Am I In the position to ask for more?

Question

I've worked at my current company for 1 and a half years as an admin and have now been interviewed for a internal role which is a major step up.

My office manager who interviewed me refused to tell me what the pay bracket is and gave me a flat figure instead.

My current Admin role has overtime and pays time and a half for one weekend a month worked which leaves me, after tax and National insurance, at 1540 a month. The new role no paid overtime instead I get Time Off In Lieu for weekend working - this leaves me at 1584 a month net.

How do i explain to my boss that the new salary doesn't reflect my worth given my experience and demonstrated competence as well as the fact that this promotion only leaves me £20 a month better off'

My boss said that the salary isn't negotiable - can i ask for a larger salary?

Answer 1

You can always ask for more salary.

The company can always do anything from give you more salary, give you a little, give you something else, give you nothing, take things away, and/or fire you.

Part of that is dependent on arbitrary factors, but the part you can control is the value the company believes they derive from you. This is part what the general market says you are worth (interviewing for jobs with other firms can reveal this, market research is a weak second) and part how integral to what they're doing you are.

Your best asset in any salary negotiation is the ability to go get a better paying job somewhere else. Supply and demand conspire to create the set point of your salary. If you can't get another job despite your seniority, then they don't have any real incentive to give you more money.

So get some hard data on what you're worth, talk to them and say "Look, the going rate for someone doing this with this much experience is £X, I value this company and would like to stay and grow here but it's not reasonable for me to be paid less than what others would pay me, and roll the dice, assuming you do have other options.