Salary Negotiation: This is how women get more money

After 30 years the first salary talk

Five years ago, Viola Höfer demanded more money for the first time in her life. When she talks about it today, she sounds as proud as a career starter who got her first job. Viola Höfer is 53. It took the digital consultant almost 30 years before she dared finally demand more salary.

Why, she does not know herself exactly. Sometimes her superiors paid more, sometimes she thought the question of more money would make her look disrespectful. But when the rent of her apartment rose massively, she had no other way.

Her boss received her with the words: "Excuse me, you have been working for us for five years and have not received any salary increase yet?" After 20 minutes she had three percent more. It had been totally easy to her surprise.



"Women simply demand less than men."

Difference in equal pay - this is partly due to the women themselves

On average, women still earn less than men on average. With 21 percent difference Germany is one of the laggards in equal pay in Europe. Even if you figure out that Women hold less senior positions and work part-time more often as men, a gap remains six percent, In part, this may be due to direct discrimination. But partly it's up to the women themselves.

"Women simply demand less than men," says Munich communications coach Claudia Kimich, who has been coaching people in negotiations for 20 years. "Women ask: Can I ask for it? Men see this as more of an athletic challenge, women are more interested in the salary of their colleagues, but if you want more money, that is a mistake."



Younger women have more self-confidence in salary talks

At least that's how it has been so far. But younger women seem to be much more self-confident in salary talks. This suggests at least one study published in 2016 by a British-American research team. The scientists had evaluated data from 4,600 Australian workers from 840 companies in various industries.

The result: While female employees between 20 and 40 were able to enforce the same pay increases as their male counterparts, succeeded 25 percent less often women over 40.

Why the younger ones negotiated more successfully, the researchers had not studied in their study. But in their essay they pointed to the results of other studies: According to which older women's cohorts often braked the idea that tough negotiations could be presumptuous or unfeminine; the younger generation does not care.



Salary negotiation - this is how it works:

Carina Schröder, 27, is one of those young women. After her bachelor's degree in business administration, she immediately started working in an agency. During her probationary period she should take over responsibility for a whole team. She agreed, but wanted a third more salary. Her boss's first reaction: "No woman ever asked us so much, we can not do that."

Schroeder was shocked by this saying and was even more in line with their demand. The supervisors initially offered her ten percent more, plus a service cell phone. Schröder refused. For two weeks she heard nothing. Then the boss offered her 25 percent more, she struck. She says, "It paid off that I confessed that to myself."

If Carina Schröder had failed, she would have looked for another job. Claudia Kimich even advises her clients to apply for an important salary interview in three other placesbecause it makes it easier to negotiate an offer in your pocket - even if they actually want to keep their current job.

"The more often you ask for more salary, the more accurate the boss looks at the services provided."

Regular salary talks generate attention

But what if a job change does not fit into the life plan at all? Anyone who has a family is usually not as open as a childless single. And those over the age of 50 no longer have so many opportunities in the job market. Is not the better negotiating skills of younger women also due to their greater flexibility?

"The fear of losing the job, of course, plays a role in older people," says Kimich. "But a high salary requirement does not automatically cost the workplace." On the contrary, who steers the conversation to salary, draws attention to his superiors, and that is quite positive: "The more often you ask for more salary, the more accurate the boss looks at the services provided. "

Clear formulations and self-confidence are crucial in the conversation

Decisive then, to formulate clearly what to expect, "If you want a third more salary, then say openly: 'I want a third more salary.' Then your boss suspects: You can talk that out badly."

Viola Höfer has inspired her success as a negotiator by regularly considering which important project she can advance in her company and how best to present the results to her boss. She asks for a salary every two years. She is not afraid to ask for a wage increase: "I prepare myself well and say to myself: At the supermarket checkout, nobody gives me anything."

Salary Negotiation: 6 Tips on How to Negotiate a Higher Salary (March 2024).



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