Ask HN: How do I negotiate my job (salary/conditions)? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I negotiate my job (salary/conditions)?

12 pointsthrowaway19869 comments

I have been working in this startup for last 3 years, and overall my salary increased around 60% since the beginning, but I live in an expensive country, and this increase does not even cover the cost of living increase over the years.

My salary is about 30% less than the market value, for my skill-set and experience level (I'd got an offer which was 30% more than my current salary, 8 months back. (40% more than my salary then)). I am doing some contracting on the side, which pays decent (about thrice as much per hour of work).

How do I go about asking for more money or allowing remote work (so that I can move to my hometown, which is much cheaper), with fallback as consulting, to my boss?

Edit - I always got very positive reviews from my boss.We are a small shop, so till now all positions were at the same level, but with a recent restructuring, I will be offered best designation amongst all developers. (Unfortunately, its just change in designation, without any monetary appraisal associated with it.)

Hm...does your boss and your company know what market rates are? Don't assume that your company is purposefully underpaying you; it may very well be that they don't know enough of the market. In that case, esp. if you're on good terms with your boss, it'd be a simple matter of educating them in your research.

Startups usually don't have a ton of cash, so if you feel like you're still being shortchanged and the company simply can't afford to pay you more (from the company's perspective, increasing your salary may mean increasing everybody else's as well), you can ask for other things: more options, more days off, better benefits, and as you mentioned working remotely.

You're in a good position, and have built up good will over the years, so I'm sure they wouldn't want to lose you. It might be just a simple matter of bringing it up, so do that first.

> Hm...does your boss and your company know what market rates are?

I am sure he does not. (He moved back recently, after working in the US for around last 20 years). I brought up this issue indirectly several times, when we tried to recruit people, conducted campus drives. Recently, a colleague of mine (who used to get the same salary as myself), left for over 70% salary hike. I intend to present more data points when talking to him.

How do I say "I think you are out of touch of the market rates for my skillset", without hurting his feelings/implying the company is cheap?

I actually prefer benefit (of possibly remote work, from a less expensive/better city), than hike. I just dont know how to bring it up. (ie, how to word it, without feeling/sounding awkward/needy.)

Well, you begin by not saying "you're out of touch". =p You begin by saying "According to my research, these are the market rates for someone in my position. What are your thoughts?"

If it's really that he just didn't know what the going market rates are, then showing him the numbers shouldn't be insulting to him or the company; they're not purposefully underpaying you. If they were aware, then this is probably the gentlest and most professional way of "calling them out".

You might want to check out this classic:

http://www.amazon.com/Negotiating-Your-Salary-Make-Minute/dp...

Which goes into the strategies of salary negotiation, including raises and benefits and all that other good stuff.

Salary negotiation is cultural — so saying which country you are in is critical. In fact my advice was going to be to jump to a new job is you're below market value, but in some cultures that's a bad idea, yet in other cultures one would be surprised that you didn't do it sooner...

Given that you're in a country with high inflation, your best bet is to move to fulltime freelancing, assuming that you can get gigs consistenly. Otherwise, if you stay in your job, even if you get a raise now then you'll still need another in 6 months.

Which is true, but as long as the company does not mind making up for performance+inflation, I dont see a financial reason to ditch them.

If the company/startup isn't that big, why don't you just sit down and talk with them explaining the position you are at?

If you've got another offer, that is your trump card. Tell your boss you're leaving... you seem to have a lot of options, so why not leave or atleast pretend to? If your boss thinks you'll actually leave and you are valuable to the company, they'll do whatever they can to keep you. Hiring people is time consuming and expensive, and when you have a good person you'll do most anything to keep them.

Also - I don't understand what you mean by the cost of living increase over 3 years is more than 60%... did you have to move somewhere?

I do not have another _job_ offer, but I do have consulting gigs, so I am comfortable moving out of the job, anyways.

> Also - I don't understand what you mean by the cost of living increase over 3 years is more than 60%... did you have to move somewhere?

I work in a major city of the country, and in recent years, rate of inflation averaged between 15-18%/annum.

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