Negotiating salary: don't leave money on the table

Reading time: 3 minutes

Why 6 out of 10 people leave money on the table (and you don't have to)

Imagine you're given a gift voucher worth £5,000, but you have to ask for it. Would you? Probably. Yet sixty percent of employees never do this when it comes to their salary. Oddly enough, nobody's shy about asking for a discount at the electronics shop, but when it comes to discussing their own worth, the nerves kick in.

The result: those who don't negotiate leave an average of £3,000 to £8,000 a year on the table. Multiply that over a thirty-year career and you're not talking about missing out on a cup of coffee — you're talking about a company car. Every year.

Why don't you just ask?

Usually it's not laziness, it's assumption. You think the first offer is the best offer. It almost never is. Employers generally expect you to negotiate — in fact, more than three-quarters of employers already factor a counteroffer into their plans when drawing up an offer. So not negotiating isn't 'polite' — it's a missed opportunity that your employer secretly finds a bit odd too.

What you stand to lose (spoiler: not your job)

The fear is usually: "They'll withdraw the offer if I make a fuss." In practice, that almost never happens with a reasonable, well-argued request. But you do lose something by not asking: the vast majority of people who did negotiate received a better offer. In other words, the odds that asking pays off are far higher than the odds of being flatly turned down.

How to actually do it

1. Do your homework. Check salary benchmarks for your role, region and experience before the conversation. A well-argued request works better than guesswork.
2. Name a specific figure, not a range. With a range of £3,000-£3,500, you'll still only hear the lowest number. Just ask for £3,500.
3. Don't forget the rest of the package. Home-working allowance, training budget, extra holiday days — it all counts, and there's often more room to manoeuvre here than on base salary.
4. Don't wait for the perfect moment. It never comes anyway. Just ask, calmly and professionally, as soon as you have an offer.

Not sure where to start? There's a tool for that

Working out a realistic counteroffer yourself is often the trickiest part. Our Salary Negotiation Tool calculates, based on your role, experience and region, exactly what figure is realistic to ask for — complete with ready-made phrases for the conversation itself. No more guesswork, just a number you can stand behind.

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In short

• 6 out of 10 employees never negotiate — and pay the price for years.
• Not negotiating costs an average of £3,000-£8,000 a year.
• Employers expect a counteroffer; it's not cheeky, it's the norm.
• Asking in a well-argued, specific and calm way works in most cases.