WWYD: I’ve Made Some Mistakes. Can I Ask for a Raise?

I began my job almost a year ago and I have not asked for a raise yet. I obviously want to as the year-mark approaches, but am nervous about Asking For More. I am especially nervous because my position at the company was threatened a few weeks back when I made a couple sloppy-ish mistakes (nothing too severe, though) that made the company look bad. I was tense for a while but now things are cooling down and going back to normal. Am I still allowed to ask for a raise even though I messed up? I don’t know if I should highlight my errors during my performance review, when I hope to discuss the raise. I do believe I deserve more, but I am scared if my boss says “no, raise for you, sorry” everything will be even more awkward around the office. — M.

Yes, you’re allowed to ask for a raise. The question is really whether or not it’s a good idea for you to ask for a raise at this point in time and my honest answer is that I don’t think now is the right time. If I’m reading your letter correctly, you made the company look bad a few weeks ago, and unless you did something really amazing recently to redeem yourself, I don’t believe enough time has passed. And that’s what I really think you need at this point — redemption — and the way you redeem yourself is by A) Not dwelling on whatever mistakes you’ve done and moving on from it and B) Being good at your job.

Here’s what I would do: I’d go into that performance review, acknowledge that I made a few mistakes (if you don’t bring it up, they will), and then explain what I learned from the mistakes, and what I’m doing to make sure those mistakes never happen again. I’d then move on to highlight the good work that I’ve done in the past year backed up with whatever hard data I have as proof. Now, if that good work is impressive enough to cancel out the mistakes and redeem me in the eyes of my boss, I’d ask for a raise. “As you can see, I’ve worked really hard this year, was able to accomplish [x], [y], and [z], and have added [x], [y], and [z] to my responsibilities as well. I’ve proven that I’m valuable to this company and would like to ask for a raise.” (See also: Morgan’s piece about asking for a raise.)

But: If you don’t believe you have enough to redeem yourself during the performance review, then highlight the good work you’ve done, leave it at that, and go back to your job and start. killing. it.

A performance review is a good window of opportunity to ask for a raise, but it’s not the only opportunity. You can ask for a raise any time you want, whenever you feel like you deserve it and can demonstrate why you should have one — all you have to do is send a note asking for a meeting with your boss when you’re ready. You may be better off putting some more time and distance from your mistakes and a few more months of killing it under your belt.

And you should never be afraid of hearing no. If you deserve a raise and can demonstrate why, it’s up to your boss to explain why he or she can’t give you one if the answer is no. And it won’t be awkward unless you let it be awkward. Bosses get asked for raises a lot — they’re used to it. Don’t be worried about any negative answers — just prepare yourself as best as you can and go get ‘em.

Email me your WWYD experiences to me with “WWYD” in the subject line. See previous installments. Photo: Ollie Crawford

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