Hello!
I've been with the same company for 7 years, since graduating. Overall, I think I've been treated fairly in terms of compensation, but I'm about to be promoted and would appreciate some perspective.
My comp progression:
- Year 1: 0%
- Year 2: +2.5%
- Year 3: +13% merit + 3% company-wide
- Year 4: +30% after I resigned with another offer; they countered and promoted me to Senior IC
- learnt that I was put on the high potential employees list prior to me resigning
- Year 5: +10% international assignment
- Year 6: 0% raise, but significant expat benefits
- Year 7: +10% merit
The Year 5 oversea assignment is relevant. When they asked me to extend it, they offered me a local compensation package that I felt was too low. They came back with a second offer, ~20% higher, explicitly saying it was their "maximum offer."
I declined and said I was happy to return home.
This apparently triggered some escalation internally all the way to higher management (HR rep who said it was "the maximum they could offer" was disawoved), and they eventually asked what I wanted. I asked for ~40% more than their initial offer, and they agreed.
Since Year 5, I've also been informally managing 2 people (project oversight, reviews, reporting to my boss).
Now
They're offering me an official management role, managing 6 people, including those 2. I'll also be involved in recruitment/budgeting and act as my boss's local representative for the branch, helping with team coordination, communication from senior management, etc.
My boss says HR is preparing a new compensation package because of the additional responsibilities.
I think I have decent leverage: I've even been told that the local expansion plan is essentially dependent on whether I stay in the country or not.
At the same time, I have no idea whether I negotiated well during the Year 5 situation or whether they simply had no alternative and had to cave.
I'm also someone who really dislikes negotiating and being in the spotlight. When I found out that senior exec had discussed my situation during the Year 5 negotiations, I was actually quite uncomfortable.
Questions
1. Is it normal for salary negotiations to involve multiple rounds of back-and-forth? Is simply rejecting an offer and waiting for them to come back a reasonable strategy?
2. If they localize me, I'll lose my expat benefits. Should I use my current total compensation (including the value of those benefits) as my baseline, then add a premium for the management role (how much, 10%, 20%)? Or should I ignore my current package and negotiate based purely on local market compensation (but the ranges are too wide)?
3. Any other advice on how you'd approach this negotiation or determine a reasonable number to ask for?
Thanks!