How to Negotiate Salary When Relocating for the Same Company
Accepting a relocation with your current employer could offer significant leverage for a raise. However, your success in negotiating could depend on the position. Most people transferring with their companies are moving on with a promotion, making salary negotiating easier. However, in some instances, people make lateral moves because of family issues or other interests, such as a desire to live somewhere else. Whatever the circumstances, you should approach your boss about negotiating salary when relocating within the company.
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Instructions
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Contact your company's human resources department to ask about about rank, classification and pay range for your new position. The HR person may not offer pay information, but there is no harm in asking. Compare HR information with your current job to confirm that you are relocating for a position is superior to the one that you have and that should pay a higher salary.
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Consult with a local relocation expert to obtain cost-of-living information for the new city. Find relocation experts by calling local moving companies. Or use cost-of-living comparison calculators on sites such as CNN.com or Bankrate.com.
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Meet with your boss to discuss terms of the relocation. At this point, you're simply gathering information and not negotiating. Ask your boss for the salary, along with complete details about relocation expenses, including temporary housing while you look for a place.
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Ask your boss for a day to look over the offer. Use information from cost-of-living comparison calculators and and relocation experts to determine if your new salary represents a raise. Make the determination by reviewing your current spending for housing, local and state taxes, day care, groceries, transportation and utilities. Compare the totals against similar information for your new city.
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Evaluate the salary further by networking inside and outside the company. Use your contacts, if possible, to identify others who have relocated to the same city for the same job with your company. Also use professional and social networking sites to connect with other people performing the job for other companies in the new city. Contact as many sources as possible to explain your move and to ask for ballpark figures on what the job should pay for someone of your experience.
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Negotiate with your boss based on your research. If you feel a salary boost of is $10,000 too low, ask your boss to increase the salary by $20,000. Support your argument by offering reliable data on differences in cost of living. Explain that the current offer is not much of a raise after comparing living costs. Or argue that the job simply should pay more based on what others are earning for the same job.
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Reduce your requested salary increase to $10,000 if your boss balks at a $20,000 increase. The reason for starting high was to provide for some wiggle room. Ask for a $10,000 increase if your boss still balks.
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Negotiate other terms if your boss feels the salary is fair despite your arguments. Ask for a sign-on or relocation bonus of $20,000, for example. The one-time bonus increases your overall compensation, yet allows your boss to offer the same salary. In addition to a bonus, ask for semiannual performance and pay reviews for two years instead of annual reviews. Also ask for an additional week of vacation. Use the bonus to offset the first-year cost-of-living increase. Continue to negotiate higher salaries through the semiannual reviews.
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