Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management books TimePeace: Making peace with time – The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.
This question came from a business professional.
This is why people are discouraged from discussing salary amongst your teammates. Not many people feel they are getting paid what they are actually worth. The people that have been working and loyal for many years, will resent a newbie receiving close to their salary. A new employee, like yourself, will resent another teammates salary because he feels he has more related working experience.
Realize that you aren’t aware of everyone’s specific contributions
Many things go into a salary negotiation that you may not be privy. Your teammate may have agreed to work undesirable hours (late shifts or weekends) in exchange for a hire salary. They may have just received a glowing review or recommendation from an executive, customer and was instrumental to a high-profile and profitable sale. Executives and other department managers may perceive this teammate as indispensable.
There may be many reasons why your teammate is getting a higher salary.
What you should do
In essence, you
should mind your own business. I mean
that literally. Focus on your
performance. You should make yourself
indispensable. Here are some things
employers value in an employee:
1. Strong Work Ethic
Employers value employees who understand and possess a willingness to work hard. In addition to working hard it is also important to work smart. This means learning the most efficient way to complete tasks and finding ways to save time while completing daily assignments
2. Dependability and Responsibility
Employers value employees who come to work on time, are there when they are supposed to be, and are responsible for their actions and behavior. It’s important to keep supervisors abreast of changes in your schedule or if you are going to be late for any reason.
3. Possessing a Positive Attitude.
Employers seek employees who take the initiative and have the motivation to get the job done in a reasonable period of time. A positive attitude gets the work done and motivates others to do the same without dwelling on the challenges that inevitably come up in any job.
4. Adaptability
Employers seek employees who are adaptable and maintain flexibility in completing tasks in an ever-changing workplace. Being open to change and improvements provides an opportunity to complete work assignments in a more efficient manner while offering additional benefits to the corporation, the customer, and even the employee. While oftentimes employees complain that changes in the workplace don’t make sense or makes their work harder, oftentimes these complaints are due to a lack of flexibility.
5. Honesty and Integrity
Employers value employees who maintain a sense of honesty and integrity above all else. Good relationships are built on trust. When working for an employer they want to know that they can trust what you say and what you do.
6. Self – Motivated
Employers look for employees who require little supervision and direction to get the work done in a timely and professional manner. Supervisors who hire self-motivated employees do themselves an immense favor. For self-motivated employees require very little direction from their supervisors.
7. Motivated to Grow & Learn
In an ever-changing workplace, employers seek employees who are interested in keeping up with new developments and knowledge in the field. Learning new skills, techniques, methods, and/or theories through professional development helps keep the organization at the top of its field and makes the employee’s job more interesting and exciting.
8. Strong Self – Confidence
Self-confidence has been recognized as the key ingredient between someone who is successful and someone who is not. A self – confident person is someone who inspires others. A self-confident person is not afraid to ask questions on topics where they feel they need more knowledge. They feel little need to have to impress others with what they know since they feel comfortable with themselves and don’t feel they need to know everything.
9. Professionalism
Employers value employees who exhibit professional behavior at all times. Professional behavior includes learning every aspect of a job and doing it to the best of one’s ability. Professionals look, speak, and dress accordingly to maintain an image of someone who takes pride in their behavior and appearance
10. Loyalty
Employers value employees they can trust and who exhibit their loyalty to the company. Loyalty in the workforce has taken on a new meaning. Gone are the days when employees plan on starting out and retiring with the same company. It is said that most people will hold between 8 – 12 jobs throughout their career. What does this mean in terms of loyalty in today’s workforce?
Companies offering employee growth and opportunity will ultimately gain a sense of loyalty from their employees. Employees today want to feel a sense of satisfaction in their jobs and will do a good job when they feel that the employer is fair and wants to see them succeed. Although this may mean only staying for five or ten years in a position, employees can offer loyalty and make an important contribution during their time with the company.
.
Asking for a raise
Once you have made yourself indispensable, ask for a raise. You now have confidence in your value to the company and have strong standing in requesting a raise or bonus.
If you need want to discuss in more detail, please setup a one-on-one consult session.
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