surya – Talent500 Blog

4 salary negotiation rules for software developers

Posted on October 7, 2022November 16, 2022 by surya

It is observed that in the software industry, there is a high pay variance. Developers with equivalent experience may have a salary difference of thousands of dollars. Sometimes, this variation is due to the company size and salaries for the very same profiles may widely differ due to a variety of factors such as more experience, additional qualifications and such in favor of the employee.

However, this could also be a result of skillful salary negotiation. A employee study conducted by Payscale revealed 28% of employees felt uncomfortable asking for a pay raise.

The difference in developer salaries among various job profiles can also be stark because programmers are never taught how to lead salary negotiation talks. Hence the lack of understanding of the rules of pay negotiations results in settling for less pay. Whether you are a beginner developer or have years of experience, salary negotiation skills will play a key role in deciding your earnings.

Here we share some essential salary negotiation rules that developers should know.

1. Learn to be strategic with timing

One of the leverages you can have as a candidate is to have multiple offers on the table. When you have offers from various employers, you can push the interviewer to match other offers or compare benefits. The problem arises when a developer gets staggered offers, making negotiation more challenging.

You cannot negotiate the salary skillfully if the offers are too close. You might lose multiple offers if the negotiations fail. It is why you need to plan the timing of interviews carefully. For instance, if you have an interview lined up with one company and the second round of interviews with another company, choose the latest interview slots to keep them separated as much as possible.

Another scenario when the timing is essential is when pursuing a pay raise. Often developers ask for a raise during the review season. By this time, most managers have already decided who will get a raise and who won’t. Asking for a pay raise early on will be helpful for both developers and managers. It will provide feedback to the managers about the pay raise expectations, or it can result in an immediate pay raise.

However, a necessary precaution to take is to be polite with your words and avoid ultimatums. No manager will like to be told “or else.”

2. Do not tell the salary you want

Another important rule of salary negotiation is not to specify a number when discussing your expected pay, even when you know what your skills are worth.

When you explicitly give them a number, you set a ceiling. That’s the maximum salary you will be offered, but often interviewers will negotiate the pay lower than the number you quote. In the worst case, you might mention a number lower than the company is willing to pay, lowering your payments. There is no win-win in telling them what salary you want; it will only go down from the figure you state.

Instead, ask the interviewer about their developer salary budget. They must lowball the budget, and it will give you a salary floor to negotiate up from. Similarly, you might be asked about your current compensation. Avoid answering this question as well.

You can answer such queries with something like, “I’m not comfortable sharing my current salary. Rather I would like to focus on the value I can add to the company.”

3. Focus on what the company wants, not what you prefer

All salary negotiation talks ultimately come down to what you can do for the company. You undermine the negotiation if you lead the argument by stating that you want or deserve higher pay.

When you are not logically justifying why you deserve the salary you expect, you are just making an empathetic request to the company to fulfill your desire for higher pay. It will damage salary negotiation efforts, so you must focus on the company’s needs. Tell them how you can meet them. Focus the conversation on what you bring to the table and let the company see how your skills deserve fair compensation.

Even if your developer salary demands are rejected, ask the company about its requirements. Ask what performance they expect in the next six months to feel comfortable approving your salary raise request.

The onus will be on you to prove that you can deliver what’s asked for.

4. Practice your negotiation strategy

Salary negotiation, as you read here, is easier said than done. It would help if you practiced before you could successfully negotiate your salary. Do mock negotiations with a friend to eliminate the fear of talking about money; it is an essential negotiation strategy. We are conditioned not to do so, but it’s crucial for a raise.

Practice will help you develop a natural flow to ensure you walk through the critical salary negotiation points without being anxious.

Conclusion

Salary negotiation is one of the essential soft skills for a developer. If you are a skillful negotiator, you can earn steeply more. We hope these developer salary negotiation rules will help you confidently walk into your next negotiation.

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8 ways to boost employee engagement levels to new heights

Posted on January 25, 2022January 25, 2022 by surya

There is no doubt that employee engagement is critical to employee satisfaction and retention. To put this in numbers, companies that can successfully engage their employees increase their chances of retention by 87% as per studies. A happy and satisfied workforce is motivated to churn out their best, perform optimally and maintain better overall productivity, ultimately adding to company coffers.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and its restrictions have made employee engagement an uphill battle for HR departments. With little to no personal interaction and a taxing transition to the remote work environment, many companies now face a significant change in culture. While this has received positive feedback, it has led to low employee engagement in many cases. Addressing this problem is critical, and there are many tactics you can undertake.

Here is a mixed bag of long-term strategies and quick fixes you can implement to boost your company’s employee engagement.

Optimize processes to increase efficiency at work

Prior to the pandemic, a OnePoll survey found that 26% of an employee’s time in a working day is wasted doing unnecessary chores. These tasks included working with outdated processes and technology or attending unnecessary meetings that offered little to no value. The impact of such inefficiency worsened in a remote working environment. The Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report in 2020 found that engagement dropped to 20% last year. Naturally, it is safe to assume that this did no favors for an employee’s overall daily performance.

Replacing inefficient practices with optimized and time-saving ones can improve an employee’s work quality, thereby boosting morale. For instance, having an effective document management process in place can ensure that employees have one less thing to worry about, making work manageable. According to the same report, work-induced stress was also at a high, with worry amounting to 41% of the problem. Instituting provisions that minimize instances of stress and worry is sure to increase efficiency, and engagement as well.

Create open communication channels and prioritize feedback

Communication is another aspect of an employee’s workday that normally requires optimization. This not only includes HR-employee communication but also communication among colleagues. Effective comms ensure employees can complete daily tasks without any hitches. Streamlining modes of communication can further help streamline workflow, as well as the chain of command.

With more companies embracing remote or hybrid working styles, it is now essential to have desktop-less communication channels. This will help ensure:

Easy accessibility and availability of all persons involved with a given project.
Reduce friction caused by the lack of physical presence, usually known to restrict workflow.

Employees want feedback, as this helps them feel acknowledged. It simultaneously improves employee engagement as there are no gaps in the communication. Enhancing communication between management and employees seems the obvious first step in this regard. Other smart options include:

Asking managers and team leaders to schedule frequent check-ins and review sessions with their teams.
Providing additional training to ensure that a blanket-style approach isn’t employed to every employee’s need or problem.
Creating an environment that encourages open and honest conversation between employees and management.
Encouraging managers to deploy every possible communication channel to give and receive feedback.

Review and polish your onboarding process

Well begun is half done, and this applies to your company’s onboarding process as well. This is a pivotal moment where the new joinee gets a first-hand experience of the company’s culture, atmosphere, and fellow employees. If done right, it can set the correct tone for a new employee, helping them envision their career growth and personal development. So, your onboarding should lay the foundation of a working relationship that is engaging and inclusive.

A critical aspect of the onboarding experience is the office intranet. It helps new employees to know and understand your business, the processes to be followed, fellow employees, and company culture. Moreover, adding a personal space like ‘My Profile’ provides a digital space for employees to express themselves, building camaraderie. All of this guarantees a simple, effective, and seamless onboarding experience, ensuring employee engagement from the start.

Provide working flexibility to employees

Employees expect their companies to help them achieve the elusive and much-needed work-life balance. They expect employers to be empathetic enough to help them meet their personal commitments. Work-from-home flexibility and remote opportunities were proven tools that guaranteed satisfaction, and to an extent increased employee engagement. But with the pandemic and the recent shift to digital working conditions, additions must be made.

For instance, allowing your employees to choose their work timings is a good start. This shows that you care about them and their personal lives and are invested in their well-being. Optimize your processes and workflow in a manner that allows your employees freedom in choosing their timings. Showing empathy on your part will significantly boost engagement and overall productivity.

Recognize, appreciate, and reward employee efforts

When employees feel acknowledged, valued and rewarded, they are motivated to do better. However, this should not be the sole purpose of recognizing and appreciating employee efforts. Ensure that you do so solely for the quality of work and effort, highlighting their value to the company. Seeing colleagues being motivated and rewarded for their work and efforts will also boost the morale of the entire workforce. It will inspire them to work harder, ultimately improving employee engagement.

Invest in upskilling your workforce

Investing in your workforce is synonymous with investing in your business. Providing employees with opportunities, training, and education to upskill tells employees that you see potential and are ready to invest in them. Not doing so can not only harm productivity, but also affect retention and employee engagement. Helping your employees improve in the very aspects they are lacking inspires confidence, improving engagement.

Promote shared company culture and core values

Take efforts to promote a consistent culture and core values throughout the company. This ensures that every employee shares, and is part of a common culture that drives them at work. While it helps improve employee interaction and engagement, it also helps align employee goals to company purpose. A transparent and shared company culture results in a highly productive and fun working environment. Moreover, it fosters a bond of trust between managers and employees.

Undertake actionable employment satisfaction and engagement surveys

A successful employee engagement strategy is incomplete without taking honest feedback and reviews. A transparent and collaborative approach can help you build a lasting and effective engagement program. To this effect, undertake regular feedback in the form of polls, surveys, and interviews. This makes the employee a stakeholder in the betterment of the workforce, providing you with actionable data about your engagement program.

Money is not the only reason employees leave companies. Employees today want a job that caters to their well-being while treating them with respect and in an inclusive manner. A well thought-out and employee-centric engagement program can help you create a brand that attracts new talent and retains the current workforce.

As per a survey, a point increase in employee satisfaction transcends to a 1.3-point increase in customer satisfaction. So, it is in your company’s best interest to prioritize employee well-being to ensure customer happiness.

At Talent500, we help you build employee engagement solutions that feature a streamlined onboarding process, and access tools that optimize engagement. With our best-in-class benefits, managing a remote team becomes easy with us as your EOR. We leverage a host of community activities, learning and development initiatives, and many more methods to help bolster employee engagement. To know how we can help you achieve this goal, book a consultation online.

5 sought-after benefits your company needs to invest in

Posted on November 18, 2021November 18, 2021 by surya

The pandemic made it abundantly clear that work and personal life can no longer be treated as isolated parts of an employee’s life. As industries and 5-year plans came crumbling down in a matter of months, companies and employees soon came to realize that it isn’t all about the paycheck.

While employees took action at first sight, quitting jobs even in the midst of one of the hardest times in the year, companies were also quick to catch on. Fidelity Investments, for instance, rolled out a benefit that offered greater support to workers who were also caregivers. This included access to expert care, childcare reimbursement and more.

The trend caught on soon with companies like Google and many others putting employees’ needs first. Fast forward to the present, and employees today expect more from companies, willing to take home less, if it means better quality of life and access to core working benefits. In fact, a study found that 80% of employees shared this sentiment, and would give up a raise for better benefits. Naturally, this didn’t fall on deaf ears, and per the Future of Benefits report, around 98% of US HR leaders and C-suite level decision-makers agreed to invest in workplace perks.

So, what are the most-wanted perks in a modern workplace? More importantly, do companies stand to benefit from this shift? Read on to find out.

Most sought-after workplace perks and benefits in 2021

Childcare policies

With remote work gradually becoming the norm, the division of household labor also changed. Parents share duties more equitably today and the pandemic made it clear that childcare benefits were among the most crucial of all. In fact, 500 leaders surveyed by the Future of Benefits report also deemed child care among the most essential perks.

Working families faced quite the brunt during the tough months that confined families to their homes, and now employees are doing all they can to safeguard what truly matters. So much so, that family benefits company – Cleo, saw a 167% increase in memberships, with most seeking comprehensive benefits. Companies also bought in, and as per a Sage survey, around 27% of businesses adopted childcare-specific policies.

Going forward, companies looking to go down this path will have to accommodate revised needs. Apart from health, childcare financing, assistance finding daycare, after-school care, tutoring, and other remote solutions can be a step in the right direction.

Flexibility and remote work provisions

The pre-pandemic workplace and model is no longer practical. The enhanced flexibility offered by working from home or remotely is one that employees aren’t ready to part with, and likely never will be. A whopping majority of 96% of workers chose remote working, if not full-time, at least in some capacity, as per a FlexJobs survey. On the other hand, 65% of workers chose remote working as a full-time solution.

The corporate working model has been reimagined and the ‘where’ has relocated to wherever the employee feels most productive. Companies would do well to cater to this need, and many are already on board. The hybrid work model is here to stay. As per a Gartner study, around 80% of employers are prepared to institute policies that allow for the same.

Home office perk program

To keep up with the shifting landscape of the post-pandemic workplace, home-office perk programs, like those launched by Google, Indeed, Shopify, and many others, have proved their efficacy. Since the majority of the corporate workforce wants to ditch the 9-to-5, brick-and-mortar model, this is a solution that offers what employees really need – comfort on their terms. From ergonomic chairs to stipends for setting up a workspace at home, this program can be defined by each company to suit their employee needs.

Better Vacation or PTO policies

Much like the flexibility of remote working, employees today have been vocal about the desire to unplug on their terms. Unwinding is a basic need which benefits productivity and overall performance. However, existing models do leave room for improvement. Companies have adapted to new working models, but the concept of time off is still shackled by archaic chains. However, companies don’t really need to reinvent the wheel to hit the ground running.

Netflix, for instance, has an unlimited vacation policy and allows their employees to take as much time as needed to recharge. This is part of the PTO policy and has proven effective. Another notable mention is Media Temple, a company that strongly advocates for paid sabbaticals. After 3 years, employees here are encouraged to take an entire month and engage in activities that enrich them. Perks like these allow the modern employee to get as much value as possible from their current job, and also attract those who want to grow and enhance their skills.

Health coverage

A study found that employers who invested in wellness and comprehensive health initiatives achieved around 3-to-1 return in money saved. This isn’t surprising as unhealthy employees are more stressed, less productive, and have lower morale. Rising medical inflation combined with exorbitant healthcare costs is difficult to manage without a safety net, which is likely why company-provided coverage is now a demand.

Without proper care, people can’t work, and this doesn’t only apply to physical ailments. Mental health is just as important to the modern employee, with burnout at the top of the list. Employer-led solutions are the key in this case, and some companies have done well at addressing it. In fact, of the Best Workplaces in 2021, around 70% have a provision or policy that allows employees to access mental health care as needed.

Benefits to organizations

The success of many global companies can be credited to their benefits programs. For instance, Media Temple’s PTO policy is a driving factor for attracting top talent. Remote work has been reported to be an equally huge success. As per a Mercer report based on a survey of over 800 employers, productivity was found to stay the same, if not higher in some cases.

These are just a few of the upsides, here’s a larger list and companies stand to gain these other benefits too with better implementation.

Enhanced performance and productivity
Reduced absenteeism
Increased employee engagement
Stronger organizational culture
Access to a more diverse pool of talent
Enhanced loyalty and reduced turnover
Better employee health

While instituting and standardizing nice-to-have policies, benefits, and perk programs does have some bureaucratic involvement, truly progressive companies needn’t wait to pioneer change. The benefits of a happier, more motivated, and more cared for employee far outweighs the cost, and failing to deliver basically ensures turnover. The ball is now in your court, and it may be best if the ‘new normal’ your company defines is nothing like the old.

Author: surya