Archive for November, 2009

12th Nov 2009

Not all Pay Raises Come In The Form Of A Bigger Paycheck

People who ask for a pay raise are usually too focused on getting a bigger paycheck.  There are a lot of ways that you can earn a raise.  It doesn’t necessarily have to come in the form of cash.  Open your mind a little and come up with some creative ways that you could drastically improve your career without having to necessarily increase your base salary.

I was talking with an acquaintance a couple months back.  The guy works as a purchasing agent for a fortune 500 company.  He has been a loyal employee of this company for about eight years.  His line of work isn’t something that companies would have a hard time finding applicants for.  These types of jobs are common and don’t necessarily require an advanced education.

This man was telling me how he had just made some changes in his work environment.  The whole time he was telling this story, he had a giant grin on his face.  He normally spends just over an hour commuting to work every day.  He lives a long ways from the office and traffic is pretty heavy.

Recently, he was speaking with his superiors about the environment he works in and how it could be improved.  His management team agreed to set him up with an office at home.  They sent their IT guys out to his house and installed a company computer and company telephone with remote access into the company’s main computer system.

Now for two days every week, instead of spending more than two hours on the road driving back and forth to the office, he is working from home in his home office.  He can perform 99% of his job right from home.  There is no need for him to make that trip every day.

You can bet that if this scenario works out, he will probably be able to increase the number of days he works from home to three or four.  That is what I call a major benefits upgrade.  Wouldn’t you?

Not all pay raises have to come in the form of more cash.  Remember this guy’s story when you think about how to ask for a salary raise at work.  Maybe there is an alternative idea or two that would be the equivalent of getting an increase in pay without making the company write you a larger check every week.  This guy is now saving money on gas as well as wear and tear on his vehicles.  That is the same as if the company paid him that much extra every week.

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03rd Nov 2009

Earn More Money Working For A Small Company

Want an idea on how to earn more money working for a small company?  People don’t stop to think about the major differences between working for a really small company compared to a really large one.  In a large company there are decisions made at the top that can affect your job, your salary and your working conditions.  Some boss who is a layer or two above your immediate supervisor could be handing down these decisions.

In a small company things are different.  As a general rule, salaries and benefits are determined directly by one boss or even the owner of the company.  So, when working for a small company, you really need to position yourself well with the owner and/or the primary operations manager in order to achieve your full value.

When you work for a small business, you are usually expected to play a bigger role in the overall health of your company.  You will probably be expected to go the extra mile to make sure things run smoothly.  There isn’t some other employee for you to blame something on when something doesn’t go right.  Here is your chance to shine.

Small business owners need really dependable people who aren’t afraid to take care of other tasks that normally fall outside of their traditional area of experience.  You need to be really dependable because there is probably nobody around that can really fill your shoes while you are absent.  This creates a major disruption in the work flow and can cause huge problems with customer relationships if it happens on a regular basis.

Bosses don’t always talk about how much they value dependability.  It is one of those common sense things that they assume an employee understands.  Have you really given it any thought though?  Even though they don’t talk about it publicly, it is an extremely important character trait that could have a major influence on how much you are paid and what kind of benefits you get.  Don’t take this for granted.  You should try to become known as the most dependable person around the office.  You should be the person who always makes it to work no matter how bad the weather is outside.  You should become the person who never ever calls into work unexpectedly for any reason.

Dependability is an absolutely huge factor in your ability to earn more money from your employer even though it really isn’t discussed much.  How is your track record with the company?  Are you as dependable as you could be?  Are you really?  When it comes to running a small business, dependable people are the ones who earn the big paychecks.  Think about that the next time you think that you should be earning more money.

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