If you are an employee in the H.R department of your company, you would have gathered some experience regarding salary negotiations either with new employees or when handing out increments to existing ones. As many HRs have the unique experience of sitting on both sides of the negotiation table, they have better experience to handle the negotiation process. Employees generally feel uncomfortable when they are negotiating their salary. People who are looking for jobs agree with the terms offered by the potential employers, which can hurt their career growth since they will be earning relatively less throughout their careers. As an HR, although you would want to keep your budget inline but would prefer attracting talented candidates even if you have to give higher pay. Let’s read on some tricks that HR should know about salary negotiations.
- Research about the market
The first step as HR is to research the market and the economic scenario of the country. The easiest way to do is that is by taking a look at the methods used by other companies that are of similar size and within the same locality. It will give you a fair idea of the current market trends. It will enable you to collect relevant data that you can utilize when you are employing candidates. Other sources of data include conducting surveys and talking to other HR managers since they will share their experience with you, which will help you to better prepare for different types of situations.
- Collect information about your company
Many HRs do not realize it, but you also need to know literal details about your company and the required qualifications required for the job. You also need to look at the current performance of your company and what the future trends predict will happen. You also need to know about the budget set for new employees and bonuses offered to the current ones. You should be aware of the current business goals of the company so that you can hire accordingly to avoid problems in the future. You also need to stay in line with the company policies, such as whether promotions and salary raise due to skill levels and performance or experience.
- Gathering data about your team
As a finite budget will limit you, it would be wise to gather all the necessary information before you decide to make offers. Offering a higher salary than what should have been can have severe consequences for the firm. Companies often take loans such as fast business cash before the recruitment process to maintain the necessary budget. You need to develop a detailed as to how you will give out increments since it will involve justifying why you gave a higher increase to one person and a lower to another employee. Proper criteria should be there to judge the performance of your employees and reward them accordingly since it will also keep the motivational levels high, and you will not have to justify yourself to those who think they deserved better.
- Listen to your candidate
After you have completed your research a dare in a position where you know the figure that you will offer, you should now listen to the candidate. You should try to find out about the benefits and salary the candidate received at his last job just so that you can have an idea of his expectations. Please ask the salary expectations on the application form so that it will make your job much more comfortable. You should also take note of the references provided so that you can get a good impression of the client’s working habits at his previous job. When negotiating with the candidate, ask relevant questions and try to find out why he has come to a particular decision and whether there is room for further negotiations.
- Communicate effectively:
When you are communicating with the candidate, make sure that you are clear in what you are presenting on the table so that there is no room for miscommunication. If you feel that the salary is non-negotiable, you can still offer other benefits such as sick leaves, signing bonuses, and other such benefits that might be attractive to the candidate. Benefits can have a strong influence on the decision-making ability of the candidate, and although the size of your company may limit you, it would be better to mention it to the candidates in the beginning. A candidate joining in will not be happy if the promises offered are not kept and may leave without prior notice, which will put you in a tight spot since the recruitment process is not only time consuming but expensive too.