Pay Raises and Salary Increases

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.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Bosses are always looking for ways to build morale among employees.  One way that they do this is to try to get people into a social environment outside of the regular workplace.   That is part of the reason behind the company functions that you may have been invited to at various points in your life.

You can tell the dedicated employees from the not so dedicated employees by paying attention to which ones attend these functions.  The people who just come to work for the paycheck usually scoff at the idea of attending one of these afterhours’ parties or retirement dinners.  They sure as heck don’t want to go to some vendor sponsored event where they feel like they have to schmooze the whole time they are there.

You know exactly what I am talking about, don’t you?  I guarantee it.

The dedicated employee is the person with the attitude that it might be fun to get together with people after work.  He is the type of person who wants to get to know the other people he works with.  The better he understands them, the easier it will be to communicate with them on the job.  The better they communicate with each other, the better quality of work they will both produce.

People are so close minded when it comes to these types of functions.  They think of them as if they were putting in extra unpaid overtime.  That is not the attitude to have.  If you want to earn more money from this company, then you had better commit yourself to it more than you currently are.  Your true nature will always come through over a period of time.

The next time your company has one of these functions, maybe you should really make an effort to attend it.  Keep a positive attitude about the event.  Think of this as a way to separate yourself from the other slugs around the office who could care less about any of these things.  The more outgoing you are, the more chances you have to get ahead with this company.  It is that simple.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

I was talking with a man the other day when I was on a job.  This guy had been working with the company for about 18 years.  You could tell that the guy was genuine.  He wasn’t a beat around the bush kind of guy.  He just told it like it was.  You could tell this guy was pretty successful.  I got to see his home.  He lives in pretty large home in the suburbs tucked away a little bit from the hustle and bustle.

He lives in a pretty big split level home much bigger than the average split level.  He has an attached four car garage with an apartment sized space above the garage.  There was a huge fifth wheel camper parked out in his asphalt driveway.  You could tell this guy had sunk some coin into that home and was proud of it. 

He was telling me about how successful all of his sons were.  He was proud that one of them owned a restaurant.  Another was a male nurse.  We got to talking about his family history and even his work history.

He told me that he liked working for his company and that he was the kind of guy that his boss could depend on.  He said that he never really took a lot of time off of work.  His boss calls him from time to time and needs someone who can go represent the company on out of town business functions.  He gets asked to go out of state for a couple days to attend a trade show or something of that sort.

He told me that he has never once turned down his boss when he was asked to go to one of these trade shows.  Not once.  Apparently there have been a couple of times when he was notified of the show only one day ahead of time.  Wow.  Most people would throw a giant shit fit, but not this guy.

This guy looked at me and said “Listen, I make big money for the boss and he knows it.  I am really dependable.  He knows that whenever he needs me, I’ll come through for him.”  I thought to myself, “No wonder this guy is making great money.  Look at his attitude.”  People like this are extremely rare.  I knew immediately that this guy was super tight with his boss.  There is no way his boss would ever let him leave the company.

Low and behold, the man told me that he would be retiring in a couple years.  His boss has already talked with him about the subject.  The boss has agreed to let him reduce the number of days he works each week to three.  That’s right.  The guy is only working three days a week now.  To top that off, he is still getting his regular paycheck. What the?  This guy doesn’t have to ask for a raise.  He gets rewarded in paid time off because he is so valuable.

This guy has been so dependable over the years that his boss will bend over backwards and give him anything he wants to keep him working there.  That is how valuable he is in his boss’ eyes.  This is one happy man.  It’s no wonder his sons are successful also.  Look at the example this guy set for them.

If you work for a decent sized company you will get enough variety among the employees to get to meet and see all different types of people and their habits.  You probably experience what happens in a lot of companies across America.  A typical company policy prohibits too many people from one department taking the same days off for vacation or personal time.  This causes a bit of a scramble among workers to position for time off around holidays and certain weekends.

The funny thing about this big scramble to get time off before certain weekends or holidays makes me giggle a little bit.  For starters, if people in your company are trying to get those days off, what do you think people in other companies are doing?  Some of those other companies are probably your customers, unless you work in consumer retail.  If everyone is trying to get off that should tell you that work is going to be slow on those days.

Everybody and her brother is going to be thinking about what their plans are for the upcoming holiday.  They aren’t going to be focused on work.  They’re only going to get done the things that absolutely need to get done.  The end result is you get a workday with a light work load.  You coast through the day easily when compared to a normal Friday. 

For certain holidays, many companies contribute to the lazy light work load atmosphere.  Lots of times they will have lunch brought into the office.  Sometimes employees will bring a dish to pass and take an extra long lunch break.  These are the days when you want to be at work.

What if you could be known around the office as the person who is always willing to work the days surrounding a holiday?  Don’t you think the boss will hold a high regard for that type of behavior?  How many times does the owner of the company or your boss take off right before a holiday?  If the company is well run, he probably does it very rarely.  That should tell you something.

If you are one of those people who must always have the day off before Memorial Day weekend or the Fourth of July or Labor Day, you’re behavior will get noticed.  That behavior could get you labeled as a person who isn’t concerned about their job and is only there to collect a paycheck.  You might very well have that attitude.  I bet you do.  Just remember, that attitude isn’t going to help you ask for a pay raise or more benefits and perks.  It certainly isn’t going to help the company earn any more money than they would if any other drone was plugged into your position.  Remember that when times get tough and you are worried about losing your job.