You sabi your work and you fully intend make dem pay you well for am. So when colleague mistakenly talk im number for lunch and e turn out say e big pass your own, for work wey resemble your own well well, the useful thing to sabi na say dem just hand you something wey get value. Most people go spend years without one reliable data point about wetin dia work really worth, and you collect one free, on top sandwich, from person wey take small risk to talk am out loud.
The feeling for your chest real and e go pass. The number no go pass, if you write am down. Wetin dey happen next na procedure, no be mood, and e start this afternoon, no be for three weeks when the pain don cool and nothing don change.
Colleague dey earn pass me for the same job. Wetin I go do first?
Write dia number down, today, with dia title, dia years of experience and the date. Na the first point for range wey you dey build now, and na range you go later use ask.
Do this before you do anything else, because the number dey perish for way wey the feeling no dey. For one week you go remember say e pass your own, but the digits don comot. On paper, near title and date, e turn evidence. Inside your head e go remain grudge, and grudge no dey survive compensation conversation.
Write wetin you sabi about the shape of dia job too, for one line: wetin dem dey own, who dem dey report to, how long dem don dey do am. You no dey build case against anybody, you dey build comparison wey go stand when senior person push back, and vague comparison no dey stand.
Then close the notebook. You no dey take decision this afternoon. You dey collect.
How I go survive the rest of the afternoon?
Stand up, waka somewhere for ten minutes, breathe out longer pass how you breathe in, and no send anything to anybody. Researchers for Stanford test that exhale-heavy pattern for five minutes a day for one month and find say e lift mood pass mindfulness meditation, wey na big return for very small physical instruction. The feeling na comparison response, e loud, and e dey fade if you refuse to feed am.
Wetin you dey protect yourself from na the reactive version of this thing: the message to friend wey person go screenshot, the cold reply to the colleague wey tell you, the resignation wey you draft by four for afternoon wey you go want collect back by nine next morning. Nothing wey you send today better pass the same thing wey you send on Monday, and plenty of am worse.
When person tell you wetin dem dey earn, e dey also land like judgement on how you don dey perform, and that reading no correct for facts. Salary dey set by when dem hire you, wetin you ask for that time, which team get budget that quarter, and how the market dey move the month wey somebody sign paper. Another person salary na data about the market, e no be judgement on you.
How I go turn one number into range wey I fit ask with?
Get two more data points for the same role and rough location, then take the top of the three as your target. One number na story, two na coincidence, and three na market rate wey you fit talk out loud without your voice dey shake.
Where the other two go come from, for the order wey really dey work. People wey you already sabi wey dey do your job for another place, ask dem plain, because most people go tell you if you tell dem your own first. Public salary bands for job listings for your role, wherever employers publish dem, wey na the least awkward source wey dey. Recruiters, wey go give you range for one phone call and dem dey collect money to sabi. And any published pay data for your own occupation and country, wey free to read and go at least keep you from being wildly off.
Then set date. The most common failure here no be to get wrong number, na to get correct number and do nothing with am for one year. Put the ask for specific week, for writing, before the feeling fade, because the feeling na the fuel and fuel no dey keep.
Wetin if real reason dey why dem dey earn pass?
Sometimes e dey, and to find out na better outcome, no be bad one. Dem fit get scope wey you no get, market rate for skill wey scarce, or negotiation wey dem run better pass how you run your own, and each of dem dey tell you exactly wetin to do next.
Field experiment wey National Bureau of Economic Research publish find say people dey hold big wrong ideas about wetin dia managers dey earn and smaller but real wrong ideas about dia peers, wey dey cut both ways. The gap wey you dey imagine fit small pass how e dey feel, and e fit big well well pass. You no fit sabi any of dem from one lunch.
Wetin worth doing, once you sabi which one e be, na to ask the question wey go turn am into plan: wetin I go need dey do make my number look like dia own. If the answer na scope, ask for the scope. If na skill, book the course. If na conversation, hold the conversation. Every version of that answer fit be acted on, na why to find real reason na better news pass to find none.
The honest possibility also dey say you just never ask. That one worth talking without any shame, because na the most fixable version of this story. Dem no dey pay people wetin dem worth, dem dey pay wetin dem agree, and the agreement na conversation wey somebody start. This year, you fit be the person wey start am.
Be the person wey dey talk the number out loud
Somebody tell you wetin dem dey earn, with risk to demself, and e very likely be the most useful thing wey happen to your career this whole year. The correct feeling toward that person na gratitude, no be comparison, and e worth noting before the afternoon close.
Then do the same back, because na the fastest way to raise the range wey dem dey measure you against. People wey sabi wetin work worth dey ask for more, dey collect more, and dey pull the band up behind dem. People wey no sabi dey accept the first offer and dey hold the band down for everybody. Which one go happen for your workplace for the next five years na whether anybody talk real number out loud dey decide am, and you don be person wey fit.
Two rules dey make am a move instead of a mood. Give your own number and never another person own, because the second one na dia own to give. And give am to the person wey e go help, quietly, no be to the whole room. Research on information avoidance show say people go refuse useful, free information when e fit carry judgement, so the offer usually gats come from you instead of dem to ask.
No obligation dey inside all this, and no guilt if you keep quiet. You don get hard afternoon and you fit spend am on your own numbers. But the range wey you go ask against next year dey set right now, by people talking or not talking, and one plain sentence from you go move am further pass any amount of hoping say the market go notice.
Sources
- National Bureau of Economic Research, How Much Does Your Boss Make? The Effects of Salary Comparisons
- American Economic Association, Journal of Economic Literature, Information Avoidance
- Stanford Medicine, 'Cyclic sighing' can help breathe away anxiety