Asking for a raise

Bring evidence, name a specific number at the top of a realistic range, tie it to the role, and have a plan for "no". Ambitious asks usually pay, but they cost a bit of goodwill if pushed too hard.

• Evidence: Some
• Takes: an evening to prepare
• Work

Right now

1. Write down the number you want and the lowest you’d accept. You’ll need both.
2. Open a note called “what I did this year”. List three results with a number or a name attached: “Cut invoice errors by half”, “Trained the two new starters”.
3. Book the conversation. Ask for 20 minutes and say it’s about pay. Don’t ambush your manager in a corridor.

Before

• Get market data. Check salary surveys, job ads and government pay statistics for your job and area, and ask one or two people in similar roles. You want a realistic range, not one figure from one website.
• Aim near the top of the range your evidence supports. In a 2025 meta-analysis of 90 studies with over 16,000 people, higher first offers were strongly linked to better final deals. Ambitious openings also led to more failed negotiations and made the other side feel worse about the deal [1]. So ambitious, but defensible.
• Consider a narrow range. “Somewhere between 58 and 61” can work as well as a single figure, as long as you’d be happy with the bottom of it. In five experiments, some kinds of range offers got better terms without making the other side feel pushed around. How wide and how extreme the range was mattered [2].
• Frame it around the role. Researchers suggest bold asks land better when they show what’s in it for the other side, or come with options [3]. “Here’s what the role has grown into” works better than “my rent went up”.
• Prepare for “no”. Decide what else you’d take: a review date, a title, training budget, or a written plan.

During

• Say your number early and then stop talking. The silence after it is normal. Let them respond.
• Give two or three pieces of evidence, not ten. Results first, market data second.
• Ask questions when they push back. Is the issue budget, timing or how they see your work? Each needs a different answer.
• Don’t decide on the spot if you’re unsure.

After

• Send a short summary email the same day: what was said and any next date.
• If it was a no with a plan, put the review date in your calendar and keep your results list going.
• If it was a flat no with no reason, that’s information about this job, not proof you asked badly. You can try again later, or look at what other employers would pay.
• If it was a yes, get it in writing.

Why this works

The first-offer findings are the most solid part. The 2025 meta-analysis found a clear advantage for opening first and for opening high, and also found the cost: more stalemates and a worse feeling on the other side [1]. With a manager you see every day, that cost matters, hence “near the top of what you can justify”, not “as high as possible”. The range and framing ideas rest on a few experiments and one review [2][3].

Gender needs a careful reading. A meta-analysis of 55 effect sizes found women were slightly less likely than men to start a negotiation. The gap was small, shrank over the decades, and was smaller when it was clear that negotiating was expected [4]. In four experiments, evaluators judged women who asked for more pay more harshly than men who did the same [5]. And in a survey of about 4,600 Australian employees, women asked for raises as often as men, once hours worked were accounted for, but were about a quarter less likely to get one [6]. So if you’re a woman and your ask lands worse than a male colleague’s, that says more about how asks get judged than about how you asked.

Rated Some. The first-offer evidence is large but mostly comes from lab negotiations over prices, not employees asking their own managers for a raise.

Topics: Work, Pay, Negotiation, Raise, Preparation

Sources checked 4 October 2026. Spot a mistake? Tell us.