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Rewards don't have to be cash
It's salary-review season. Most
managers conduct performance reviews at the beginning of the year,
and most performance reviews entail some sort of salary review.
Don't get your hopes up for a raise though. In this economy, many
companies have a salary freeze, and no one's coming out of the cold
any time soon.
By all means, prepare rationale as to why you should
receive a raise. But in the likely event that your boss cannot budge,
suggest ways that your boss can reward you for your good performance
without giving you a raise.
On the company balance sheet, a raise is very expensive.
It's a fixed, recurring cost, and the additional benefits and taxes
make the raise even more costly for your company. Your suggestions
should be one-time expenses, which are easier to justify to the
holder of purse strings. Better yet, suggest something that is free
to the company.
1. More vacation days. Go for the gold: Ask
for three extra weeks and bargain down from there. Take a long break
now while the economy is sluggish and opportunities are scarce.
2. Flex time. You could work one day from home.
Or, if you're like 80 percent of office workers and you know you'll
get nothing done from home, ask your boss if you can work four long
days and have one day off. This is a good time to hone your work-life
balance.
3. Training. Be creative with this request.
Recognize one of your weaknesses and find a top-tier class to deal
with it. Try public speaking (TAI Resources is great -- and thousands
of dollars a day) or leadership (Tony Robbins is $10,000 plus air fare
to some chi-chi island).
4. Another salary review in June. This promise
is free to your boss and an easy way to get you off his back right
now. Get the promise in writing, but realize that a promise for
a review is still not a promise for a raise.
5. A laptop to take home. This is a good request
to make if you have a crappy computer at home. Tell your boss you
will work from home and this will help her justify the expense to
the keeper of the purse strings. (Do not actually do any work from
home, though. After all, you didn't get a raise. Instead start that
pet project -- see No. 8.)
6. Stock options. Stock was a joke in the '90s
because it was so overvalued. But today it's not likely that you
work at a company where the stock is overvalued. (If you do, fight
hard for a raise!) So ask for some stock now, before accounting
rules change and stock grants cost your company money on the balance
sheet.
7. A plumb project. Look around the company
for a project coming up that will make a big impact on the company's
bottom line. Ask your boss if you can manage that project. It won't
get you a raise now, but it'll set you up for a big one down the
line.
8. A pet project. If there's no big project
you can ask for, what about conjuring up your own project? Figure
out what skills you need to add to your resume and create a project
that will get you those skills.
When you are negotiating with your boss for a substitute
for a raise, the thing to remember is that recessions don't last
forever. So instead of focusing on salary now, use this time to
put yourself in a good position for when the economy improves. The
raise will come a little later, but you will be in line for a bigger
one.
-- Posted: Jan. 3, 2003
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