How to Ask for an Annual Raise

[WeirdNurseKelly, BSN, RN]

I am fairly new to nursing, I have 2 1/2 years of experience. This is the first time I have been at a nursing job and hit my year mark (working full time that is). My first job was on-call, my second job was a complete disaster and lasted a long (too long) 4 months.

I am extremely happy in home health and have come a LONG way. I have learned so much in the past year. I can't believe I have finally hit my year mark.

My previous jobs I have always just taken what was given to me around the time I was eligible for a raise. Now I want to start learning some negotiationg skills in order to get what I feel I deserve from an annual raise. I did not get a raise at my 90 days.

The company I work for is hitting their year mark. They used to be called something else. We are growing, especially in the recent weeks and will continue to grow as we are having our hospice survey REALLY soon and will start transitioning some of our patients to hospice. My question is how do I approach the raise issue during my year review and how much should I be asking for?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This was also posted in the home health specialties section.

[CP2013]

I was under the impression that nurses are given a salary and any subsequent raises based on a set scale and system. You are an RN with X amount of experience and have been with the company for X of those years and that's that. I know new grads have no room for negotiation and thought it was very little wiggle room for negotiation even years down the road.

If you work in a right-to-work state they can deny you any raise and just fire you. Or they can pick up one of the numerous new grads or newer RN's that are eager for a job and will do it for $3/hr less than you. Be careful how much you negotiate lest it backfire....

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

If you are employed in a hospital or any other organization that employs a large number of nurses, they will have a firm policy & procedure that governs salary scale & salary adjustments/increases. Labor budget is usually about 40% of hospital operating expenses, and nurses make up about 60% of that... so they don't really allow individual variation. At most organizations, annual raises are tied to some sort of metric - usually your annual performance evaluation rating. So, if you are a top performer you will get a bit more than your colleagues. If you're in a union environment, salary adjustments are spelled out in the contract - again with little variation.

Unfortunately, US health care raises have been averaging ~ 2-3% per year over the last few years.. not enough to keep up with cost of living increases. If your employer has a 'career ladder' type of scheme, that may be one way to increase your salary by virtue of your own efforts. For instance, some career ladders pay more to nurses who obtain specialty certification or accomplish other types of goals. Take advantage of these opportunities.

Also (at the risk of sounding nerdy) be sure to take advantage of any "Matching" funds your employer has set up in your retirement package... it's a way to you can give yourself a 'raise'. Even though you don't actually see it in your take-home pay, it's added to your retirement account - and it doesn't add to your tax bill.