10 things to negotiate OTHER THAN YOUR SALARY
Hi there, it’s Laura!
This week I wanted to discuss a few things that you can ask for, instead of more money! Whether you’re in the process of negotiating your package when joining a company or you’re up for the yearly evaluation, it sometimes happens that you’re hitting the ‘we can’t give you more money’ trope. While recruiters and managers might tell you this for a variety of reasons, I’m going to walk you through 10 other things you can try to negotiate instead of a higher salary.
1. Bigger Sign On or Yearly Bonus
Since this would be a one time payment, you might have a better chance of negotiating a bigger hiring or yearly bonus. If you’re already working at that company, even better would be to negotiate your bonus target or % used to calculate your bonus as this would benefit you in the long term. When you’re interviewing, recruiters might have an easier time asking for a one time payment than a higher salary as it can be fit into the budget faster than a higher salary.
2. Bigger Stock Package
Similar to the bonus, the stock package is another element that might be easier to negotiate than your salary. Of course, this still goes into your total compensation so it might be of similar difficulty to negotiate as a salary. One thing to keep in mind when you negotiate stock packages is the vesting schedule - they likely won’t vest on a monthly basis. If your plan is to use the stocks in order to pad your monthly expenses, this will definitely backfire on you.
3. Commission Structure
Of course, this applies especially to sales jobs where you make a commission based on how much money you make the company. Many large companies will already have a set commission structure but this doesn’t mean you just have to accept it. Try to negotiate a better commission for yourself in the beginning. I usually advise people going into their salary negotiations to negotiate like they’re never getting a raise again. So even if you think you can do well with the current terms, try to add a few extra percent to your commission structure.
4. Removing Clauses Preventing More Work
This actually came to me as an idea when discussing with a friend that works in a different country and was complaining that they are at the top of the salary band and they don’t think they’ll get more money. At the same time, they’re not allowed additional employment outside of their current company. I think this is a very interesting point to try and negotiate, especially if you’re in a profession where freelance can be a good option to pad your earnings. That being said, I very much doubt you’ll be able to get your non-compete removed - let’s just agree that that’s probably not going to happen. However, assuming you abide by your non-compete, you would want the opportunity to take on freelance clients and this is one of things you can try to negotiate if the salary can’t budge.
5. More Time Off
One way to increase your daily salary is simply to work less days. If you think of your salary not on a yearly basis but rather per work hour, asking for more paid time off is definitely a way to “increase your salary”. This might not always be an option since there are companies that offer unlimited time off but having more than 5 days off per year is definitely a plus. I’m European, anything below 25 days off per year seems absolutely savage to me. But even if you can’t get to that level of time off, try to get more than the standard package, especially if you’re not too thrilled with the total compensation.
6. Increased Learning Budget
This I think is especially important if you are at the beginning of your career and you still have learning to do. Having a guaranteed learning budget per year can be a game changer to stay on top of the latest technologies or latest techniques. Before you go and try to negotiate this, you should invest some time in trying to understand what a reasonable budget is. For example if your goal is to get a professional certification, look at how much that costs per year and have that as a target before you go to the negotiation table. In the same vein, you can include here a conference budget - especially if you’re in a field where going to conferences is an important part of your job.
7. Benefits
Depending on your personal circumstances and type of work, it’s worth trying to negotiate your benefit package if salary is not an option. For example, if you work in sales, having a company phone and car is something that would be a reasonable ask. This way you don’t have to spend your personal resources in doing your job. You should also try to negotiate company sponsored insurances (for example life insurance) or extended medical insurance. Another benefit worth thinking about is pension contributions. Ideally, these contributions would be in an account that you carry with you after you leave so make sure that there is no clause about paying back these contributions under any circumstances.
8. Guaranteed Severance Package
This is not common in many industries and might be difficult to negotiate especially if you’re early on in your career. However, when you’re getting into the senior manager territory, this is a very interesting point to get added to your contract in writing. You’ll often read about CEOs or other high level executives being let go and offered these absolutely outrageous amounts despite maybe even bankrupting the business. Well, the reason why they get these severance amounts is not because the company is so sad to see them go, but rather because they negotiated this being added to their contracts when they got hired. I would argue you shouldn’t wait to get to that level to start asking for this. Mileage may vary and it’s not guaranteed that you can get this as part of your package but definitely worth considering.
9. Removal of Ownership Clauses
Depending on the company you’re working at, you might find that your contract has some sort of ownership clause in it. For example, while I was working at Amazon, my contract included that anything I would develop in my own time but using company resources (for example the company laptop) would still be the property of Amazon. Other contracts included more vague language and didn’t specify the company resource bit. It’s quite important to understand what are the clauses in your contract because it would be a shame to go and develop a game, for example, only to later discover that it’s actually owned by your employer. If the company can’t offer more money or a better package, it might be worth trying to remove this from your contract in order to open up different avenues of work for yourself.
These are some examples of what else you can negotiate. You should understand which ones are most important for your lifestyle and future plans and prioritize accordingly in the negotiation. Have you negotiated different terms with your company? What did you end up choosing? Let me know in the comments.
10. A different length of contract
This applies especially if you are applying to a fixed term contract. It’s worth every single shot you take to actually try to convert a fixed term to a permanent. While some bit of luck is also required, it’s not impossible to get there. Of course, in these situations, it might be difficult to negotiate this as well as many other of the things I mentioned before. So this might have to be your main goal of the negotiation going in. Needless to say, you will also have to do very very well in the interviews in order for this negotiation to work, because if there is even a shred of doubt about your potential performance, they won’t give you a permanent contract. On top of this, if you are interviewing for multiple companies, it is useful to have another permanent offer to leverage in your negotiation. One thing is for sure, ask them if there’s any chance to turn this into a permanent opportunity. Ultimately, what’s the worst that can happen? You already don’t work there!
I hope you found this useful and you got some ideas about other things to negotiate other than your salary. Drop a comment down below on what are some of the things you negotiate when getting a new job.
That’s it for today, folks.
Until next time, this is Laura signing off.
