Who Wants a Raise?

Posted by: Viviana | Posted on: August 10, 2008 | Comments 7

Why, you do, of course! The big question, naturally, is how to go about it. It seems that the tactics we employ are the ones least likely to guarantee success (Who here has “hinted” or “suggested” to your boss when it comes to salary issues? Or been upset or “hurt” when no one noticed you were raise-worthy? We thought so. You can put your hands down now.) Well, question no more. fwm Expert Contributor Laura Browne is here, with her fabulous new book, Raise Rules for Women: How To Make More Money At Work (Laura co-authored this book with Jill Ferguson). We’ll let Laura tell you a bit about herself:

I train high potential women from Fortune 1000 companies to be better managers and communicators through WOMEN Unlimited, a national company that helps businesses who are concerned about women’s leadership development. Companies such as American Express, Bank of America, Genentech, IBM, Microsoft, Sony and Williams-Sonoma send participants to attend my 6-month program. They learn how to be more confident, gain visibility in the organization, network, communicate more effectively, influence others, and take initiative. I help them to find out what they need to do to be more successful.

Raise Rules for Women offers strategies and truly useful solutions to getting the raise you deserve. We highly recommend having a look!

Reading it raised some questions for me. Chief among them: why is this book so necessary? Because whether we like to admit it or not, it is--most career women can identify with the pitfalls Laura identifies. In fact, many of us can recall specific examples in our own careers when we either did not recognize our worth, or simply failed to communicate it properly. Are we still worried about being nice, or being well-liked? Or does it go deeper than that?

Related tags: getting a raise, negotiation

7 people have responded so far. Add your comment below.
Marion Oliver said:
08.11.08 9:39 p.m.
I haven't read the book, but I agree that it is needed. I do think that women have a hard time asking for a raise. I have NO IDEA why but it is true. If it weren't men and women would now be making equal pay, and sadly enough we aren't! Hard to believe in this day and age.
Laurab said:
08.12.08 9:41 a.m.
One of the biggest issues that many women face when they ask for a raise is the fear of upsetting their manager. They’re afraid that even just mentioning they want a raise could damage their good working relationship with their bosses. Another issue for many women is the fear of being rejected. They don’t want to hear “no” from their bosses so they stop themselves from asking for a raise. You can get a sample chapter of Raise Rules for Women: How To Make More Money at Work at www.RaiseLady.com. That chapter will help you to understand the first rule, “It’s only business; it’s not personal”. Finding What Matters readers can get a 20% discount on the book by going to that website, clicking on the Raise Rules book and using discount code FWM on the order page. (The original $15.95 price will be reduced to $12.76.) If you think you deserve a higher salary, you can do something about it - don’t get mad, get money.
Viviana said:
08.12.08 4:57 p.m.
Thank you, Laura!! Thanks also for the fwm discount! :-) @Marion, welcome back!I intend to find some stats on pay equity and post them here...I'm wondering if we're doing any better this century than we did the last. Interesting anecdote: I remember snippets of a conversation I had with my mother as a small child during the 70's, in which she mentioned in an off-hand manner that women usually did not make as much money as men, even when they were doing the same work. I was mystified.
Brenda Tillett said:
08.12.08 6:43 p.m.
Thank you for the article, but I have to be a tiny little dissenting voice here: why do we always assume that women have self-esteem issues and won't know their worth or ask for the money? It seems to be that this is a stereotype, and that by believing it to be true, we actually make it worse for ourselves. Just my 2 cents!
corinne said:
08.12.08 8:29 p.m.
I feel that there has to be a reason why women's salaries are lower than men's. Perhaps we need to face the fact that there *are* things we continue to do that hurt our cause. If we place the blame solely on men's shoulders, then I suppose we are saying we are not capable of taking up for ourselves! While a stereotype would be to assume that ALL women behave a certain way (which of course would be incorrect) it should be acceptable to note trends, patterns, and commonality of behavior.
Viviana said:
08.16.08 9:17 p.m.
Of course there are exceptions to every stereotype...but there are some commonalities among groups of like persons, and women are no exception! We do tend to want to please people more, and many of us seem to worry incessantly about people getting "mad" at us.
Laurab said:
08.18.08 4:41 p.m.
Brenda, I agree that we shouldn’t assume that women have self-esteem issues that could negatively influence their ability to make more money. Is this a stereotype? Yes, however, there is research that supports this and my work with high potential women has shown me that many successful women are uncomfortable when talking about their salaries. I think it’s important to discuss this so we can do something about it. Regarding Corinne’s comment, I want to emphasize that I don’t want to blame men. Instead I want to look positively at what we can do to help ourselves. I also want to point out that there are many reasons why women’s salaries are lower than men’s. Some we don’t have control over, however, we can control what we do and say when we ask for a raise so I want to make sure that we do it in the best way possible.
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