Pay rises

Do you need a pay rise or a promotion?

Ask for a pay rise when your value grew inside the same job. Ask for a promotion when the job itself changed: bigger scope, higher complexity, real decision authority. Ask for both when your title and your salary are equally behind what you actually do.

Written by the Look at you go team ยท Published 18 August 2026

The test

If this is trueAsk for
You do the same job, materially better, with proofA pay rise
Your market rate has moved and your pay has notA pay rise
Scope grew without the level fundamentally changingA pay rise, plus a scope note on file
Decision authority and complexity both increasedA promotion
You are consistently doing next-level workA promotion
Title and pay are both behind realityBoth, in that order: level first, money follows level

Two conversations, two kinds of evidence

Same career, different arguments

Weak

Pay rise argument: I have been here three years.

Strong

Pay rise argument: the same role, delivered against a bigger target, with two processes I rebuilt and now own.

Weak

Promotion argument: I deserve it by now.

Strong

Promotion argument: for three quarters I have made the calls, held the budget and represented the team at leadership level.

When the answer is neither, yet

Sometimes the honest read is that the evidence is thin: one good quarter, no dates, and nothing that separates you from a colleague doing the same job. That is not a no forever. It is a six-month plan, and it starts with recording what happens while it happens.

Related questions

Can I ask for both at once?
You can, but frame it as one request about level with pay as the consequence. Two separate asks in one meeting usually get answered with the cheaper one.

Work out which case you can actually evidence

Try the promotion readiness check

Related guides

Back to pay rises or all career guides.