As these are tough economics time.., most organization are tightening financial controls & aggressively pursuing cost cutting measures. In many companies all merit increases have been eliminated for next year, If you work in such a company & you are well aware of economic circumstances & the decision of no merit increases has been communicated to all employees , should one have a conversation with the manager for the annual raise ?
If you have such a conversation would it be considered unreasonable ?
on the flip side if you dont have any conversation on this topic understanding the economic situation would it create an impression of you as unambitious & docile kind of a person ?
Personally , I am reasonably satisfied with my current salary & also understand the tough economic circumstances of the company (I have seen a few of my peers being layed off so even holding on to the current job is a blessing), therefore I would be fine without a raise. but It has been just over 1 year on this job & I dont want to give an impression to my manager that I am unambitious & I also dont want to be taken for granted.
Are you showing your ambition by delivering results above and beyond what is expected or by asking for a raise?
in the time of hiring freezes and bonus phaseouts especially if something has been officially communicated...Bad move. Even if you are a rockstar at work. It may be prudent to have a discussion noting your results and that while u understand there is a company wide freeze you would like your performance and results for this year tobe kept in mind when raises are allowed.
Or be promoted to a higher role and a higher salary band.
Thanks X2, for your post. I had some apprehensions for asking for a raise, that is the reason why I started this thread. The cause of my concern perhaps was/is a prior bad experience. I have had an experience where a manager of mine while recognizing & appreciating my contribution in words , did not necessarily translated that appreciation in terms of appraisals & recommendations for salary raise/promotion in comparison to others, in my view the reason for this was that probably I was not very proactive in setting the right expectations.
Also since I am in Pakistan where we have such a high inflation rate , we need 10% just as inflationary adjustment to sustain the current standard of living.