The expert gave advice to Russians who decided to achieve a salary increase

If the employer does not raise the salary for a long time, the employee may have a desire to ask for an increase in wages. On March 3, Lusine Abgaryan, Chief Operating Officer of Ventra HR Holding, told Izvestia how to conduct a dialogue with management on this topic, and also shared the main criteria by which to assess when it is worth talking about it.

"When initiating such conversations, it is always worth considering the context or the "mood of the moment." At a minimum, if a company is going through a difficult economic period or the industry is going through difficult times, talking about money may not be timely. This does not mean that they do not need to be led. This means that you need to be prepared for potentially emotional reactions and try not to get emotionally involved yourself," she said.

According to her, the first simple step will help to prepare for a conversation with the boss about a promotion — to collect the results of the work and show how they affect the business. This is a structured report on an employee's achievements. To do this, you need to think about what will look most convincing to the manager.

"A good argument in a conversation is a willingness to go beyond your current tasks and take on more volume or responsibility. In times of economic turmoil, this may turn out to be one of the few working approaches to get more money for greater or qualitatively different benefits that you will bring to the business," Abgaryan added.

At the same time, she explained that the fear of talking about a raise is usually associated with uncertainty, when a person does not know what reaction his request will cause.

Therefore, you should rationalize everything, conduct mental rehearsals of the conversation, compose possible questions and prepare answers to them.

"Identify the pros and cons, think about what you lose and gain by initiating such a conversation. Try to imagine yourself in the place of your interlocutor and think about what questions or objections he may have. An important addition is to have such a conversation in a calm emotional state," the expert emphasized.

She also warned that you should be prepared for the fact that the boss will refuse to discuss the promotion immediately. The motives and forms of refusals can be different.

"If they refuse to talk to you without giving any explanations, ignore a direct request to evaluate the results of your work and the associated remuneration, and do not indicate any prospects, then perhaps this is an unpleasant signal that your value to the company is not too great at the moment."- the specialist drew attention.

However, according to her, most often the employer does not go to detailed discussions of salary issues with each employee when there are clear and reasonable explanations: the company does not have money at the moment, the salary review has been postponed for a year for all employees against the background of a difficult situation, and so on. In this case, the employee needs to understand whether he agrees with the situation or is looking for new options.

At the same time, if the boss refuses, you should not get annoyed, complain or threaten — this is not constructive and definitely will not improve the situation. If the dialogue takes place on a calm note, then it should be clarified what depends on the employee and what exactly he can do to get a salary increase.

"If a salary increase is not possible at the moment, try to discuss alternative forms of remuneration, if the nature of the business and the specifics of your specialty and role allow it. We can talk about increasing the variable share of remuneration (percentages or bonuses). A number of companies encourage employees in non—material ways: for example, by extending the VMI, compensating for a number of costs (for mobile communications and the Internet, food, transport)," concluded Abgaryan.

Earlier, on January 15, it was reported that one in three Russians surveyed (28%) has planned to change jobs in 2025. This was mentioned in the results of the study of the Russian School of Management. Among the most common reasons for such a decision are low wages (47% of respondents answered this way), lack of opportunities for professional growth (45%), and lack of career prospects (39%).