The pay process is ongoing - if you want to reach your goals, it is important to be active in your pay development. By taking a long-term and strategic approach, you will have a better chance of reaching the salary level you want and building your career.
Take more responsibility
Taking on more responsibility should lead to a higher salary. If you take on a new area of responsibility or more qualified tasks, you should also address the question of what this entails in terms of salary increases. Don't wait until your pay review to do this. It should reflect your achievements over the past year. The new salary level should take effect when your new responsibilities begin.
Develop your skills
If you learn something new that allows you to do a better job or more difficult tasks, this is also a basis for a higher salary level. If you agree with your manager to undertake training in the coming year, you can propose a salary increase once the training is completed.
Communicate your results
Your manager may not always know exactly what you have done. Make sure you tell your manager regularly, throughout the year, when you have done something well or performed well.
Sharpen your arguments for the pay review
The salary review is a golden opportunity to influence your salary development. Make sure you demonstrate your value based on your skills, performance and results. Also explain how you contribute to the development and achievement of the organization's goals. Give concrete examples so that the salary-setting manager can see your contribution to the business. If you get your arguments across, you increase the chances of a good salary development.
Set a target salary and discuss with your manager what it will take for you to reach it in a few years. Read more about the salary review.
Change jobs
Does your employer not reward the work you put in or the responsibilities you take on? Or is there little prospect of reaching the salary level you want? Changing employers, employment sectors or positions in your current job gives you an opportunity to ask for a higher salary. Our salary statistics show that switching jobs is one of the easiest ways to make a career move.
Ask for the right starting salary
Make sure you get the right salary at your first job after graduation. A starting salary that is too low is difficult to correct afterwards, with the risk of falling behind in terms of salary throughout your career.
Pensions are important
If there is no collective agreement at your workplace, you need to find out whether your employer pays money into your occupational pension and the insurances included in a collective agreement.
If there is no occupational pension, your actual salary will be considerably lower than the amount you receive in your salary envelope, as you will have to contribute to your occupational pension and insurance yourself.
Other elements that affect pay
- Market - Supply and demand of different occupations. With a broader labor market, the chance of higher pay increases.
- Industry - Profitability and turnover of money. For example, there are higher financial values in the pharmaceutical industry than in agriculture.
- Employer - Private, state or municipal. Wages are generally lower in the public sector than in the private sector. The different profitability of companies also affects wage levels.