Employer Type: Non-Profit Organization (United States)

You're only worth what someone is willing to pay. That being said, SLP's are extremely hard to come by right now....especially in home health. Make sure you are getting paid what you are worth. I contract with different home health agencies and average $100/visit. How? Because I asked for it and they needed the service I offered. You should do the same with your next job quest!

Talking about pay is kinda taboo in my company, so specifics are hard to come by. From what I've been able to understand however is that annual increases are expected and usually given. Based on my experience and observations:

* Merit pay increases range from 3% (for those who meet expectations and stay out of trouble) to 4% (For those who show initiative and accept leadership) to 5% (for those who consistently go "above and beyond").

* A co-worker who earned a 5% last year routinely works unreported overtime in order to reach her goals. She's slowly showing signs of burnout though.

* The company's Vice Presidents makes merit increase decisions based on the following: how much salary money is left in the budget at end of fiscal year, the employee's written self-evaluation, the supervisor's written evaluation, employee-of-the-month nominations received, and the employee's quantitative productivity statistics.

When it comes to negotiating salary, I keep in mind that almost everything I do day-to-day fits into a goal of doing the best I can on the annual review. To that end, I volunteer for extra committees and offer to help organize special events, I let my supervisor know my personal goals and frequently ask for his feedback, I attend as many trainings as I can, I track all my productivity statistics and write them into my self-evaluation, I do my best to get to know co-workers outside of work, and finally I make use of the company's "open door policy" pass along good ideas or constructive suggestions to corporate leadership. My first year in the company, I was a 3%-er without doing all this. My second year, after using the above tactics, I became a 4%-er.

(yay) My advice to anyone wanting to negotiate their best possible merit increase is to first get realistic expectations. For example, my husband's company grants 5% raises for average work and they get end-of-year bonuses. Second, set goals for yourself and track your own progress so you can let your supervisor know you are interested in personal/professional growth (not just more $). Then at annual review time, you can demonstrate why you deserve the best and your supervisor will be willing to go to bat for you. Third, have an accurate realistic idea of your strengths and weaknesses. Know what you "bring to the table" and what you are doing to improve on. The result will be a more confident you who easily demonstrates your worthiness for your share of the cake. Best of luck!

I am going into a meeting with two heads of the treatment program that I work for to ask for a raise. My reason is that I am the only Life Skills facilitator in the program which makes my position unique. I also cook, drive clients to and from our facility, keep the van maintained and any other job the program manager ask of me. My problem is I love my job but I am under paid for all the work I do.

One year I had my annual review which was also the time my boss declared what our increase would be for the following year. When I realized that the amount proposed was considerably below what I had been promised, it seemed appropriate to respectfully challenge my boss's interpretation of an appropriate salary increase for me. Also, I reminded him that it was my understanding that my salary would be increased by a certain amount by this time in my tenure. My boss did some figuring and offered a proposal that was quite satisfactory to me.

I have never taken a job for the original salary offer. Always ask for more. Don't set yourself up by asking for too much out of range, but something that you would be happy with coming to a middle ground. In social services, an extra thousand dollars more a year is great, so if you can get it, try!! Even if you are happy with the job offer, you still want to try for a little more! It shows them that you are confident in your abilities and won't settle for less!!

When I took the job I soon found out that I was earning significantly less than my internal peer group. After about 6 - 9 months of proving myself, I took a copy of the standard job description for managers in our department and agreed that it was very close to what the other managers in my division were doing.

I was also doing everything in the job description, but much much more. I edited the description to include my additional duties and presented both to my supervisor, explaining exactly how my role(s) were much more extensive and diversified than that of managers in other operations. After a short conversation, I had earned an 8% increase in salary on top of our standard 3% cost of living increase.

I had a good relationship with the CEO of my last job, and I was still in college at the time. So after I was done with school, I asked for a raise and made a pretty decent argument for it, and I got it!

A story that will hopefully be helpful and to the point. When I knew that I wanted a raise, instead of high tailing it into my immediate bosses office and asking for a raise two months prior I started to increase my workload on my own, helping others, finishing my work fast and efficiently and freeing my immediate boss of some of his duities. Once I knew he was on my side and depended on me for work that was not my original job I knew I had him. That wasn't it, I also knew that raises came from the Executive Director. At the next staff meeting I listened attentively for a loop hole where I can involve myself directly with a new project or something. Well, my executive director expressed intrest in getting the young girls from the inner city more involved in programs. That was my ticket. It took me about 2 to 3 weeks to write up a program and then I presented it to my Director and he loved it. Of course I got the raise! Hope this helps.