Hillary Shine of Shine Associates – Your value in the market for success in negotiating compensating.
On May 13th Hillary Shine spoke to CREW Boston about understanding your value in the marketplace and how to negotiate your worth in both a current and new positions. Hillary set the stage by indicating that people are on the move and there is a real war on talent in the marketplace right now. The pandemic has certainly provided people the time and headspace to think hard about their current work environments and how for many this last year has allowed them the opportunity to see the benefit of a hybrid work from home/office lifestyle.
Shine stressed the importance of truly understanding your value by looking carefully at your entire compensation package not simply what shows on your W2 when evaluating and placing a value to your net worth. Specifically looking at health care, education reimbursement, bonus structure, culture, association fees, time off, and overall flexibility of your job and the value that brings to your quality of life. She indicated people tend to get very hung up on the salary number when in fact so much financial value can lie within the other categories.
Hillary also shared the two major changes that came out of the Pay Equity Act that went into effect July 1, 2018. First being that employers can not prohibit you from discussing your salary in your firm, though she advised one should still be very cautious about who and how you share that information. Second, employers are no longer able to seek past salary/wages.
She also expressed the importance of insuring that your resume doesn’t read like a job description but rather really highlights with specific data points how successful you have been in your role. Shine suggested this also when outlining you worth and value going into annual review conversations. The importance of being prepared to speak to your successes, understanding the financial positioning your company is in, and being prepared to make a case AND listen to feedback during these key conversations regarding compensation are imperative to reaching your desired outcome. Hillary in closing shared to never be afraid to get creative in discussing ways you can increase your value to your employer and how they can get creative in providing a compensation package that you both feel great about.
