I’m an early-career security engineer at a mid-size company in a very high cost of living city. I joined through a new grad program after interning there which gave me $5k raises every 6 months for 18 months. The last of those raises is coming up soon-ish, and when I was hired, it was also advertised that I would get an "actual" raise shortly after the final 5k raise during the annual company cycle.

I also voluntarily relocated from a lower cost city to a higher cost one and did not get a cost of living adjustment (remote, but an office does exist).

I’m extremely well regarded on my team and across the company. I’ve taken on work beyond my level, including leading interns and building tools for my team. From market comps, I believe I am being paid about HALF of what I am seeing on the open market. (85k vs 160k+). I do not think my raise cycle will get me even close to there, but I am going to be very disappointed if I do not get a substantial raise. I am set for a promotion from E1 to E2, but I don't know how much more that will give.

I’ve been told there’s "limited budget" on our team for raises, and this is corroborated by coworkers for past years. My company is notoriously cheap.

I have a fantastic relationship with my manager, but he doesn't come across as the toughest negotiator, and I am not sure how strong his convictions would be in going to bat for me.

My questions:

1. When a manager says “limited budget,” what does that usually mean? Is it a real constraint or a polite no?
2. Does a limited budget usually apply to promotions too, or just to raises?
3. How do I make sure my promotion comes with a real raise, and not just the scheduled bump relabeled?
4. Is an outside offer the only thing that actually moves pay at a company like this?

Thanks in advance.

TLDR:
1. Non-Discretionary Bonus: Is it realistic or a red flag to ask an employer to make my performance bonus non-discretionary in my initial offer letter?

1. Prorated Bonus on Layoff: Is it unheard of to request a clause that prorates my bonus if I get laid off prior to the payout date through no fault of my own?

2. Guaranteed Severance: Has anyone successfully negotiated a standard minimum severance (like 4 to 8 weeks) directly into their initial job offer letter for an IC / mid-level ($80k–$100k) remote role?

Context & Background
I'm Gen Z in corporate, and I was laid off about three weeks ago. This marks my 4th layoff in under 4 years, and none of them were performance-related. At my latest role, my manager actually got laid off a month before I did.

Because of this, I've completely stopped drinking the corporate Kool-Aid. I've dealt with companies artificially inflating total comp during offer stages by dangling a "discretionary bonus" to justify a base salary below what I asked for, only to change goalposts or lay people off right before bonus season. At my second-to-last role, I was laid off right before performance reviews while essentially doing the work of two people, and I had to fight like hell just to get the bonus I earned. At my last layoff, I tried pushing for the same thing and couldn't get it, though I managed to negotiate one extra week of severance (looking back, I still feel like I could have gotten more).

I'm currently deep in interviews and expecting an offer soon (possibly late this week or early next month). I was making six figures at my last role, but I'm looking at $80k roles now because they're remote and that's best for my family right now. Given how burnt I've been, I'm considering asking for these three things in my next offer letter:

1. Non-Discretionary Bonus: Categorize my bonus as non-discretionary, meaning it's treated as part of my total comp rather than just a discretionary policy.

2. Prorated Bonus Protection: If there's a no-fault layoff before the bonus payout, the company must prorate what I've earned.

3. Pre-Negotiated Severance: In the event of a layoff, the company is obligated to pay 4 to 8 weeks of severance (4 weeks minimum).
   I'm expecting some pushback, but frankly, given what I've been through, I don't feel like I'm asking for a lot, especially for an $80k remote job.
   Am I doing the most by asking for these three things, or is this reasonable risk mitigation? Has anyone actually gotten clauses like this added to an IC offer?

Need urgent help with negotiating offer!

I'm reading the book "Getting Past No" by William Ury, and see some very interesting strategies when dealing with difficult negotiation situations which I might even try... such as attempting to boost my "look" of confidence ... might take a little practice in front of a mirror.

Since I'd like to try more things I wanted to ask if anyone else might have given this book a read and if they've been able to put into practice any of the techniques... which ones and ... how did you do it?

I passed three interview rounds and finished documentation. Tomorrow is the salary call. My current pay is severely below market rate, so a standard 20% bump won't work. I need a 60%–70%+ market correction.

Since my documents are processed, I know they want me. However, I’m nervous about how HR will react to such a massive percentage jump.

How do I convince HR to pay based on the role's market value rather than my past low salary? Any advice?

I was recently promoted to a management position in a different department within the same company about 2 months ago. My job before becoming manager paid about $44/hr working 40 hours a week in LCOL area. The manager job is salary, making about $110k/year.

Anyway, I had an extensive conversation yesterday with my director and we mutually agreed that this new manager position is not a great fit for me. He didn’t want to lose me on his team because he sees a lot of value in me as an IC and he offered me basically my job back in my old department.

Here’s the thing— it’s a large corporation so it’s not as simple as just “refilling” the position. I had to “reapply” but it’s basically a formality to jump through the HR hoops because my director said he’s going to rehire me for the department 100%.

My director doesn’t really have too much of a say in what I would get paid, as it’s all salary bands depending on experience. The new salary band listed on the position is $40-60/hr depending on experience and obviously some negotiation with HR. This is crazy to me because I was already the highest paid IC in that department at $44/hr before. I have 10 years of experience and I’m thinking of asking for towards the top of that range.

My fear is that HR comes back and basically says “you were making $44/hr and you’re still doing the same work so that’s what we’re offering” but my perspective is they would be paying an unknown person way more than this and need to train them if it wasn’t me stepping back in to fill the position.

How would you take advantage of this great timing on my manager position not working out if you were in this position? Would it be a hill worth dying on fighting for more money even though I’m technically just a rehire?

Hi All
I recently interviewed at a GCC in Hyderabad and cleared 4 round of interviews. Before starting the interview, I clearly set my expectation at 50% and they were okay. Now after giving all interviews and submitting the documents, they took one month to share with me the offer structure over mail and asked for acceptance post which they would share the offer letter.
Problem is they offered me 15% hike (current 18.3), i have 4 YOE, when asked about low ball they are saying I already got 15% hike in my current organisation (3 months ago - what is that logic) 😢
After so many follow ups they low balled me, those 30 days i had lot of anxiety and ended up here
I am thinking of writing a mail to GCC head & HR head so that they don’t do same with someone else.

Will that be extreme ? Or shall i just move on ?

Senior tech consultant, several years at a large consulting firm. Looking for advice on how to open a real negotiation before I escalate next week.

What happened

• My firm supplies consultants to a large client abroad through a framework contract. They proposed me for an assignment, the client interviewed me, and I was selected. It’s a high-profile win for my firm.
• The managers handling it told me it was on-site at the client’s office abroad, with a much higher monthly package than I earn now. Based on that, I cancelled interviews with other companies.
• In the interview, the client’s team lead said I could work remotely from my home country, since the team is remote anyway. I was thrilled.
• The contract is still on-site and billed at the on-site daily rate. Only the location flexibility changed.
• Then HR told me that since there’s no relocation, it’s like any other client work and I’ll stay on my current salary. They didn’t seem to know about the package I’d been told about.
• I told them I wouldn’t agree to that. Nobody has contacted me since.

It’s a fixed-term assignment of a few months, and the official start date has already passed.

My plan

• Escalate by email to senior management, asking for a decision within a week.
• Propose a compromise of roughly 70% of the original package for the duration of the assignment (including any extension), since I won’t have the cost of living abroad. If the client later needs me on-site, accommodation and travel would be covered.
• If it’s a firm no, focus on interviewing elsewhere, without resigning until I have an offer.

I suspect leadership approved “no extra pay for client placements” as a policy. What I need most is a real negotiation, not a flat no.

Questions

1. What would you do to get them to actually negotiate, instead of just applying the policy?
2. Is escalating to senior management by email the right move, or could it backfire? Would you talk to the managers who made the original offer first?
3. Has anyone been through something similar? How did it go?

TL;DR: I was promised a much higher package for an on-site client role abroad. The client allowed remote work, but the contract and billing rate stayed the same. HR says I get my normal salary. How do I get them to actually negotiate, and is escalating the right move?

I’ve been working at this company for a year and a half as a test tech since junior year of college. I will be graduating soon and my company opened up a rec and told me to apply. The range is 75k-105k snd I’ll be applying as a test engineer. I have a phone call with the recruiter tmr ab an offer and I would really appreciate any advice. I currently make 29 an hour as a tech and don’t know what is reasonable to ask for. Any advice or guidance would be great!

This sub is focussed on Negotiation… so anyone reading this knows about negotiation, at least as a skill we use … whether at work, discussing salaries or buying/selling and having difficult conversations in our private lives.

But it was certainly not part of ANY type of teaching at college for me and I hear only a very few may touch on the subject at University.

It means we rely on learning through experience alone or perhaps a free course or paid course in work.

Should we be including negotiation skills in some form during college/university… perhaps. Id like to ask that in another poll but right now it would insightful to see just how many of us have, or have not had any formal teaching on negotiation.

I’ll be voting Yes because I was fortunate to be on a course as part of the Graduate Programme many years ago.

I am in the Midwest but have worked for a big tech company for 13 years(this company is at the top of my industry and a decade plus here typically means you are a star). Looking to leave my big tech company and find something new.

Found two roles at a biomedical company. One was for a principal role and the other was a sr principal role. Both have same responsibilities. At my current company, a principal would be roughly 15 years of experience and sr principal would be 20 years.

So I figured I’d apply for the principal role.

My current base pay is $155k. The principal role has a range of 66-160. So I figured that would be fine, just at the higher end. Sr principal was 130-230. My recruiter asked what my base salary expectations were and I said I currently make $155k and I want to remain at $155k for base. (The application asked for total comp expectations and I put $200k, because that’s my current total comp.) That didn’t seem to shut down the interview. (This company also offers a bonus with a company performance multiplier so I wonder if the recruiter thinks they can close the gap with that. With a target of 13% and a multiplier of 2x on a good year, my total comp at the new place would roughly equal my current base comp.) With my current employer I’m able to hit about $20k cash bonus yearly and $25k yearly stock.

But after talking to a neighbor who works at this company, they typically aim for midpoint. So 113k… typically won’t negotiate beyond $10k, so 123k at best. That would be nearly impossible as I am a single-income household with multiple kids. Midpoint for the sr principal role is like 180, so it would actually be a boost.

I’ve completed the interview and it seems like I’ve been given a soft yes from the interviewers at the end of each interview. (No formal offer yet.) The interview went almost too well and after, I looked and the principal required 7 years of experience and the sr principal required like 12 years. So I’m qualified for the sr principal role.

At my current employer, they will rewrite a job to be one level higher/lower to get a preferred candidate in the door. In this case, I feel like I should not negotiate pay but push for them to rewrite the offer for the higher level/title and thus salary negotiation should become a lot easier.

Do I reach out to the hiring manager and ask for clarity on titles? Do I wait for the recruiter to make a formal offer? I feel like I’ve heard that the first to talk in a negotiation loses.

The recruiter seemed to imply at the start of my loop that they already closed on the sr principal role. My hope is that maybe they would have room for one more sr principal. What’s an extra $50k to a very successful business that’s pursuing top talent?

My question is in the title. Wondering what % higher are you asking once a company offers you the position or are you not negotiating at all? Dealing with this right now with one offer and one other potential offer (reference check done but haven't heard back yet). First offer is 140k and a bit more with bonus (their posted range is around 130k-165k) and the other potential offer is 165k-215k). I'd be the only designer and have a pretty big ownership in terms of deciding product vision & direction and not only solely designing. I also already am well versed in their domain area. I was targetting closer to 155k-165k but I also know 140k isn't a bad salary at all so unsure how to proceed. It is only 5k more than my last role as well so that's why I'm inclined to want to push for higher. Would love your perspectives here.