Methodology
We collect data via PayScale’s ongoing salary survey. You can find general information about our data collection and validation process here. For this particular study, PayScale surveyed 160,062 respondents for information regarding their salary, demographics, job and company characteristics and their history of asking for raises at their current employer.
We collect data via PayScale’s ongoing salary survey. You can find general information about our data collection and validation process here. For this particular study, PayScale surveyed 160,062 respondents for information regarding their salary, demographics, job and company characteristics and their history of asking for raises at their current employer.
Analysis
We utilized two statistical models to isolate the effect of several factors related to asking for and receiving raises and test for statistical significance. We first modeled what makes a worker more or less likely to have requested a raise using a logistic regression. Our second logistic regression investigated what makes individuals who asked for a raise more or less likely to receive one. In this analysis, we grouped those who received the raise they requested and those who received a raise but for less than requested. The regressions included the following explanatory variables: experience, company tenure, job level, industry, job type (minor job group from the O*Net-SOC taxonomy), census division, education level, generation, gender and minority status. For parsimony, we only report a subset of these results.
Question Text
Have you ever asked for a raise from your current employer?
- Yes
- No
(if no) Why haven’t you asked for a raise?
- My employer gave me a raise before I needed to ask
- I’m uncomfortable negotiating salary
- I’m worried about losing my job
- I didn’t want to be perceived negatively
- I haven’t been in my position long enough
- I’ve always been happy with my salary
(if yes) Did you get a raise when you asked?
- Yes
- I got a raise, but for less than I requested
- No, I did not get a raise
(if denied a raise) What was the primary rationale your employer gave for not giving you the raise you asked for?
- My performance did not warrant the raise
- Budgetary constraints
- I asked outside of the established time of year for raises
- I had not been in the role long enough
- No rationale was provided
(if a rationale was provided) Did you believe that rationale?
- Yes
- No
Definitions
Job Level:
Executive Level: Workers with a Chief Executive title (CEO, CFO, etc.), a Vice President title or a title with a comparable level or responsibility, years of experience, and management scope.
Director Level: Workers with a Director title or a title with a comparable level or responsibility, years of experience, and management scope. These are managers of managers.
Manager or Supervisor Level: Workers with supervisory responsibility who do not have a higher title level.
Individual Contributor Level: Workers who do not supervise people and do not have a higher level title.
Likelihood of …: These represent the statistical model’s best guess of the effect of a variable as compared to a reference group. We present these results in two ways. First, a group may be some percent more or less likely than the reference group to meet some criteria. An estimate of X percent for a group can be interpreted as that group being X percent more likely than the reference group to have something happen (in this case, to have asked for a raise and to have received a raise upon asking), holding all else equal. When differences between groups are large, we present the results as being some number of times more likely. An estimate of one group being X times more likely should be interpreted as that group being X times as likely than the reference group to meet the criteria. Being 100 percent more likely is the same as being 2 times as likely.
Statistical Significance: Our statistical models measure the strength of the evidence for each result. We only present results with sufficiently strong evidence. More technically, results here are labeled as statistically significant when the 90 percent confidence interval does not include zero.
Person of Color: Respondents can select multiple options under race/ethnicity. White respondents are anyone who identifies as white and only white. Respondents who identified themselves as Black or African American, Hispanic or Asian are classified as a person of color (PoC).
City: These are the metropolitan divisions and New England City and Town Areas (NECTA) in which the respondent works. Metropolitan Divisions and NECTAs are defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). They are subdivisions of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). We identified metropolitan divisions by their largest city.
% Received a Raise After Asking: This is the percentage of respondents who received any level of raise after asking.
% Received a Raise Without Asking: This is the percentage of all respondents who received a raise without asking.
% Highly Satisfied with Employer: This is the percentage of respondents that agreed or strongly agreed with the prompt “I am extremely satisfied working for my employer.”
% Plan on Seeking New Job: This is the percentage of respondents that responded “Yes” when prompted “In the next 6 months, I plan on actively seeking new jobs outside of my current company.”
About PayScale
Creator of the world’s largest database of rich salary profiles, PayScale offers modern compensation software and real-time, data-driven insights for employees and employers alike. Thousands of organizations, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, use PayScale products to power pay decisions for millions of employees. For more information please visit: https://www.payscale.com or follow PayScale on Twitter: https://twitter.com/payscale
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