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I have been working at my company for over 15 years. In that time I have gained immense knowledge on the proprietary software that the company needs for everyday operation, and, I'm the only person that knows the system so well. It would take a new comer years to get up to speed.

Recently one of my coworkers that was also here 10+ years quit so I'm essentially indispensable. Should I use this opportunity to ask for a substantial raise (50% increase to salary)? Basically my company is screwed if I quit so I feel like I have a lot of leverage. How would you react if you were the boss?

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    Does this answer your question? How to give a polite ultimatum?
    – gnat
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 10:19
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    Nobody is indispensable….They could offer the employee that quit and offer they cannot turn down. It would probably be cheaper to do that temporarily than a permanent pay increase for you.
    – Donald
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 12:32
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    "The graveyards are full of indispensable people".
    – Laconic Droid
    Commented Dec 11, 2021 at 1:09

7 Answers 7

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Depends. Do you deserve it? Were you seriously underpaid before?

If you are just asking for more money because you have become indispensible, I would probably pay you more money in the short term and work hard on hiring and training 2 replacements. One for the guy who left and one for you. As soon as I have a halfway decent replacement, I would get rid of the totally overpaid extortionist.

So... you do have leverage. And you can use it either for long term benefits to get the pay you deserve. You will probably never get replaced, they need people that can operate their software and paying fairly should not be a problem. Or you can use it for short term benefits, milking this company until they reach the point where it's cheaper to fire you.

With 15 years on the job, you strike me as more of a long term planner. But ultimately it's up to you. If you need money fast, legally, and don't care for job security or references, it might be a good short term solution.

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    I'm not trying to brag but even with 2 people would not reach my productivity. The proprietary softwares we use is huge. So my question is even with a 50% increase in salary I would still be cheaper (or roughly the same) as hiring and training 2 qualified replacements why would they want to do that?
    – user129827
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 8:56
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    Unless you are severely underpaid asking for a 50% in one go will definitely be seen as extortion.
    – calofr
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 9:06
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    @naiva If I learned anything in my work then it's never assume you are indispensible. If there is any issue, any half-decent developer will be able to debug himself to the problem and fix it, sooner or later. Productivity is one thing, but getting things done is another. New employers might need more time, but they will eventually get it done. Should you ask for a raise based on your expetise? Yes. Should you be greedy and ask for 50% more? Depends are you heavily underpaid now. What comes around goes around, so I would be very careful with my decision.
    – Chapz
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 11:29
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    @naiva Is there a reason it's impossible to train someone to close to your standard, or for them to exist elsewhere?
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 13:07
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    Of course he deserves it. In capitalism and free market you deserve as much for your skills as you can get.
    – Marcin Raczkowski
    Commented Dec 11, 2021 at 9:34
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"it would take a newcomer a few years to up to speed" and "I am essentially indispensable" are very bold claims and unlikely. (The funny point is: i read this question and thought "narcissistic", i checked your other questions, but I will ignore that input for this answer).

Some thinking about your evaluation: I have met many people like you who think that they are indispensable. Most of the times, the projects get better immediately after they leave (or are fired). Many times such people really don't see the brilliant coworkers who already understood everything but always keep silent because they understood the mentality of the person early. Many times such people mistake formal control over something for the right to define new approaches out and block the progress. Usually assuming to be indispensable is something which, if your manager understands it, will put you on the list of people to leave.

Now to your question:

  • Do not blackmail your employer
  • Do not show your manager that you think you are indispensible
  • Do evaluate your market value honestly, and assume your manager knows it
  • Maybe add a premium for loyalty/knowledge/experience to your market value, and aim for that.

The logics is:

  • If you are so irrational to go even if you are paid market value + premium, negotiating wont make sense from the viewpoint of your boss.
  • Establishing the "I can get 50% more because you don't have an alternative" baseline in your conversations with your manager can only mean that this will hold in the future - even if you get now what you want, they will introduce replacements, and the fire you - and you wont have any good argument left.

I recommend:

  • Have a conversation with your manager (in case that you believe in the produce you are maintaining) like the following "hey, we have a really bad bus factor here, I recommend to bring on 2 new colleagues to the team to get a little more redundancy. I could be training/supervising them to bring the up to speed faster." - in this case you have set yourself up as the natural team leader for the future, show your value, vision and responsibility. (all of which you can ask for a pay raise without triggering your manager to write you off).
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  • @RedSonja: it is also what served me well, money wise, in my career.
    – Sascha
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 10:45
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    Hearing the line „pay me 50% more because there is no alternative“ from my employee sounds like a challenge to find their replacement as soon as possible.
    – DrMrstheMonarch
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 13:15
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    Re: "Do evaluate your market value honestly, and assume your manager knows it" .... I'd think twice about the second part there. Seen a few cases where mgmt assessment of this was quite optimistic, from their point of view. If so, leaving this disconnect in place sets up an avoidable confrontation // Very good answer tho.
    – Pete W
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 17:11
  • Another note about being indispensable: If your boss tells you you're indispensable, it is also not true (it's never really true). It is likely them trying to flatter you to increase positivity in your relationship with them. The more positive your relationship with them, the more likely you are to stay as an employee and also potentially more likely to accept lesser compensation that you otherwise would.
    – rooby
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 7:24
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One thing to add to other great answers:

What's your Best alternative to a negotiated agreement? If they figure your specific knowledge makes you worth 1.5X to this company, but only 1.0X to any other company, you are liable to provoke a showdown. If others will also pay you 1.5X it's a different matter -- with the human factors of course still being critical.

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If you are willing to extort your employer and ruin a good relationship in exchange for money, then go ahead and do this. I am assuming that the relationship is good, and hence the pay was decent, since you've worked there for 15 years. They can indeed probably not fire you easily, and will give you the raise when you threaten to leave.

There is of course the possibility that they will not give you this raise. Maybe they don't negotiate with employees that threaten their company. Maybe they have been looking for a replacement for a while already. Maybe they are planning to implement a new system. Maybe there's another reason why they will not have a problem with letting you go if you start to behave like this. Maybe you are not as unreplaceable as you think you are.

Make sure you consider this, and consider whether you want to burn bridges with your employer. If you still think this is fine, you can do this. Your boss will, of course, feel extorted and very unhappy with you.

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  • Negotiating for a better salary for unique skill set is not an extortion.
    – Marcin Raczkowski
    Commented Dec 11, 2021 at 9:31
  • @MarcinRaczkowski Correct, but demanding a 50% pay raise because 'the company is screwed when I quit' has nothing to do with negotiating and having a unique skill set.
    – Jeroen
    Commented Dec 12, 2021 at 19:52
  • How so? If he truly is indespensible (and I'm going to assume he is ... at least for now), then he's in excellent negotiating position.
    – Marcin Raczkowski
    Commented Dec 13, 2021 at 17:42
  • Of course he is in a good negotiating position. I'm not denying that. I am saying that using this negotiating position to gain an exorbitant raise because the company cannot fire him and he can basically ask what he wants, or else he leaves, is extortion: gaining something through the threat of leaving.
    – Jeroen
    Commented Dec 13, 2021 at 19:18
  • by that definition all employment is extortion: gaining something through the threat of firing. Companies use their dominant negotiating position all the time, forcing people into unpaid overtime for example. So nah, it's not extortion. For it to be extortion company would need to have no other option - as they are they can still fire him and pay some consultant stupid money to keep the system functioning. Or contact any of the former employees for consulting. So no. Company is not being extorted here, don't use loaded language like that.
    – Marcin Raczkowski
    Commented Dec 14, 2021 at 22:04
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Good answers already, my addition is that there is one factor you should never overlook in a leverage situation. Your leverage also applies to your colleague who quit. He may be willing to cover for a 25% or 50% increase and you lever yourself onto the sidewalk.

Because as an employer faced with an ultimatum I'd be looking at every angle that doesn't include me bowing to extortion. That would be a last resort solution and as other answers point out probably temporary.

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If I were the manager, I would urgently start searching for a commercial or open source software package that could replace the unsupportable proprietary one. I would train up several members of staff on it.

I would then switch to the new software. I could then make you redundant because your job was to support something we no longer need.

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Absolutely yes.

If you are now expected to do your own job and at least part of responsibilities of a person who quit you should absolutely demand a raise.

Every other person here who says "are you underpaid", "are you worth it", are missing a point. This is not a moral choice, this is a business. You're selling your time, you are free to negotiate your rate.

Supply and demand works for workers too.

So yes, you should absolutely negotiate for better salary for yourself.

Just keep in mind that there exist people who might not be aware how indispensable you are, or will cut off their own nose to spite their face, so be aware you might need new job soon.

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  • The people saying "are you underpaid" aren't taking about morals. They are talking about business decisions about whether you are asking for something which will encourage them to replace you as soon as possible.
    – matt freake
    Commented Dec 11, 2021 at 11:39
  • @mattfreake company will try to replace him sooner or later anyway, he can at least get paid well in the meantime.
    – Marcin Raczkowski
    Commented Dec 13, 2021 at 17:43

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