Why You Probably Don’t Deserve That Raise You Are Dying For (How to Get a Raise)

In this scenario, there are two journeys; one is during the search for a new job because the one that you have currently is choking the life out of you. Basically, if you are female, you are disgusted by the fact that people wear chokers because it is trendy, and choose when to wear one yet you have a permanent choker that you can’t seem to shake. The other occurs when you get a job for the first time, or after a long period of being unemployed (although a week can seem like a decade when you are unemployed).

After signing the contract (because nothing is final until you do in Uganda), and taking a copy home with you, you recall all the unemployment statistics that are thrown around every other day, and the limbo that your life has been, (and the terror that is probation period), and make a choice to do your best at your new job. We are talking getting into office first and leaving last. So what if an assignment that is handed to you is not part of your job description? If it’s not up your alley, you are willing to learn. Heck, you are asking your colleagues for any work that you can help them out with.

In summary, you are the perfect employee. If there is anything that needs to be done, you need everyone to know that you are here to work. And you are happy. Whatever your situation was, you are now free of it. Even though nothing has changed about you, it almost feels like you are closer to achieving your life goals than you were yesterday. And this goes on for a while, probably until you finish the probation period, and become a permanent employee.

And that’s when shit hits the fan.

During the time that you were coming first into the office and leaving last, you noticed that some things could be excused. For example; coming late, taking long lunch breaks, leaving early, taking days off without prior notice. Since you don’t know the history of your colleagues with your employer, they could have blackmail material; you decide that you are tired of carrying the entire team on your fat shoulders (because you have been doing the most). You decide to do the bare minimum since you are not looking to get fired – and thus begin your days of arriving and leaving on time, regardless of the workload, turning down assignments that are not in your job description and stating that they aren’t, and basically doing your job and nothing more.

This goes on for a while, and before you know it, it’s been over a year since you started working there.

One and half or two years into the job, you feel that you deserve a raise in salary, or may be a promotion. Your friends and family that you talk work stuff to also believe that you worked very hard, and deserve something to show for it. And so you begin soliciting for that raise. You bring up the subject at every opportunity, to the extent that your employer begins avoiding you. Because they don’t know how to break the bad news to you, nor do they want to. You are not eligible for a raise/promotion.

GASP!!!

You shouldn’t be surprised though, because as far as your employer can tell, your performance has been deteriorating. The perfect employee grew into a mediocre employee. Would you give you a raise if you were the employer and had an employee with your track record? As far as they can tell, you don’t want the job anymore.

However you are asking them to trust that you will channel your inner perfect employee when you get the raise/promotion that you have been asking for.

Tindenda kugamba bingi (LOL. Shout out to people that say that after a two hour speech), so I will get into the ways you can work at getting that raise/promotion;

1. Be deliberate: Know what you want from a job before you begin the job. When you do this, the chances of your performance deteriorating are low because you are working to achieve a certain goal.
2. Do what you love like: The saying about doing what you love so that you never have to work a day in your life might seem like hogwash, but the truth is that liking what you do increases the chances of you being invested in it. If you are invested, it won’t matter what others are doing. If you are invested, you will want to grow therefore you will work at it.
3. Know yourself: A lot of people roll their eyes when a self discovery conversation comes up, however it doesn’t always have to be laced with self-righteousness. In knowing yourself, you are able to pace yourself. If you know yourself, you can establish how much you can give at any given time, and find a way of working that ensures that you always give more, and portrays a journey of growth.
4. Do the work: It might seem obvious, but it’s not. Do the work that you were hired to do so that your employer considers you relevant and necessary to the organization.

There might be many other ways to get a raise, but I think this is a good place to start. To getting that raise, to getting that promotion, to growing.

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