✓Ready-made checklist

Asking for a pay rise: checklist

How to prepare: results with numbers, expanded responsibility, market data, your figure and its reasoning, timing and what to do if the answer is no.

Items inside: 15

View the checklist

Add to Unload Download .txt

Download a text file for your notes, or open the list in your installed Unload app and confirm the import.

Your checklist

Titles only

Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.

List your results for the period, with numbers
What you did, what changed, what became faster, cheaper or more reliable. \u201cI worked hard\u201d is not an argument.

Your manager has to take something upwards, into a budget and an approval. Facts give them that; feelings do not.
Show how your responsibility has grown
New tasks, people, areas, complexity. This is a conversation about level rather than about time served.
Gather market data for your role
Ranges for your role, level and region. A reference point for the conversation, not an ultimatum.
Decide a specific number and its reasoning
\u201cAny increase would help\u201d almost always produces a symbolic one. You name the number.
Pick the right moment and review cycle
Find out when the company reviews pay and how budgets work. A request outside the cycle is more often postponed.
Book a separate meeting in advance
Not at the end of a stand-up and not in a corridor. Say the topic in advance — your manager needs to prepare too.
Say your part out loud once
Two or three minutes: results, responsibility, market, request. Out loud you hear where the wording falls apart.
Do not build the case on personal circumstances
A mortgage and rising prices are real, but a company pays for work. Personal context can be mentioned; it is not the argument.
Prepare a plan for the next period
What you will take on next. It moves the conversation from rewarding the past to funding a role, which is easier to approve.
Listen and ask clarifying questions
Budget limits, cycles, levels are part of the picture. Arguing without them turns into a tug of war.
Agree criteria if the answer is \u201cnot now\u201d
What must change, how it is measured, when you return to it. Without criteria, \u201clater\u201d becomes never.

A date with criteria is the only thing separating a postponed decision from a polite refusal.
Put the agreement in writing
A short email after the meeting: what was discussed, what was agreed, when you return to it. Standard practice.
Discuss what else can improve besides base pay
Working format, training, role, holiday, equipment. Sometimes the budget is closed while these are open.
Decide in advance what you do if the answer is no
Wait against criteria, change role internally, or look outside. An offer is only used as leverage if you are ready to leave.
Start keeping a results log now
Five lines a month. In six months it is a ready case rather than an evening of trying to remember.

Pay conversations are won by preparation, not by courage

A request for a rise fails not because someone did too little but because they arrive with a feeling — “I work hard” — instead of facts. Your manager has to take something forward: to their own manager, to a budget, to an approval process. Your job is to hand them arguments rather than emotion.

The second factor is timing. A pay conversation lands when the company has a review cycle and you have results you can show. Asking at the wrong moment usually ends in “let’s come back to this later”, after which coming back is your job.

What to prepare

Material	Why
A list of results for the period	Facts instead of impressions
Numbers and evidence	What changed because of you
Expanded responsibility	Shows growth rather than tenure
Market data for your role	A reference point, not an ultimatum
Your number and its reasoning	You name it, not “what can you offer”
A plan for the next period	Makes it about the future, not only the past

How to phrase it

Not “I cannot manage” and not “I am tired”, but “over six months I did this, my responsibility grew like this, the market for this role looks like this, and I am asking for this”. Personal circumstances are genuine, but they are not a budget argument: a company pays for work, not for need.

Name a specific number. “Any increase would help” almost always produces a symbolic one.

What to do with a no

A refusal is not the end of the conversation but its continuation. Ask: what needs to change for the answer to be yes, by which criteria, and when you will return to it. Agree a date and put it in writing — otherwise “in six months” becomes “we never discussed that”.

If there are no criteria and the conversation leads nowhere twice in a row, that is also an answer — and it is about the company rather than about you.

About alternatives

An offer from another company is a strong argument and a risky one: it works once, and you have to be ready to take it seriously. Bluffing without being willing to leave is transparent and damages the relationship for a long time.

When you are ready

Results are written down with numbers, market data is gathered, your figure is set and justified, the timing is chosen, a separate meeting is booked in advance, there is a plan for the next period and you know what you will do if the answer is no.

Frequently asked questions

How do I ask for a pay rise?

Arrive with facts rather than feelings: a list of results with numbers, how your responsibility grew, market data for the role and a specific figure with reasoning. Book the conversation separately rather than at the end of a stand-up, and end it with either a decision or clear criteria and a date.

← Checklists