Tips for Negotiating Benefits
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Happy Wednesday! If youāre new around here, every mid-week, I write for a series called Women in the Workplace Wednesday, where I discuss real-life topics like should you date a co-worker and how to ask for a raise. Last week I shared my doās and donātās (and personal struggles) with work from home tips. Todayās post on negotiating benefits was actually supposed to go live last week, but with all of this COVID-19 / Coronavirus craziness, I switched things up to be more relevant to the moment.
Now I will say that this post is still very relevant with the insane amount of layoffs and job opportunities out there. I saw an interesting tweet the other day and wanted to relay the message hereā¦ after all this is over, you will now be able to ask a new question when you are interviewing for a position. You can ask how the company responded to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 and how they took care of their employees. Nickās company has been AMAZING, but Iām not really surprised, because they were this fantastic back in October when we had to evacuate for the Getty Fire. For example, whenever schools had closed, businesses hadnāt yet, they offered solutions and funding for child care, so their employees could still attend meetings and get work done. And that is just a quick example. How companies treat their employees greatly affects company loyalty and retention, so be on the lookout for things like this, over a job that lacks culture and has a higher pay scale. Companies who take care of you often give in the money department as well.
Madewell Pull-On Wrap Midi Skirt | White Camisole | Sandals (old, similar here and here) | Aerie Sunglasses | Braided Belt | Senreve Coda Belt Bag with Chain (cheaper chain here, use code ELLEMULENOS for $50 off your Senreve purchase of $300 or more.)
Speaking of compensation, the salary you start with will greatly affect all your future salaries, so it is imperative that you go in at the highest possible number you can negotiate. It might seem silly to say, but itās worth the mention, as so many people (women specifically) donāt try to negotiate. I went into it in more detail here, but an example in my life was with my longest tenured company:
Upon receiving the job offer (job #2), I asked for 12.5% more than they offered, but they said no and were adamant on keeping their offer as is. The offer was 5% more than I was making at job #1.
I ended up staying at job #2 for 5 + years and only had a 20% increase from my starting salary to the salary when I left. For reference, I stayed at job #1 for a little over a year and had a 12% increase from year 1 to the start of year 2. At job #2 I ended up only getting around a 4% increase YOY. (year over year)
If job #2 had accepted my negotiated salary before my job started and my salary increased at the same 4% increase YOY, I would have been making $10k more a year than I was when I left. Instead I left only making 6% more than the salary I tried to negotiate 5 years earlier.
All that to say, It is SO important to not only negotiate your benefits, but do so before you start, as those things will affect literally all of your future benefits to come, whether it is pay, the ability to work from home, or vacation days.
TIPS FOR NEGOTIATING BENEFITS
Know what you want. This sounds silly, but so many people donāt know what they want, so benefits blindside them when they start to go into affect. You know your list of must haveās and would like to haveās when youāre looking at an apartment or a house? Have that, but for jobs! An example for me was with vacation days. The last company I worked with only gave 1 week vacation until you had been there for 5 years. I said absolutely not, as the job I was leaving had just bumped me up to 3 weeks vacation and I wasnāt going to settle for less than 2 weeks. They ended up only giving me 1 week vacation for the rest of the year, but were willing to work with me regarding any other time I wanted to take off AND would bump me to 2 weeks vacation at the start of year 2. So, no, not the 3 weeks I wanted, but I was happy with where we ended up, as we were able to meet in the middle.
Do your research. Hopefully youāve already done this for the interview portion, but know what youāre going into. Read things like Glassdoor to get an idea of salaries, benefits, etc, so you arenāt going in blinded. You also may find out something that causes you to ask for more specific details in your offer! Also, know what is negotiable and what isnāt. While you never know unless you ask, things like insurance arenāt really negotiable unless youāre looking at a contract or part-time position vs full-time. A good personal example of this is a company who reached out to me upon me moving to LA. I knew them from a previous company relationship, and I knew they had money. The company they wanted to hire me for didnāt have a ton of cash, but I knew they had the ability to give me what I needed. The role was a managerial position overseeing everything stateside. They wanted to pay me less than I made at the company where I met them, do more work that I previously had been in charge of, AND they wanted me to be a contract worker. They were aware I was moving, so they knew about how much more would come out of my paycheck for taxes. It was a low ball offer if Iāve ever seen one. They even told my previous boss that āI kept asking for more moneyā. Typically a contract worker makes more, because the company doesnāt have to pay for benefits like PTO, insurance, etc. In this case, I knew what they were capable of paying, I knew they would work me hard, and that the pay wouldnāt get better over time, so I declined. I did have the benefit of knowing them personally before doing my āhomeworkā, but still. It wasnāt a good offer even if I hadnāt of known them. ALSO, besides doing research on the company specifically, you should also do market research, to know what other people in your field / position are making.
Get it in writing. But seriously though. Talk is cheap. I want it in writing and I want it in a contract. Depending on where you live, having it written in email form may work too. (It did when I lived in Texas.) I know so many people who were told āoh yeah Iāll work with you on being able to work from homeā or having āunlimited PTOā and companies donāt follow through. Fight to get it written out, so you are protected. During my last position, they didnāt do contracts (weird I know), but everything we negotiated on was in an email and that was what I needed to hold them to it.
Ask for more. This isnāt a new idea, but still worth mentioning. Ask for more money, PTO days, etc than you actually want, so if they negotiate with you, youāll hopefully land somewhere near what you actually want. Also, if you know what you want, per my first bullet point, then you know how low youād actually be willing to go. ALSO, you might be pleasantly surprised how companies might give you more than you actually want!
Meet in the middle. When you were doing your research, like in bullet point 2, you may have seen that they are a small company and canāt pay competitively, but they make give things like shares (equity) in the company to help compensate in other ways. If they have a service or product, take into account if they give credits or discounts in this area. For example, Uber gave shares to employees and back in 2019, when they went public, those employees got to cash in. They also give credits that can be used for Uber rides or Uber Eats. If you know know what you want (bullet point 1), you can weigh these against your must haveās and would likes.
Itās okay to walk. Itās a two way process. In negotiating you have to be able to accept or decline. In all of my initial offers I have negotiated salaries, but have never gotten what I asked for. It wasnāt a make a break for me as I wanted the job regardless. It was more of a āI have to at least try,ā so I didnāt feel weird taking the job anyway. My last offer they ended up giving me more than what I asked for, but that is another story for another day!
THOUGHTS ON NEGOTIATING
Itās easier to negotiate when you already have a job. Duh, but really. You might find that if you have been looking for a while, you might need to lower your requests. Donāt necessarily lower your standards, but know that you may need to bend a bit. Iāve been looking for a job since last July and am now starting to realize this.
I know itās scary, but you need to negotiate. I donāt like it either. I never like the feeling of asking for things, but it is necessary. I like to practice what you are going to say, so I do better representing myself during these kinds of meetings.
Ask how they perform reviews. Iāve mentioned this several times, especially regarding questions to ask during an interview, but Iām going to say it again here. You need to know how they do reviews, so you can be prepared to re-negotiate for yourself. If these happen āwhenever they need to happenā, that should be a red flag, but also a note, that they probably wonāt negotiate well after the job offer. Iām not saying donāt the job; however, you need to be aware of the situation. If you canāt get X upon the initial offer and they have some promise of doing it in the future, without it specifically in writing or a structured review process, it probably wonāt happen.
Be nice. You get further with honey than with vinegar! Be kind, donāt be demanding, and you will go further. People are more likely to try and help someone they connect with on a personal level than not. Being personal and optimistic is key, because even if you donāt āwinā the negotiation, they will at least remember you with grace.
Have any thoughts or tips I didnāt mention? Let me know in the comments, so other people can learn too!
Oh and I know this outfit isnāt really workplace friendly, but throw on a jean jacket or a blazer and it just might be! If you want to see it styled other ways, I recently featured it on an Art of Versatility post. Itās perfect to wear now, all the way through fall!
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, youāll probably like these:
How to Know When it's Time to Move On from your Current Company
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