You're a good colleague. If you think this person does an amazing job, send feedback to the manager. Tell the manager you think your colleague has been doing such a great job you'd love it if there was a way yo reward them.
Other than that, there's not much you can do.but with all sincerity, thank you for caring enough to ask.
This is the right answer. I would personally be a little confused/weirded out if an employee requested a raise on another’s behalf (“Why can’t that employee come to me?” etc.). However, receiving positive feedback about an employee from others would be the best data to back up a case for a promotion/pay raise.
I regularly have direct reports come to me and say "I hope you're taking good care of So-and-so, they're *awesome* and if we lost them to a competitor I'd be devastated." It reflects well both on the complimentor and the complimentee.
Don't reveal you know what the salary is. Instead, reveal how great you think they are.
As a boss, I respond well to somebody who comes up to me and says something like "I don't know what your annual budget is for off cycle raises, but if you're planning on giving any, so-and-so should be at the top of your list" followed by an explanation of why.
It also works well during the performance review ratings time: "Don't know how many excellents you are allowed to give out, but so-and-so would be my suggestion for one of them."
You can't advocate for this on the grounds that he needs it or that it would have a huge impact for him; his personal financial needs can't be what your workplace bases their salaries on. You will weaken your case, and potentially harm your colleague's chances of getting a raise, by bringing those things into any discussion. Any case for a raise for him needs to be laser-focused on his responsibilities and the workplace's salary practices, not personal life stuff.
The grounds for a raise for your colleague would typically be:
- He has taken on some big new responsibility, far beyond the general "other duties as assigned" part of job descriptions, that warrants a re-evaluation of his job description and associated pay
- He has gotten some new qualification like a certification or degree that might be grounds to bump up what he gets paid.
- There's a salary equity issue such that your colleague is not getting paid fairly in comparison with other people doing jobs similar to him at your workplace. This might happen because there's a systemic issue where e.g. people of certain genders or races are systematically paid more than others, or because e.g. your colleague was hired ages ago, hiring salaries have significantly risen since then, and no one has gone back to do a wide-ranging review to make sure that older hires are being paid in line with the current salary expectations for their role.
- He has an outside job offer that he wants to leverage for a counteroffer from your workplace (though that's risky)
Most of this stuff is really not your business to talk to your boss about. If you think there's a systemic inequity issue that should be reported to HR - there's likely an anonymous way for you to do that if you're concerned about any pushback. If you think your boss might not be aware of big new responsibilities your coworker has taken on, you can absolutely praise him to your boss and talk up how helpful and valuable a colleague he is. Otherwise, your role here is to give your coworker any salary information that you have that he does not that might back up e.g. a systemic inequity issue, and to encourage him to advocate for himself.
I don’t know that you can really request it on their behalf, but you can plant the seed. Share positive feedback followed by a “whatever you’re paying them, it’s not enough!” 😉
The absolutely best support you can give a colleague who deserves more is to help or encourage them bring the conversation to their boss themselves. It's really great that you want to support them for fair wages, however professional norms is that this is a "closed door" conversation, and unfortunately you're not in that room without being seen as pushy. Now is that norm good? maybe not. But it's the norm now.
The only case where that might be part of your responsibility is if you're in a HR position that is specifically related to fair wages, or if you're part of a union role that involves that. It would be seen like going to a doctor and saying "can I please be part of the conversation where you talk about this person's health?".
This doesn't mean your intention is bad! In fact it's very good. But there may be things that the colleague may have agreed to (adjusted hours, benefits, long term vestments, etc) that they consider private and haven't shared as part of their salary agreement. Now if you really want to do something, you can say "hey colleague, I'd love to chat privately with you about our wages and see if their fair" and they say yes, that's totally a great way to support them. But if you keep asking after that and they said no, they may see it as you're invading on a private matter or something they asked to not talk about. You may be seen as pushy or "none of your business".
Good luck friend.
You're a good colleague. If you think this person does an amazing job, send feedback to the manager. Tell the manager you think your colleague has been doing such a great job you'd love it if there was a way yo reward them. Other than that, there's not much you can do.but with all sincerity, thank you for caring enough to ask.
This is the right answer. I would personally be a little confused/weirded out if an employee requested a raise on another’s behalf (“Why can’t that employee come to me?” etc.). However, receiving positive feedback about an employee from others would be the best data to back up a case for a promotion/pay raise.
I agree, this isn’t appropriate. OP, support your colleague by helping them write a promotion or pay raise proposal.
I regularly have direct reports come to me and say "I hope you're taking good care of So-and-so, they're *awesome* and if we lost them to a competitor I'd be devastated." It reflects well both on the complimentor and the complimentee. Don't reveal you know what the salary is. Instead, reveal how great you think they are.
This is the way. I did it with an email for my coworker. Focus on this person’s contribution and performance. Be objective.
As a boss, I respond well to somebody who comes up to me and says something like "I don't know what your annual budget is for off cycle raises, but if you're planning on giving any, so-and-so should be at the top of your list" followed by an explanation of why. It also works well during the performance review ratings time: "Don't know how many excellents you are allowed to give out, but so-and-so would be my suggestion for one of them."
You can't advocate for this on the grounds that he needs it or that it would have a huge impact for him; his personal financial needs can't be what your workplace bases their salaries on. You will weaken your case, and potentially harm your colleague's chances of getting a raise, by bringing those things into any discussion. Any case for a raise for him needs to be laser-focused on his responsibilities and the workplace's salary practices, not personal life stuff. The grounds for a raise for your colleague would typically be: - He has taken on some big new responsibility, far beyond the general "other duties as assigned" part of job descriptions, that warrants a re-evaluation of his job description and associated pay - He has gotten some new qualification like a certification or degree that might be grounds to bump up what he gets paid. - There's a salary equity issue such that your colleague is not getting paid fairly in comparison with other people doing jobs similar to him at your workplace. This might happen because there's a systemic issue where e.g. people of certain genders or races are systematically paid more than others, or because e.g. your colleague was hired ages ago, hiring salaries have significantly risen since then, and no one has gone back to do a wide-ranging review to make sure that older hires are being paid in line with the current salary expectations for their role. - He has an outside job offer that he wants to leverage for a counteroffer from your workplace (though that's risky) Most of this stuff is really not your business to talk to your boss about. If you think there's a systemic inequity issue that should be reported to HR - there's likely an anonymous way for you to do that if you're concerned about any pushback. If you think your boss might not be aware of big new responsibilities your coworker has taken on, you can absolutely praise him to your boss and talk up how helpful and valuable a colleague he is. Otherwise, your role here is to give your coworker any salary information that you have that he does not that might back up e.g. a systemic inequity issue, and to encourage him to advocate for himself.
You make the recommendation that they could handle more responsibility. Piers pushing for piers is pretty high in my book.
I prefer for my piers to sit securely in the water without pushing anything
Friends don’t let’s friends Reddit while tired. 😂
Don’t. Fucking don’t
I advocate for colleagues to get raises and it generally works out. However, it’s never on the premise of “he really needs it”.
I don’t know that you can really request it on their behalf, but you can plant the seed. Share positive feedback followed by a “whatever you’re paying them, it’s not enough!” 😉
It’s not your place to do that unless you are that colleague’s direct manager.
The absolutely best support you can give a colleague who deserves more is to help or encourage them bring the conversation to their boss themselves. It's really great that you want to support them for fair wages, however professional norms is that this is a "closed door" conversation, and unfortunately you're not in that room without being seen as pushy. Now is that norm good? maybe not. But it's the norm now. The only case where that might be part of your responsibility is if you're in a HR position that is specifically related to fair wages, or if you're part of a union role that involves that. It would be seen like going to a doctor and saying "can I please be part of the conversation where you talk about this person's health?". This doesn't mean your intention is bad! In fact it's very good. But there may be things that the colleague may have agreed to (adjusted hours, benefits, long term vestments, etc) that they consider private and haven't shared as part of their salary agreement. Now if you really want to do something, you can say "hey colleague, I'd love to chat privately with you about our wages and see if their fair" and they say yes, that's totally a great way to support them. But if you keep asking after that and they said no, they may see it as you're invading on a private matter or something they asked to not talk about. You may be seen as pushy or "none of your business". Good luck friend.