Shall i ask for a raise?

Bassmansam

Bassmansam

Bassmansam

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Been working fully remote in a Business Intelligence role since September 2023, was hired mainly for Power BI/ Excel skills on 35k, got a small raise to 36,225 in 2024. £500 bonus last year not no salary raise.

First year was a bit of a doss mainly just doing enhancements to existing reports using dax/ power query with a fair amount of "free time". Second year my manager ( only knows excel/ power bi) went on maternity and her cover is way more technical (knows python sql ect), the business wanted to "level up" the BI department so to speak so getting him in has been good as I was encouraged to make use of SQL and Python. Lets just say that the cover manager is good technically but he is not good as a manager and the team have been exposed a bit throughout last year which hasn't been nice.
I learned SQL at uni years ago (graduated 2010 but worked mainly admin jobs until i got my first analyst role in 2021 (mainly excel)) so did a refresher course in that at last year. I had done a python course on udemy in 2020 and i did a Pandas course last summer.
Since then i have automated a couple of reports using SQL (used window functions and CTE's so not like its basic stuff)and Python/Pandas. Have also used power automate for snapshotting data into excel( we don't have our own db).

To add to this since August our team reports into someone else on the board and they want things done yesterday and trys to micromanage us at times which isn't pleasent and i'm not really willing to work under this style of management for just over 36k.

My manager is back from maternity Monday week and I assume i will have a 1-2-1 with her soon after(not had one since she went on leave in March). I really want to ask for a raise and given that I am using these extra skills that i was hired for I think i have a good chance so just wanted to see what you guys think.
 
Get all of this down on an email so you can use it (send it to her the morning of your meeting rather than blindside her imho) just saying it can be forgotten or ignored.
Also, if you don't ask, you don't get. Maybe do some research on salaries in your area physically too to back up your request.
 
When you say 'ask for a raise' you need to go about this properly - outline the value you're adding, why you're worth more money to them, what you can (genuinely) get elsewhere etc.

Don't just say 'can i have more money please because I think I should?'
 
In my experience you’ll generally only be successful at getting a raise if you have leverage, simply doing your job and asking for more money isn’t enough.

To get an actual decent raise normally you need an offer from somewhere else, then see if your current place will counter offer.

It’s also always a good exercise to interview at other firms, get some offers on the table to get some leverage, if it doesn’t work - leave anyway.
 
Kenai said:
When you say 'ask for a raise' you need to go about this properly - outline the value you're adding, why you're worth more money to them, what you can (genuinely) get elsewhere etc.

Don't just say 'can i have more money please because I think I should?'
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I will , thing is apart from the maternity manager i'm the most technical person on the team and i'm sure the two are being paid similar to me. Plus i automated a report that has been requested for a long time and takes up to 30 mins of someones time every morning. Did a couple of other less important as well . I think i have done enough to ask for 40k at least. Thing is my manager will have a lot on her plate when shes come back so i need to go about this in the right manner.
 
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Felon said:
In my experience you’ll generally only be successful at getting a raise if you have leverage, simply doing your job and asking for more money isn’t enough.

To get an actual decent raise normally you need an offer from somewhere else, then see if your current place will counter offer.

It’s also always a good exercise to interview at other firms, get some offers on the table to get some leverage, if it doesn’t work - leave anyway.
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they didn't hire me for sql/python though so i think i am adding extra as it is.
 
Bassmansam said:
they didn't hire me for sql/python though so i think i am adding extra as it is.
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Well, you accepted those additional responsibilities at the same rate - so it won’t matter that much, you don’t have leverage - people don’t generally just get raises because they ask for them.

There normally has to be an actual promotion or a counter offer - for someone to get a raise of any sort.
 
The real leverage here will be when you hand in your notice for a better offer. If they value you, they’ll ask to talk. Otherwise enjoy your new position.
 
Felon said:
Well, you accepted those additional responsibilities at the same rate - so it won’t matter that much, you don’t have leverage - people don’t generally just get raises because they ask for them.

There normally has to be an actual promotion or a counter offer - for someone to get a raise of any sort.
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Well at the very least, it's been a way to practice my sql/python skills so its not all bad i guess. I updated my cv over the xmas break so looks like i may soon be applying to new jobs.

Cheers
 
£36.225k, £500 bonus, no pay rise last year implies it's time to move on.

You talk about asking for £40k at least but that seems too low, that's basically just giving you the pay rises you should've got in 2025 and 2026. Based on what you've described you should be putting yourself forward for jobs paying £55k+ in London and meanwhile presenting the case as to why you need an updated job description and £45k salary as the mid-point of the £40-50k you think you should get in your area. Your manager coming back from mat leave probably will need to get her feet under the table and may feel a bit blindsided especially if she needs to get up to speed with changes her cover has implemented so I wouldn't expect it to be top of her list. Realistically to get the sort of pay rise you need you will probably need them to give you an updated job title - it's generally easier for a manager to build the case for a pay rise when linked to a 'promotion' of sorts. Getting a 25% pay hike with no change in job title is pretty unusual, even if it is justified. In my whole career, I think the biggest pay rise I've even just been given with no changes to job title was 11% whereas I've had over 30% pay rises when they updated my job title, even though I didn't actually have to do anything different than I was already doing.
 
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Bassmansam said:
Well at the very least, it's been a way to practice my sql/python skills so its not all bad i guess. I updated my cv over the xmas break so looks like i may soon be applying to new jobs.

Cheers
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That’s the best way to look at it, even in current roles where somebody has taken a lot more work on and does more responsibilities - I can barely remember a time where they actually got a good raise, they normally leave.

It’s stingy like that here in the UK, good people will leave because an existing employer won’t pay anything extra to keep them, yet it then costs them way more to get a replacement *shrugs*
 
Maybe ask her if she needs a Nanny? You could do that while doing nothing in work.... :D
 
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