St.Louis Business Journal
CONSIDER NEGOTIATING NEW TERMS BEFORE JUMPING SHIP

By Anna Navarro
June 2011  

Examples in this column are fictionalized to protect privacy.



It’s predictable that many recession weary workers will be thinking about taking off for greener pastures as the economy improves. Having shouldered the burden of the work left behind by laid off peers, many are tired, stressed out and resentful of the load they’ve been carrying, even while admitting they’re more fortunate than those who got axed.

But if you like what you do, and your organization looks like it will start growing again, you might consider re-negotiating your job before you go to the trouble of leaving.

Sam was a chemist who worked in production and quality control for a mid-sized manufacturing company. In 2009 and 2010, with sales and production declining, the company laid off his boss and another chemist. He’d picked up the slack. He’d worked long hours, cancelled vacations, done without sorely needed resources, accepted not getting a raise and kept things running.

At first he cheered as new business came through the door. But it wasn’t long before he started wondering when the benefits of the turnaround would reach him. His situation was actually getting worse as the company’s got better.

Increased sales meant his workload was growing, but no one was talking about getting him more help or more resources to deal with it, or giving him a raise to acknowledge his efforts. The expectation seemed to be that he’d just keep operating the same way he’d been.

One day, exhausted and angry, he’d asked his boss when things were going to improve for him. His boss brushed him off. That incensed him.

When he came to see me, he said his goal was to find another job. We discussed what that involved, and the amount of time and effort it would require. He said it sounded overwhelming, especially since his current job was so demanding.

So I suggested that before launching a job hunt, he consider doing a well thought out negotiation to see if he could get more of what he wanted from his current situation. He agreed that made sense.

But first I verified three things: he liked the work he was doing, the company was solid, and he generally liked the people he worked with, though he was very unhappy with the way he’d been treated recently. If any of those things had not been true, leaving might have made more sense than attempting to negotiate.

We started planning the negotiation by clarifying his goals. In rank order, they were to: 1) hire a subordinate and be officially named head of the department, 2) get a substantial raise and 3) buy badly needed new equipment.

We decided he would ask for all three at once, to see how far he could get. But since it was unlikely that he was going to get all three at the outset, I suggested he develop a fallback position that tied each of his objectives to a specific production benchmark, so they could come on-stream as the company’s revenue grew.

We then developed a rationale for each of the things he was requesting. That was followed by rehearsing the negotiation on tape, so he could study and refine his presentation.

When he was ready, he asked his boss for a meeting, indicating that he had something important he wanted to discuss. When the boss asked what it was about, he said it was about his future with the company.

The meeting went more smoothly than he could have ever dreamed. He got a commitment to hire a new chemist who reported to him, and he was officially named head of the department. He got the promise of a raise in the next quarter. And a commitment of new equipment within a year, assuming the company met well-defined revenue goals. Sam was delighted with the outcome, doubly pleased since he didn’t have to job hunt.

He realized afterward that when he had first approached management, he was coming from an angry and exhausted place. He hadn’t thought it through; he simply wanted recognition and relief. Stepping back and clarifying his needs, in the context of the company’s, and taking the time to develop and rehearse his arguments and position his request, made all the difference.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that works with clients on an individual basis to help them find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work-lives. She can be reached by phone at (314) 367-0008 and her e-mail address is email@worktransitions.com. For more information visit the worktransitions.com website.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.