How to Ask for a Pay Raise at Work?

Quick Answer – How do you ask for a pay raise at work?

The best way to ask for a pay raise is to prepare before your performance review. Agree on clear goals and KPIs with your manager, track your achievements throughout the year, quantify your business impact, and communicate your progress regularly. When it’s time to discuss a salary increase, present evidence of the value you’ve created rather than simply asking for more money. Employees who consistently exceed expectations are far more likely to receive a higher salary increase or promotion.

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According to salary budget surveys by The Conference Board, WTW (Willis Towers Watson), and WorldatWork, average salary increases for 2026 are expected to be around 3.4% to 3.6%. Organisations typically reserve larger pay increases and promotions for employees who consistently exceed expectations and deliver measurable business value.

But with inflation sitting around 4% to 4.5%, an average salary increase may not be enough to maintain your purchasing power. In simple terms, if your salary increase is lower than inflation, you are effectively earning less than last year.

Changing jobs can sometimes bring a 10% to 20% or even higher salary increase, but in uncertain market conditions, that may not be easy or realistic for everyone.

Promotions can also bring higher increases, often in the 8% to 12% range. But to be considered for a promotion, you first need to be seen as a high performer.

So the real question is:

How do you negotiate a better salary at work and position yourself as a high performer?

A Simple Checklist to Position Yourself for a Raise

1. Know Your Performance Goals and KPIs

Start by understanding your goals, KPIs, and what success looks like in your role. If these weren’t clearly defined when you joined, schedule time with your manager to align on them.

Don’t rely on assumptions. A raise is much easier to justify when both you and your manager agree on what you’re expected to deliver.

2. Turn Your KPIs into Measurable Achievements

During your salary review, numbers speak louder than opinions. Early in my cybersecurity career, my objectives included:

• Set up network security for two new sites.
• Achieve PCI-DSS compliance for network security controls.
• Segment the corporate network infrastructure.

These are easy to measure. The harder part is the “soft” expectations that appear in almost every role, such as:

• Resolve incidents quickly.
• Respond to customer requests promptly.
• Stay up to date with new technologies.

These are too vague to prove during a performance review, so I converted them into measurable achievements.

For example:

• Resolve incidents quickly → I agreed on incident response and resolution SLAs.
• Respond to customer requests promptly → I tracked customer satisfaction scores and response times.
• Stay up to date with technology → I set my objective to achieve CISSP certification, which became clear evidence of professional growth.

3. Break your performance goals into quarterly milestones

Don’t wait until the end of the year to make progress. Split your goals into smaller milestones so you can demonstrate consistent achievements throughout the year.

For example:

Quarter 1

• Secure the first new site (a quick win).

Quarter 2

• Complete the PCI-DSS  network security controls.

Quarter 3

• Secure the second new site.

Quarter 4

• Complete the network segmentation project.

For ongoing responsibilities such as incident management or customer satisfaction, I reviewed the metrics every month so I always had evidence of my performance.

3. Plan to Exceed Expectations

Meeting your goals is expected. Becoming a high performer is one of the fastest ways to earn a larger salary increase and position yourself for a promotion.

Think about initiatives that create additional value for the business, such as:

• Improving an existing process.
• Automating repetitive tasks.
• Reducing costs or risks.
• Mentoring junior team members.
• Leading a project outside your core responsibilities.

Discuss these opportunities with your manager early in the review cycle so there’s agreement on what “exceeding expectations” looks like.

In my case, I reviewed the firewall rule base and removed redundant rules, reducing complexity and improving performance. I automated the weekly firewall configuration backups and compliance checks, saving hours of manual work. I also implemented additional monitoring and alerting for critical network devices so issues could be detected and resolved much earlier.

None of these initiatives was part of my original goals, but they reduced operational effort, improved security, and demonstrated that I was thinking beyond my assigned responsibilities.

4. Document Your Achievements

One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is assuming their manager remembers everything they’ve accomplished.

Keep a simple document throughout the year where you record:

• Projects delivered.
• Business outcomes and value created.
• KPIs achieved or exceeded.
• Positive customer or stakeholder feedback.
• Process improvements.
• Certifications, training, and new skills.
• Metrics that demonstrate your impact.

In my case, I maintained a document throughout the year with evidence of every major achievement and the value it delivered. For example, I recorded:

• Successfully deployed network security for two new sites, including project completion dates, implementation milestones, and key issues resolved during rollout.
• Implemented the required PCI-DSS network security controls, closed all identified audit findings, and successfully passed the compliance assessment.
• Completed the corporate network segmentation project, reducing the attack surface and improving the isolation of critical business systems.
• Resolved 40 high-priority security incidents with an average resolution time of 14 hours, consistently exceeding the agreed SLA of 16 hours.
• Achieved a 98% customer satisfaction score for incident response and support, supported by positive feedback from internal stakeholders recognising the speed, communication, and quality of service.

By the time my performance review arrived, I wasn’t trying to remember what I’d achieved. I had clear evidence of the projects I delivered, the KPIs I exceeded, and the measurable value I had created for the organisation.

Your documentation is the foundation of your salary appraisal.

5. Review Your Progress Regularly

Don’t wait until your annual performance review.

Schedule a monthly manager meeting to review your progress.

These conversations help you:

• Confirm you’re on track.
• Adjust priorities if business needs change.
• Make your achievements visible throughout the year.
• Avoid surprises during your performance review.

A performance review should never be the first time your manager hears about your biggest accomplishments. It should simply be a summary of conversations you’ve been having all year.

What If You Didn’t Discuss This at the Start of the Year?

Have you already reached the middle or end of your performance review cycle without setting clear goals or KPIs with your manager?

Don’t panic. You still have a chance, but you’ll need to be more proactive.

The first step is to document everything you’ve accomplished since the beginning of the review period. Don’t just list tasks. Think about the outcomes you created.

For each project or activity, ask yourself:

• What problem did I solve?
• How did the business benefit?
• Did I save time, reduce risk, improve customer satisfaction, or increase efficiency?
• Can I quantify the impact with numbers?

Next, map those achievements back to your role and responsibilities.

For example, if one of your responsibilities is to improve customer service, evidence such as a 98% customer satisfaction score or consistently meeting response SLAs demonstrates that you’ve delivered on that expectation.

If your role is to improve cybersecurity, don’t just write, “Implemented network segmentation.” Instead, explain the business value:

• Reduced the attack surface.
• Improved the protection of critical systems.
• Helped achieve PCI-DSS compliance.
• Reduced the likelihood of lateral movement during a cyber attack.

You’re now ready for your salary discussion. Rather than simply asking for more money, show your manager how you’ve created measurable business value. This makes it much easier to negotiate a raise and increase your salary.

A simple question such as:

“Looking at what I’ve achieved this year, do you think I’m meeting or exceeding expectations? Is there anything else I should focus on before the review?”

This conversation helps you understand where you stand and gives your manager an opportunity to recognise achievements they may not have been fully aware of.

Even if salary decisions have already been made for this review cycle, you’ve now laid the foundation for your next one. The earlier you start documenting your achievements and discussing them with your manager, the stronger your case will be next time.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Before your next performance review, practise your salary discussion with realistic AI conversations on Recroot.app and receive personalised feedback to help you communicate with confidence.