Underpaid? Here’s How to Fix It.

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Are you underpaid? If yes, are you prepared to do something about it? The folks at GetRaised.com are willing to bet $20 that you’ll have your raise inside of six months with their help.

Find Out Where You Are on the Pay Scale

By simply inputting your career, location, and income data, GetRaised will tell you if you may be underpaid or not. Their sophisticated salary engine derives this conclusion from amalgamated government data, user data, and current job postings. In putting together this research, GetRaised noted that a huge majority of employees are actually underpaid. Some know it and aren’t sure how to ask for a raise, while others wrestle with issues of whether they deserve a raise or not.

GetRaised solves both of these problems by telling you if you are indeed underpaid, and then giving you the tools to successfully get a raise.

There Are Good Reasons to Ask for a Raise

The majority of the team behind GetRaised started off at Thrive, an online financial planning service. “When our data scientists were looking at the Thrive data, we noticed that women were actually better savers than men in that they were saving a higher percentage of their income, but because their income was so much lower, they were actually saving less money in total,” says Matt Wallaert, Lead Scientist at GetRaised.com.

And concerns about the increasing gender-wage gap extend to everybody — male, female, overpaid, and underpaid.“When people feel underpaid and undervalued, they aren’t good, productive workers. They still go to work, but they go feeling miserable, and they make other people miserable,” says Matt. And this contagious attitude can create some pretty miserable workplaces.

How GetRaised Works

Step One

Input your career and location data for free on the GetRaised website to discover if you are underpaid. If you are, move on to step two. (If not, pat yourself on the back for having an awesome employer.)

Step Two

Sign up to “Get Raised” for $20. They’ll ask you a few more questions about your goals, employer, job, and circumstances. From this you’ll receive a custom “Raise Request,” which is a letter for your boss that logically outlines your case for getting a raise and requests a meeting to discuss it.

Step Three

You’ll receive a Raise Guide, which walks you through the process of getting a raise and gives you tips for making your request successful. In addition to the guide, you’ll also gain access to your own Process Page, an online tool that keeps you on track to getting that raise, complete with checkpoints, reminders, and task lists.

If you follow the process above and don’t get a raise in six months, then your $20 is refunded from GetRaised. And since most raises are considerably more than $20, this appears to be a bet you can’t lose.

Customer Support and Success Rate

Knowing this basic information about GetRaised, I had a few more questions about usability of — and rationality behind — the program. For example, I was concerned about customer service and their true dedication to helping people get the raises they deserve. Can a computer program alone really determine if you're underpaid and help you get a raise?

“While the site is designed to be self-contained and to have everything you need, customer support is something that is important to us: If you get stuck or have a special situation, you can always ask us and we’ll try to help, usually within a few hours,” says Avi Karnani, Lead Strategest at GetRaised.com. And it’s not some underpaid (ha ha) pencil-pusher helping you either; even founding members of the team have been known to hop on the phone to help customers with their raise strategies.

What is the success rate of Get Raised customers so far? “GetRaised went live in early October, so it's still pretty early,” says Matt. “There isn't a lot of time for people to have generated a raise request, to have turned it in, to have had their meeting, and to have received their raise. That said, of the people who have gone through the process so far, all but one has received a raise, and that young gent is working for a startup that simply couldn't afford an increase: They instead gave him increased equity (which is the currency they have).”

Debbie (who asked that her last name be withheld) had an inkling that she was underpaid when she checked out GetRaised. And after going through the GetRaised process, she got her raise. “The most helpful aspect of GetRaised for me was that the process guided my focus to what matters: Achievements, responsibilities and such. It's easy to get lost in details when trying to examine the job in which you're immersed on a day-to-day basis. GetRaised cleared the fog and helped me clearly identify what I needed to say to make my point.”

And try as I did to find a disgruntled GetRaised customer, I couldn’t. As Debbie says, GetRaised is “good value and a win/win situation. You'll either get your raise, or your money is refunded.”

Plus, financial assistance is available. “We built GetRaised as much for waitresses as physicists,” says Matt. So if you can’t afford the $20 package, then you can apply for sponsorship. GetRaised will find an individual or organization willing to pay $10, and GetRaised will cover the rest.

Tips for Getting a Raise

Here are a few of the tips for successfully getting a raise that GetRaised walks you through:

It’s Not All About You

Refrain from telling your boss that you “want” or “deserve” a raise. They care surprisingly little about what you want, and much more about how you add value to the business.

Keep Track of Your Accomplishments

Note dates of tenure, certifications, training programs, awards, or initiatives you spearheaded that resulted in new business. This is great fodder for creating your case as a raise-worthy employee.

Know Your Company’s Budget Calendar

Asking for a raise just after the annual budgets have been submitted won’t be very successful if there isn’t money in that budget for you.

Go Above and Beyond

“Raises really are earned more than given,” says Avi. Although this is true, don’t go and give up all your vacation time in an attempt to become the model employee. I believe that even when you’re gunning for a raise, a balanced approach to work — and life — speaks volumes.

Know What Else to Ask for If Money Isn’t Available

There are lots of tax-free employee perks you can ask for if a monetary raise isn’t in the cards. GetRaised’s Raise Guide identifies these alternative options and helps you to pursue them.

Right now, the only thing disheartening limitation I see with the GetRaised program is that only US residents can take advantage of it. Then again, you’ve got to start somewhere.

Are you underpaid? Go to GetRaised.com to find out. You’ve got nothing to lose, and possibly a higher paycheck to gain.

Writer's note: I have no affiliate or vested interest in GetRaised.