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Kerry Hannon · Senior Columnist
6 min read
Many employers know they’re short-changing some of their workers. But in a low-hire job market, how do you go about advocating for better pay?
The difficult truth: You probably have to come right out and ask for it.
One in four organizations increases pay for underpaid employees only if the employee or their manager directly asks, according to a new report from Payscale, a compensation research firm.
“Even well-intentioned employers default to a reactive posture, addressing pay gaps only when they become visible through an individual conversation rather than through proactive auditing,” Lulu Seikaly, Payscale’s senior employment counsel, told Yahoo Finance.
As new laws in recent years require employers to disclose employee compensation, workers are wising up to the disparities.
That’s the good news.
To date, 16 states and the District of Columbia have enacted mandatory pay transparency laws that require employers to include salary ranges in job postings. Another 10 states have introduced bills regarding pay transparency but haven’t yet passed a law.
“Pay transparency is impacting more than just compliance — and employees are taking notice, asking more questions than ever before,” Seikaly said.
Many have asked because they’ve seen a job posting for the company and realized they were being paid less for a similar job, she added.
“Pay transparency isn’t creating problems —ultimately, it’s exposing ones that already exist,” Seikaly said. “It puts a spotlight on inconsistent and unexplained pay variance that’s been quietly building for years.
“And most of the time, organizations aren’t intentionally driving these issues, but they have been reluctant to look too closely, wary of what a deeper dive might reveal.”
Unfair pay perception is a leading reason that more than a quarter of employers report talented employees are jumping ship, according to the report.
If you’re a worker, however, this is certainly not a great time to complain. We’re in the midst of a dismal job market with folks hanging on tight to their jobs. Who dares to rock the boat?
Read more: How jobs, inflation, and the Fed are all related
Pay growth for job-switchers has retreated, according to data tracked by ADP, with the pay premium for switching employers hitting a record low in February.
Meanwhile, if you lose your job, the probability of finding a new one has gotten lower.
According to the Payscale report, 4 in 10 companies said that they’re well aware that their workers are job-hugging, or clinging to their jobs out of fear of wallowing in that job-hunting miasma.
I reached out to a handful of career advisers to get their advice on asking for a raise in this delicate environment.
Here’s what they said.
Don’t be deterred by a ‘no.’ “Don’t let a bad economy or job market scare you out of advocating for yourself,” Alison Fragale, a psychologist and author of “Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve,” told me. “It’s not your job to make assumptions about what they will or won’t do. It’s your job to be well-prepared, which involves making the case about your past, present, and future impact.”
Even if you get a no now, you’ve planted the seed in their mind that you want a raise, she added. When you ask again in six months or a year, they’ll be more receptive to the idea because they’ve had time to think about it.
Don’t wing it. This is an intentional negotiation. Gather data on what people are getting paid at your position, or cite the job posting from your employer that sparked your concern. While websites such as Glassdoor and Salary.com can get you started with tools to research salaries, the best data is internal to your organization, Fragale said.
Are other people in the company getting raises right now? “If so, that’s a good indicator that a raise is possible,” she said. “Use your network to have some informal conversations about who’s getting raises and why.”
If you’re uncomfortable using internal examples, use a few outside sources so you can roll up the data and show pay ranges, Mimi Bishop, an executive coach, said.
Frame the raise around what your manager cares about. “Put yourself in the shoes of the person sitting across from you,” Bishop said. “What do they need from this situation for it to be a win for them too?”
Nancy Ancowitz, a career strategist, agreed. What problem does paying you more solve? “It could be retaining a strong performer, giving you an incentive to take on higher‑level work, or keeping momentum on key projects.”
Raises are easier to approve when they clearly support the business, she said. Managers often don’t approve raises just because someone asks. “They approve them when the business case is clear,” Ancowitz said.
Consider your employer’s alternatives, if they lose you. If you leave, what would it cost them to replace you, ramp someone new, or redistribute your work? Looking at the decision from their side helps you frame a stronger business case, Ancowitz said.
Be a storyteller. Walk into your meeting with talking points, not a memorized script. Be clear on your recent wins, measurable impact, expanded responsibilities, and market benchmarks, Ancowitz said.
This is your time to tell your C.A.R. story: a challenge you recently faced, the action you took to solve it, and the specific tangible result. Numbers, statistics, and percentages catch people’s attention. You completed a job three months ahead of schedule. Sales popped by 20% due to a new marketing program you designed.
Play out the conversation ahead of time. Rehearse difficult conversations the way athletes rehearse plays, Ancowitz said. Practice with AI speaking tools such as Yoodli to get feedback on your pacing, filler words, and clarity. That includes anticipating the toughest objections and rehearsing how to handle them calmly. The goal isn’t a perfect performance. It’s to sound prepared, calm, and confident.
Treat it as a negotiation, not a demand. “The strongest salary conversations aren’t framed as a battle of wills,” Ancowitz said. They’re framed around mutual benefit. Tie the raise to results, retention, or expanded responsibilities, and the case becomes easier for a manager to support internally.
Ask after you’ve scored a win. Timing matters. The best moment to bring up the uncomfortable issue of pay is right after a knock ’em out of the park project result, or increased job responsibilities, when your value is top of mind to your manager.
Have alternatives to pay in mind. Write down a list of non-salary items that have value to you, Fragale said. If you can’t get a raise, ask for other job sweeteners, say, new work equipment for your office, a title change or promotion without a pay increase (for now), professional development opportunities to attend workshops and skills training, remote flexibility, or extra personal days.
No one wants to feel less than, especially when it comes to pay, so you need to screw up the courage to be proactive. No one is going to do this for you.
“I’ve lived my professional life by a simple rule: You don’t ask, you don’t get,” Ancowitz added.
Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including “Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,” “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work,” and “Never Too Old to Get Rich.” Follow her on Bluesky and X.
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