Get a Raise By Asking Your Boss for a Job Analysis

Want to score a nice raise this year? Ask your boss for a job analysis! A job analysis evaluates your current role based on four main factors that include: job tasks, work environment, compensation trends and individual performance. The better you can leverage your job analysis to prove you are a top performer, the better chance you have at earning a higher salary.

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What is a Job Analysis?

You may be wondering what a job analysis is exactly and how it can help you in the quest for a raise. Human resource managers use a process to evaluate the compensation level of each job assignment by reviewing the following:

1. Skills and abilities needed to do the job well. 
2. Work environment that’s typical for the job. 
3. Difficulty of performing the job, along with responsibilities. 
4. Comparison data of compensation for the specific job. 

When you ask your manager to conduct a job analysis, essentially it’s allowing your boss to take a closer look at the overall value you bring to the workplace and whether your pay is competitive in the current job market.  

Making the Case for a Job Analysis

If you’ve been in your job for a few years, you may find it challenging to demonstrate to your supervisor that you deserve a generous raise. You’ve likely gotten very good at what you do, unlike the first few milestone years on the job when you were proving your worth, so your boss may take for granted the amount of work you do. Also, your company may not have performed a full compensation review in quite some time. The trick is knowing how to ask and waiting for the perfect opportunity to raise the topic with your boss.

Ask your manager for a quick meeting and then broach the subject by asking if the two of you can work together to evaluate all of your current responsibilities to ensure they’re still in line with company objectives and in the right priority order. By simply reviewing the areas you’re responsible for and the amount of work you’re doing on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, it may become obvious that you’re going above and beyond.

Chances are, your manager may have already been thinking about conducting a job analysis for you and other members of your work team. It’s actually a very good idea from an HR standpoint to do this periodically, due to industry changes and the need to stay competitive in the labor market. Job analyses are good for increasing job performance and employee engagement.

Educate Your Boss About Your Value and Career Goals  

Now that your manager is warmed up to the idea of taking time to analyze your actual role, you will want to help by providing the following information:

1. The specialized tasks you’ve mastered and perform daily on behalf of the company.
2. The level of responsibility you hold and the full value you have on the job.
3. Any limitations or challenges you face, with a plan of action to overcome them.
4. The current industry salary and compensation rates for your assignment.  
5. Your 5-year career plan in terms of learning new skills and bringing more to the table.

The above elements will help your boss to see how irreplaceable you are to the company and how you may be doing the work of more than one standard employee. These factors alone can help your manager see why it’s important to keep you on board and well compensated for your hard work. But, remember to actually ask for a raise based on the outcome of the analysis. Don’t assume your manager is going to offer it up. He or she may need time to consider your request, so don’t push for an answer immediately.

Follow Up After the Job Analysis

Ask for a meeting with your boss about two weeks after this initial meeting, and see what he or she has determined should be the next steps in increasing your salary. If your manager is not in a position to make this type of decision, take heart, you will most likely have a performance review coming up soon and can revisit your job analysis and value with your manager at that time.

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