我很喜欢目前的工作和老板，但是这份工作工资却很低。现在我收到了竞争公司的offer,这份offer工资会增加30%以上。考虑到我没有医院辞职也不想做出伤害我和经理关系的事情，我该怎么利用这分offer增加涨薪的机会呢？
I like my job and boss a lot, but I am underpaid. I received an offer from a competing firm for 30% more. How should I use this to increase my current pay, given that I have no intention to quit and don't want to harm my current relationship with my manager?
My manager already knows about the pay issue, and currently does not believe that my position warrants a higher salary. He also insists that we do not have budget for it. Also, I know that my manager really values my work, and we get along very well.
My own experience getting raises has been very different from those of the other answerers. I have worked for software startups and usually in attractive job markets, so I am sure the next paragraph reflects those favorable-to-the-employee conditions. In the software startup world, there is a lot less process and a more pragmatic approach to employee compensation is taken.
re: presenting the offer to your boss
My own experience has been you won't get a raise until you walk in with another offer. Salary is not about the quality of your work. Salary is about what the market will pay you. By walking in with an offer, you show what the market for your services really is. You force your employer to make a business decision. Do they want to:
A. Pay you the extra 30%
B. Recruit someone else, train them, put up with their low productivity while they get up to speed and at the end of the day possibly pay them the same thing you have just asked for because the salary scale in the market has moved?
It is almost always easier for them to justify A. than B., unless they actually wanted to get rid of you.
re: The position doesn't warrant it, they don't have budget, the cat ate my budget...
B.S. Don't believe any of those statements. I will translate them all for you: "No." That is the only thing they mean--"No, I will not give you your raise." When you present them an offer, if they want you, I guarantee they will find the extra budget. They may make some face-saving move, like giving you an improved title (e.g., you change from simply "Garbo" to "Senior garbology technician") to justify the raise or they may call it a delayed cost of living adjustment, or some other such nonsense. But the bottom line is they have the money to pay you if they want to.
re: damaging your relationship with your boss
Don't sweat it. This is business it is not personal. Managers negotiate over price all the time. Negotiating over salary is just another price negotiation. They understand that you are a rational player and must do what is in your best financial interest, just as they try to do for the company. You won't hurt your relationship with your boss by showing him the competing offer, any more than he hurt you by saying the company didn't want to pay more for your position.
All of that being said, don't take the offer to them unless you are ready to move. They may make the decision they cant afford your new price, and if so, you would have to go.
Working For a Bigger Company
Lastly, I have heard many stories about larger companies, who seem to have a highly irrational attitude about raises. My friend John asked for an $8K raise from Oracle after he had been working there 2 years and he discovered that new hires straight out of college were getting starting salaries $8K more than he was making. His manager said the same things you heard. He stalled for months until John got another offer. Finally the manager countered with a $7K raise, which seemed to have been designed purely as a petty power play so the manager didn't have to accede completely to John's reasonable salary demand. John quit in a snit and took the new job. Two months later an Oracle recruiter called and offered him 25% more than his new salary to return! This happens because initial offers are sized based on what they think it will take to acquire the target. But raises are handled in a totally different way, and are calculated as a percentage of the current salary. I'd be very surprised if a large company would give you a 30% raise, but if they really like you, they might put you on a new job trac or try to make some other accommodation to keep you with them.
My advice
Be polite but firm. Don't accept any excuses. No matter what they say, simply tell them you must seek fair compensation for your work. Just remember nothing is personal--nothing they say about why you should not get a raise, nothing you say about why you need one. Keep everything pleasant and professional and you will have earned more respect from management as well as a raise.
Oh yes, one last thing. If you decide not to take the offer to your boss, don't hold your breath waiting for that raise. It will come whenever the company decides to review all the salaries, and it won't be 30% when it comes.
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July 2015 Update.
A couple of my commenters have remarked that showing an offer to your boss is the last thing you should do. They argued you'll either get fired or the work situation will deteriorate after you accept a counter offer from your current employer (perhaps due to resentment by your boss about your getting another offer). In some companies and with some bosses, that is undoubtedly true and if so, you don't want to be working there. Don't work for people who are both inflexible about your salary requests and act resentful when you take the logical action which is to go look for other employment.
The danger of generating resentment does not mean employees should never use an offer as a negotiating tool. Just understand that it will be regarded as playing hardball, so you pull this tool out only when it is needed and only if you think your contribution is large enough that the employer really won't want to lose you. I.e., if you work in sales and didn't make your quota for the last three quarters, this isn't the right time for this ploy. In addition, this is a ploy for an industry where job mobility is the norm like the software start up world. Don't try this tactic at a traditional corporation like GE.
Even if your manager has been inflexible in the past about your raise, that does not mean you should take her/his action personally or act disrespectfully when presenting your offer. You don't want to be perceived as arrogant and you don't want the boss to feel extorted. Walking into a manager's office and as your first move presenting an offer to be matched will be perceived arrogant. You should use a more subtle way of presenting the offer if you dont want to offend your boss. Here is my suggestion.
Be ready to actually leave. Accept that there is a good chance you will soon be working for a new employer.
Give your notice.
If your employer wants you, they will respond to your notice with words to the effect of, "I am sorry to hear that, why are you leaving and is there anything we can do to change your mind?"
You will respond with, "The major issue is my compensation which is not inline with my contribution."
They will offer to review your compensation and will ask to see your offer. Then they'll make an economic decision about whether or not to match.
They may grouse about it and they may bluster during negotiation, but those are ploys. The only thing that matters is whether they eventually present a written agreement with an improved compensation. So ignore all bluster and imprecations, wait for the counteroffer and then make your own decision.
This approach allows your boss to give you the raise without losing too much face. He asked to see the offer and he made the decision to match without your asking for that directly. He maintains his position of being in control in the relationship, even though you got what you wanted.
After handling such a negotiation with grace, my own experience was it didn't change the work environment one bit. Everyone just went back to work like normal, as they should if they are mature professionals. I suspect all bets would be off if your boss left the negotiation feeling humiliated by you.
