Pay rises
Evidence for a pay rise
A pay rise is a value argument, not a loyalty argument. The evidence that moves a number is proof that what you deliver is worth more than it was when your salary was last set, and more than it would cost to replace.
Written by the Look at you go team ยท Published 18 August 2026
The evidence checklist
Tick what you can date and describe. Four strong items is a conversation.
- Sustained strong performance across at least two review periods
- Quantified impact: a number that moved and your part in it
- Increased scope: bigger budgets, more systems, wider remit
- Responsibilities added since your salary was last set
- Efficiency gains: time or cost taken out of how the work runs
- Revenue influenced, won, retained or grown
- Cost reduced or avoided, including renegotiations
- Risk avoided: the incident, breach or overrun that did not happen
- Leadership carried without the title
- Expertise others depend on, with examples of them depending on it
- Replacement value: what hiring your capability would now cost
- Market alignment: credible evidence of the going rate for the work you do
Turning activity into an argument
Weak
I have taken on more since Priya left.
Strong
Since Priya left in February I have owned the reconciliation process, which is four days a month I absorbed without backfill.
Weak
I am underpaid for what I do.
Strong
My remit now covers three regions rather than one, which is the scope in the band above mine.
Weak
Other places pay more.
Strong
Comparable roles with three-region scope advertise between X and Y, and my scope changed in February without a review.
What not to bring
- Personal costs. Rent going up is real and is not an argument your employer can act on.
- A colleague's salary. It makes the conversation about them, and often about how you know.
- An ultimatum you are not prepared to honour.
- Everything at once. Four strong items land harder than fourteen.
Related questions
- How much should I ask for?
- Anchor it to the change you can evidence and to credible market data for the scope you now carry, then ask for a specific number rather than a range. A range is read as its lowest value.
- What if the answer is no?
- Ask what would need to be true and when it will be revisited, then get it in writing. A no with a date and criteria is a plan. A no with neither is data about your employer.
Turn what you did into defensible wording
Build my pay-rise evidenceRelated guides
- How to ask for a pay rise
- Your responsibilities increased and your salary did not
- Do you need a pay rise or a promotion?
- Pay-rise evidence builder
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