<prompt> Human: I have seen a lot of great posts recently about people being able to negotiate big salary increases I posted my story last year as well, and I thought it would be interesting to give some perspective as to what is happening from a Managers point of view.I think there are three big points that sometimes people miss when they havent been managers themselves:- Part of your managers job is to keep you employed at the minimum salary that it will take to keep you employed.This is just reality. Companies overall are driven by profit, and for a lot of companies its their operating costs that can really drive that profit. Not being able to keep salaries in check can become a huge problem in industries that are constrained in their revenue making ability. As a manager, you are expected to represent the interests of the company, and for better or worse, the interest of most companies is to generate profit for either their owners or shareholdersinvestors, not to share all profit with the workforce.This is important to keep in mind because it can help you clear up the dynamic between where you, your boss and the company stand. While your boss may like you, appreciate you as an employee, and want to keep you around, heshe will know that there is a limit as to what they can do to keep you, because there is an expectation that they are putting the companys interests above theirs.This is why a lot of people myself included will suggest that you always do salary negotiations with another offer in hand in your back pocket: the only way to be able to put legitimate pressure on an employer is by being willing to take a better offer, and that starts with having one. EDIT: To clarify, what I really meant was with another offer in your back pocket, rather than with another offer in hand.EDIT 2: To further clarify: when I say offer in your back pocket, I mean that you and only you knows that you have that offer. The goal is to be able to walk into a negotiation with a clear idea in your head of what it will take to keep you say, 10 raise, and to be willing and able to walk away if you dont get that. The only way to be able to walk away on the spot, and as a result to negotiate with the appropriate level of conviction, is to have an existing offer to literally walk away.EDIT 3: Some of you have pointed out that you clearly shouldnt just pay employees the minimum it will take to stay. You should pay them the optimal amount to maximize their productivity. I completely agree... however, if you are reading this post seeking advice on how to navigate the negotiation of compensation, odds are that your managerorganization do not subscribe to this philosophy, and sadly, this is true for most people. Most large organizations have a structure in which it is expected that Managers will be able to retain their talent subject to a fixed budget. And part of that philosophy is valid, i.e., you should be doing more than just giving more money to your employees, and some of your ability to retain them should hinge on that. Put a different way: if, as a manager, the only way you can retain people is by paying them more money, you are probably a really bad person to work for. For most people with good managers, one of the big negatives of taking another job is knowing that there is a chance that your next manager wont be any good. - Managers have to invest a good amount of time, goodwill and political capital to get an employee a raiseUnless you are the CEO, arguing for an employee to get a raise or promotion especially off-schedule ones takes valuable resources for a manager. Its not like you can go into your boss office and just get one done on the spot. Most companies are going to require multiple layers of red tape to get there, and in general, will require you spending some of your probably limited goodwill budget on it. Thinking of it a different way, for every raise that you are able to secure for one of your direct reports, theres another one that you wont be able to get.Because of that, managers will tend to a stick to doing promotions and raises during performance evaluation periods when possible, b only push above and beyond what HRupper management wants to do if they feel they need to in order to keep some of their top performers around.That means that if you are someone who wants a 3 raise off-schedule, its not going to happen. Not because you arent worth the 3, and not because 3 is a lot of money to the company, but because the level of effort required to get you that 3 raise is not proportional to the probability that you will leave if you do not get a 3 raise.If you want to increase your chances of getting those bigger raises, the best thing you can do other than kicking ass at your job, is to figure out a way to plant the idea in your boss head that you do expect a significant raisepromotion when the time comes. How you do it depends on you, your industry, your boss, etc., but there is normally a way to bring up the fact that you are doing a great job, and you want to understand what is the plan for compensating that. Since they require great performance, end of big projects, intermediate performance reviews, and any conversation where you doing your job well is the topic of conversation are great places to bring this up.It may sound like Im glad to hear that you appreciate my work. I wanted you to know that I put a lot of time and dedication into my work to ensure that I give you the best possible results. With that in mind, I wanted to know what I need to do to make sure that I am in position to get promotedYou want to bring this up as something that you put on yourself what can I do?, but really use it as an opening for your boss to either tell you I think youre doing a great job and this is when I think we can talk promotion or I dont think youre ready yet and this is why.The answer really doesnt matter as much as the seed that you have planted. The seed that you have planted tells your boss hey, this person is concerned about their compensation. The reason it is important is because it gives your manager time to plan out their strategy for doing whatever it is they need to do to give you a raise IF they think you deserve on AND if they think you are a risk to leave if you dont get one. And that gives you the best possible odds. EDIT 4: To those asking I am underpaid, have been for a while; how do I get a raise?Sadly, there is a very decent chance that your only way to get a raise is to leave. Organizations that underpay, tend to do so knowingly. If you challenge that, you will most likely get a spiel about how lucky you should consider yourself to work here, or get a carrot dangled in your face.As I mentioned earlier, your best bet is to go get another offer for two reasons: Firstly, you need an exit plan. Secondly, you need to know what your market value is. Once you have that, its a lot easier to make that decision.I think that a lot of people stick to a job because they take on the mentality of how do I get my current employer to pay me what Im worth?, which sometimes is a losing proposition. What you should be asking instead is how do I maximize my long term income?, and that will be a combination of taking the right short term moves and positioning yourself for bigger long term moves.- Often times, a manager knows they are underpaying someone they want to keep, but have no recourse to keep them. When you become a manager, you will one day run into an employee who you know you cannot keep. Period. They are just too good, rising too fast and have too marketable of a skillset for your company to be able to handle them correctly. In part because most companies are just not willing to promote people faster than a certain cadence normally 1.5-2 years, but more importantly because people that rise too fast will always be seen through the lens of is that sustainable? Can I believe that small of a sample set?If you have an employee that is able to make strides in his first 3 months at the job and is taking care of things that even people who have been there for 3 years cant do, would you promote him after 3 months?Probably not. Youd probably wait and see if he can keep it up for at least a year. Lets say this person is a true rockstar; at the end of that year, this person has now exceeded expectations again, and though they were ready for a promotion to Senior X in month 3, maybe they are now halfway to being qualified for being Manager. Even if you are well ahead of the curve and promote them after a year, you have now found yourself behind the growth curve of that employee. And at that point, its impossible to recover, because that employee will likely continue to grow faster than you promote him.So what happens? Sooner or later, another company comes along which has a an opening, b the budget, c enough desperation that they are willing to hire someone slightly above their fighting weight just because they see potential. And then you find yourself as a manager trying to counteroffer a 35 raise and a two-level promotion. And you know at that point that a you cant do anything about it now, b you probably never stood a chance, c even if you do fight this one off, you will have to fight it again soon enough.If you are one of those employees, the ones that rise faster than they are promoted, I have three pieces of advice for you:1. Dont take it personally You are not getting promoted because youre breaking some of the unspoken rules of HR and you just dont fit their mold. Odds are your manager wants to keep you, but they know they cant, and that will probably come across as not trying. Rest assured that if you are that good, they know, you know, the company knows, but they also know that they have a very limited number of options that wont create political nuclear war from developing inside the organization.2. Move often. If you are truly one of these people, you will suffer if you stay at a job more than a couple of years. The only key is that you cant just chase money - you have to chase better titles, situations and companies. No one will judge you for leaving a company after two years if your move was warranted by a big promotion, or moving to a bigger player in the industry, or just landing in a better group with a better reputation. People will judge your resume if they see you take parallel jobs every other year, because they will know that you are just chasing money.3. Avoid under all circumstances to burn bridges. The same person that thought you were so good they couldnt keep you around may be the first person to come calling when they think they have an opportunity that does match your resume, especially when red tape is not as much of an issue because you are being hired from the outside. Leave on good terms, be polite, try to help on your way out. Every good impression you make while leaving could become the difference maker in your ability to reconnect with an important in for a future job opportunity.  <response>: I like this post as this is how I felt being the employee who is too good to keep.I didnt take it personally, in fact I told them thank you for the opportunities they gave me. I liked that you stressed the importance of keeping contacts regardless if your moving on our not. I always tell people the same thing. It can change your life just by knowing the right person.Negotiation with an offer in hand is going to be way more useful than just taking a list of accomplishments to your boss, though I would try that first. The leverage it gives you should not be understated.Good write up. 