When negotiating salary there will be times when companies are unable to meet your salary requirement. This can be due to many factors including strict budgets and legacy employees. When base salary can’t be negotiated, ask to review the benefits package and find areas you would like to negotiate.
Here is a list of benefits you can negotiate and tips for each.
Company Stock
“Stock options are very complicated. If you start out knowing nothing, and you have an offer to evaluate this week, you’re unlikely to be able to understand every possible scenario.”
Ask these questions when negotiating stock options:
o How many stock options (# shares)
o Vesting schedule (usually 4 years / 1 year “cliff”)
o How many outstanding shares
o Company’s current valuation
o Exercise price (per share)
o Fair market value (per share: a made-up number, but possibly useful)
o If they’re offering ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs
o How long after leaving do you have to exercise?
More Vacation Leave
The easiest way to get more vacation time included in your offer is to compare the offer to the vacation time you’re getting at your current job and asking if the new employer can match it. For example, you could say, “Right now I get four weeks of vacation a year, so two weeks would be a pretty big step back for me. Would you be able to do four weeks to match what I have currently?”
This is a particularly common request from people in mid-level and senior roles, who have worked their way up to a higher amount of vacation time at previous jobs and don’t want to start at the bottom again.Always get the agreement in writing. If the employer doesn’t offer anything in writing, you can simply send an email saying something like, “I wanted to summarize our conversation earlier, agreeing that effective this month, I’ll begin accruing four weeks of vacation time per calendar year. Thanks for working with me on this!”
Commuter Perks
“If you drive to work, consider asking for mileage, tolls, gas, or parking reimbursement. And if your role requires a lot of travel, you can also inquire about a company car.”
Big-city workers, meanwhile, can consider asking an employer to help offset the cost of a monthly public-transit pass with pre-tax dollars.
Training allowance or career development stipend
A 2014 Northwestern Mutual guide for job changers found that half of all employers surveyed offered some sort of reimbursement for undergraduate and graduate courses, with the average maximum cap being $5,000.
Most employers put some strings on educational reimbursement: the degree you’re pursuing has to be related to your current job or a job the employer thinks you may be suited to fill in the future.
You also may be required to stay with the company for a certain period of time after the reimbursement. Leave before that time period, and you may owe the company money.
Most employers budget a per-employee expenditure for professional development. But not all employees tap into the funds for courses, training and travel to conferences related to their work.
So there is likely extra money in the budget if you find a training, course or conference and can make the case to your manager that it will help you in your work. The key here is simply asking what is feasible.
Signing Bonus
A 2016 survey conducted by World at Work found that 76% of the organizations surveyed offer signing bonuses, which are the most common form of bonus program.
Signing bonuses are most typically awarded to top executives, upper management, middle management, and professional staff, World at Work learned. For managers and executives, signing bonuses typically ranged from $10,000 to more than $50,000. For clerical and technical workers, signing bonuses tended to be less than $5,000.
Relocation Assistance
Moving is expensive. Between hiring professionals to transport your belongings, buying packing supplies, and paying for storage, relocating for job purposes is an expense that might throw your finances off track. That’s why if you’re going to move for a job, you’ll need to negotiate a relocation package that ensures you come out unscathed financially.
Child Care
“Parental benefits—like child care reimbursement—have gained popularity in recent years. If this is a must-have for you, bring it up. It’s worth negotiating for benefits if having them will make you happier and better able to achieve work-life balance in the long run.” – Brandi Britton
Here is a full list of salary negotiation tips at Sell Yourself: 10 Ways to Get a Higher Salary