was $.85 above Min Wage at that point. Then minimum wage went up in 2005 and I made $6.50, only $.50 over minimum wage. This year minimum wage is going to be $6.75, and I think it's only fair that I get back to being at least $.85 above minimum wage. That would mean you're asking for $7.60 an hour.

I think if you start hitting them with %'s above min wage, their eyes might glaze over. Speak in terms they can grasp, just shoot for 85 cents above min wage, like you had in 2004.

That's a good starting point in negotiation, because $7.60 an hour is still $1.10 above what you made last year (14% raise). But if they're only willing to give you $.50 above min wage (like you had last year), then I'd take it (that would be $7.25). And $7.25 is still a nice raise from last year, it would be 11%.

If they only want to give you $7.00 I'd start looking elsewhere. Someone will surely think you're worth more than a quarter above min wage, given you've got 4 years under your belt.