Reasons for Salary Increase Requests

"I really deserve a raise!" Common phrases such as this are often heard when talking to adults in the workforce. A majority of the workforce feels it is underpaid. As an employer or manager, there comes a time when one must discern if the pay is a serious issue and that would involve looking at the factors causing the employees to want a pay increase.

One of the first reasons is the economy. Stock plummets, higher oil prices, banks foreclosing all cause the average American to worry about their own financial futures. When unemployment rates spike, people worry about the stability of their income and wish that it was higher allowing them to socket away for any hard times ahead. People do not want to be put in a position, like this summer, where for some families it was a choice on groceries or the fuel to get to their jobs. This is a huge crisis for the average employee and they need to feel like the job they are giving so much time too, is understanding of the higher costs in living and willing to compensate them accordingly when possible.

Another reason for the constant salary increase requests would stem from a popular theory called the fast food mind-sight. People want everything and they want it now. In other words, they are not willing to spend ten years with a company for a minor promotion commonly. If an employee is working hard and completing their job they want more instant gratification in the terms of the employment to reflect that. Loyalty, while not a complete thing of the past, is certainly not the average employee's only option in terms of moving up in the world. With more and more opportunities each year it becomes harder and harder to maintain a loyalty to a company that isn't willing to grant competitive raises and salary. The spikes on common merchandise in the economy also validate the switching of jobs more frequently, especially in the younger generations, when salary is not granting them the raise or rate that the neighbor company will.

Human beings have certain needs emotionally that must be met for a satisfactory relationship. Jobs play such a big part of the adult's waking life that it is in a sense a relationship one enters into. When an employee agrees to accept a job offer, they are giving away a huge chunk of their time to that business. One of the biggest needs in any relationship is that the individual feels appreciated. Ask why one ends a relationship with a friend, a marriage, or even quits a job and the most common answer, even in a complex explanation, most of the time it will boil down to the person did not feel they were appreciated. A company being more complicated than another human being, can validate this need for appreciation by giving annual salary reviews and staying competitive with the salary they offer the individual. Nothing says that a company appreciates the hard work by dedicated, loyal employee's more than a reward for the efforts.

Last but not least, previously in this article fast food society mindsets were mentioned, but there is also another mindset that has long been a mainstream part of American culture. It is coined "Keeping up with the Jones." How does that relate to a desire for salary increases? When a percentage of people are spending more money than they earn to keep up an appearance, they are essentially putting themselves into debt with banks, credit cards, and other lenders. Already a slave to the work week and limited by the hours in a day, taking on second and third jobs is not always an option. As a result, once they have worked fairly for a company they want employment that will help them meet this need. It is not the fault of a company when one spends more than they should to keep up with current trends, however, because they are giving the company so much they want a little something back. So then they feel the need to say and ask for salary increases. In today's world, the amount of debt and borrowing the average consumer finds themselves in to "keep up" can be a scary thing when banks begin to file bankruptcy and creditors are crying for help so loudly. This puts pressure on the workplace to increase pay and help abate the stress and fears.

Humans are programmed to always want more. The grass is always greener when your standing on the street looking over the fence. While all of the reasons in this article are valid cases to answer the question presented by this topic, this topic has been around as long as the workplace. It will never go away and people won't stop saying they wished they made more money. I'm sure there are many more individual reasons for the phrase. If one performed a street survey I think the number of people who said they were satisfied by the money they made would be much smaller than the ones that felt underpaid for their efforts. As an employer recognizing that some of the demands for salary increases are frivolous and some are valid is an important factor to successfully operating and keeping the employee's happy longer term.