Salary reviews for state employees – how to present your case for a higher salary

If you are a state employee, you are entitled to an annual review about salary and career development with your manager. Having a salary review with your boss may not be something everyone looks forward to, but if you prepare well, the conversation can feel much more safe and comfortable.

Be well prepared for your most important conversation of the year – preparing well gives you the opportunity to influence your own salary development.

Salary reviews for state employees – what you are entitled to according to Section 5 of the Basic Collective Agreement

A good salary review meeting provides a clear assessment of your performance and how it is rewarded. A salary review should clarify the connection between your work efforts and your salary. You can help influence your salary development yourself.

Asking for a salary review meeting shows that you are ambitious and interested in your job!

All state employees in Norway are entitled to an annual salary and career review with their manager. This right is laid down in Section 5 of the Basic Collective Agreement, which states: “The employee shall be offered an annual salary review addressing competence, responsibilities, salary and career development, in accordance with the local salary policy. These reviews shall contribute to gender pay equality and prevent discrimination in accordance with Section 6 of the Norwegian Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act.”

On re-entry into service after parental leave, the employee shall be offered a review addressing competence, responsibilities, salary and career development.

Salary review vs salary negotiations

Remember that the salary review is not a salary negotiation, and that there are limits to what a manager can promise regarding salary. The actual salary negotiations take place between local union representatives and management, and the manager cannot make any presumptions about the outcome of future negotiations. However, a salary review can help your manager become aware of what you do and your skills.

Some employers have implemented good procedures to ensure that salary reviews are held regularly, such as in advance of local salary negotiations. In other places, a salary review is something you must specifically request, even though the Basic Collective Agreement (BCA) states that the employer should take the initiative on the matter.

All state enterprises have a local salary policy. Refer to the local salary policy and the criteria it sets out. These criteria specify the qualities the employer should focus on in their assessment. Can you demonstrate a correlation between the development of the organisation and the need for your responsibilities, efforts and results? These are the things that will determine whether your manager thinks you are worth the higher salary you want.

Two areas where you should prepare:

1. Your value to the organisation

2. What others with similar competence and responsibility earn

Your value

Endeavour to highlight and give evidence for all your contributions that have a positive effect on the organisation’s revenue or development.

Try to think like an employer – why would it benefit your employer to give you a higher salary?

Show that there is a correlation between the organisation’s goals, development and needs, and your responsibilities, efforts and results.

To achieve your requests and expectations, you should take the interests and needs of the employer and the organisation into account.

• What have you achieved lately?
  Have you participated in projects, collaborated with external parties or other departments, written articles etc.?
  
  Have you met expectations? Has your work situation changed? Have you been given new, more demanding tasks? Are you working more quickly? Do you deliver higher-quality work? Try to assess yourself from someone else’s point of view.

• What skills do you have?
  Have there been any changes in your competence in the last year? Are you good at sharing your expertise with your colleagues? Include courses, internal training, learning through new tasks and any further and continuing education. Try to emphasise the importance of your new skills for your workplace.

• Have you been given increased responsibility?
  Consider both professional responsibility and leadership. Have you been given more formal responsibility – for example, independent project responsibility, responsibility as a deputy, professional responsibility, team leader responsibility or personnel responsibility?

• Do you have a key position in the organisation? Do you have unique expertise?
  What is your market value? Do you have a skill that is sought after by other employers? If so, mention this – but in a non-threatening manner.

• Do you have a network of contacts that your organisation relies on?
  Highlight who you collaborate with and the nature of your network. A good network is always a positive for the employer.

• Have you contributed more than what is expected of you or your position?

• Read the organisation’s salary policy and base your reasoning on that.

• Ask yourself – what would happen if I suddenly left or disappeared?
  That can tell you something about your value to the organisation.

Keep a record of your successes as they happen

It is easy to forget all the things you have achieved during the year, so it is a good idea to keep an ongoing record of your goals, results, skills development, courses, projects etc. This ensures you do not forget to include things that happened shortly after your last salary review.

What are others earning? Use statistics!

Feel free to obtain statistics from Forskerforbundet, Statistics Norway and other trade unions.

• You can request statistics from your employer.

In the public sector, the principle is that all documents are publicly accessible and anyone can request access to case documents, journals and other similar records; see Section 3 of the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act. This means that the salary information of employees of the state, county authorities and municipalities will be available to anyone who requests access.

• Ask acquaintances, colleagues, former colleagues or student friends what they earn and how their salaries have changed in recent years.
• Use your network.
• You can ask your network about pay and salary trends even if they work in a different sector and industry.
• Check your own salary development from recent years (if you do not have this information, ask your union representative or HR).

Keep the salary review and the appraisal interview separate

The salary review should be separate from the appraisal interview. This is because it is important to focus on pay and salary development in a salary review, and not spend too much time discussing other aspects of the employment relationship. Your union representative can be present during the salary review, but can only participate as an observer and listener, or help to clear up any ambiguities.

“I recommend having the salary review alone, but you can always ask your union representative for advice,” says Ståhl.

Good luck with your salary review!