Recently I have met my manager to ask him a significant raise. I based my demand on:
- HR guidelines for the level of my position and
- what I have seen in the industry on payscale and glassdoor.
I have underlined my recent achievements and said I thought this salary adjustment was needed in order for it to make sense. The raise I asked is about a 15% increase of my current salary. Currently, my salary is in the "development" range as stated by HR guidelines, which is stated to be "only for short term" and what I asked constitutes a salary in the middle range of the guidelines.
My manager looked very surprised, told me this was a significant amount and reminded me that regular annual raises are around 2%.
My question is: is it considered legitimate to base salary increase demands on HR guidelines / demand a bigger raise in order to match the market ?
I'm not sure if I did something wrong. My manager seemed to find it unreasonable but told me he would not give me his final decision until next month when the annual salary raises will be given to all employees.
Relevant info: My manager is very satisfied with my work and has told me so a couple of times recently. We have no history of conflict whatsoever and I have no reason to believe he likes me or not. Also, this is the first time I ever ask for a raise and I have worked in this department for two years.
Edit:
The HR guidelines I am talking about are salary ranges according to 5 different stages and for each level. The phases are
- Development (new employee, needs a lot of supervision),
- A (employee needs more supervision than normal),
- B (employee needs regular supervision),
- C (employee needs little supervision),
- Exceptional (contribution far exceeds expectation for level).
There is a range for each stage. The salary I asked is exactly the middle of the B range. I have been in the "development" range for a year even though I bring a lot of new ideas to the department and technical skills equal to or above those of my colleagues (recognized by my colleagues and by my manager).