In exchange for everything you do for your employer, you get all kinds of benefits. The most important is probably your monthly salary. If all goes well, the amount will match the value you have for the organization. This also means that your salary – apart from increases linked to the collective labor agreement to compensate for inflation – must grow with you as you become better at what you do, perform more tasks or get another position. With these four tips you can achieve that faster during your salary negotiations!
1. Know your worth
The salary you can get depends on many different factors: think of your position, responsibilities, age, education and experience. In addition, the economic principle of supply and demand plays a major role. At the moment, the labor market is scarce, which means that there are more vacancies than job seekers. That makes every employee more valuable to employers, but even more so within professional groups and industries with large staff shortages.
In the Salary Compass of Intermediary and the Salary check of Loonwijzer you can discover how others earn with similar work. That gives you a good idea of how competitive your salary is.
2. Choose the right moment
Have you decided you want to earn more? Then it's time to negotiate. Think carefully about when you start doing this. Are you starting a new job or position, have you just had a good assessment interview, successfully completed a trajectory or learned something new – and received a diploma for it, for example? Then that is the time to start negotiations.
3. Dare to ask
The most important thing is that you dare to ask for more salary and do not think for your employer. If necessary, pretend that you are negotiating for someone else. If you don't ask for anything, you often get nothing. Of course the answer could be 'no'. But then you can ask what needs to change in order to qualify for a salary increase. Make clear agreements about this and always put these on paper. Do you get anything done with your negotiation? Then also put this in writing.
4. Bet higher
If you start with the amount you want to add, you will no longer have room for negotiation and you will most likely end up lower. So always add a little extra. Moreover, don't focus on salary: you may be able to negotiate fringe benefits, such as a company car or bicycle, extra vacation days or a bonus scheme. So look at the complete package of benefits and career opportunities in the long term. And are you not getting the salary you hoped for? Then you can always ask whether your employer wants to meet you after six months or if you have proven yourself.
Agreements about your collective labor agreement
At the moment we are doing it De Unie makes every effort to make better wage agreements and to record these in collective labor agreements. Are we at the negotiating table with your employer or trade association? Check here how it is with your collective agreement.
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More information
Need help with your salary negotiations? Contact our Service Center! We give you tips and think along with you about your tactics. We are available every working day from 8.30 am to 17.00 pm via sc@unie.nl en (0345) 851 963.
