This lesson suits upper-intermediate to advanced learners. After listening, scroll down and test your knowledge with our quiz.
Learning notes
Language objective
How to ask for more money from your employer
Different questions you can use to negotiate your salary
- Can you move at all on that figure?
- Is there any room for negotiation?
- Is that salary up for discussion because…?
- Maybe we could find a creative way to get to that number?
Different phrases to use for sounding confident during the negotiation process:
- I'm excited about the prospect of working here, and I know I will bring a lot of value.
- I appreciate your offer, but based on the going rate for someone with my skills and experience, I’m looking for something in the upper end of that salary range.
- I'd feel more comfortable if we could settle on a higher base salary because I really feel that my experience and skills are worth that money.
- My salary expectations are in line with my experience and qualifications.
Vocabulary:
Salary, income and compensation are different words for the money your work.
A wage is a fixed regular payment earned for work or services, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis.
Salary is also a fixed regular payment but typically paid on a monthly basis and often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee.
To negotiate something means to discuss and reach an agreement on something.
Market value is how much something is worth on the open market.
A salary range is the minimum and maximum amount an employer will pay for a job.
A counteroffer is an offer we make in response to an offer.
Colloquial expressions:
Bringing home the bacon is another way of saying to earn a living.
If you are being paid peanuts, you are being paid very little.
Getting the short end of the stick means being disadvantaged somehow, finding yourself in a situation or with an outcome that is not as good as it should be.
Cultural information:
In Australia, you can access free and confidential legal help through several organisations.
in NSW can help you if you are being underpaid or being unfairly treated by your boss.
provides legal assistance to Victorian, Tasmanian and Queensland workers. Job Watch can give you free, confidential telephone information and referrals about work rights.
In each state and territory, community legal centres give free legal assistance to people who need it most, particularly people experiencing financial hardship, disadvantage, discrimination, and domestic and family violence. Find the one closest to you through .
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways throughout Australia.
My name is Josipa, and you are listening to the SBS Learn English podcast, where today, we are practising phrases to help us negotiate our salaries.
To negotiate something means to have talks and reach an agreement on something. And it can be very helpful to know phrases to help us negotiate our salaries because many of us have to bring home the bacon.
Not that kind of bacon. To bring home the bacon is another way of saying to earn a salary, which you can then use to buy bacon.
For example, you could say,
I really don’t feel like going to work today but someone’s got to bring home the bacon.Claire
Thanks, Claire. Allan is also with us today, and the two of them will help us practise phrases we can use to negotiate our salaries because, let's be honest, we all want to earn more, and nobody wants to be paid peanuts.
If you are being paid peanuts, it means that you are being paid very little. You have a low salary or wages.
By the way, a wage is a fixed regular payment earned for work or services, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, while salary is also a a fixed regular payment but typically paid on a monthly basis and often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee.
Let’s hear what Claire and Allan prepared for us today. In this dialogue, Claire is an employer who has offered Allan a job, but he is not happy with the salary she is offering.
Let’s see how he deals with this situation.
Allan
I'm excited about prospect of working here, and I know I’ll be able to contribute a lot to the company. I really appreciate your offer but based on the going rate for someone with my skills… and experience, I’m looking for something in the upper end of that range.
Claire
Well, Allan, we look forward to working with you, but the salary we offer is fair and it’s what we have budgeted for this role.
Allan
Can you move at all on that figure? I'd feel more comfortable if we could settle on a higher base salary because my experience and skills are worth it. Or maybe we could find a creative way to get to that number? Adding an additional week of paid vacation, for example, along with the salary you suggested would be great. If you can do that, I’m on board.
Claire
Ok, Allan, let me see what I can do.
Allan
Thanks, Claire, I appreciate it.
Well done, Allan. There was a moment in that dialogue where I felt he would not get what he wanted.
If you haven't understood everything they said, don't worry, we'll repeat and explain all of the phrases one by one. So, let's start.
Allan said he is excited about prospect of working there, and he knows he’ll be able to contribute a lot to the company. He also said,
I really appreciate your offer but based on the going rate for someone with my skills and experience, I’m looking for something in the upper end of that range.
This phrase shows that Allan has come to a view of what his salary should be based on the market value, that is, on what he knows other people would pay him, and not only based on what he would like to earn.
When talking about salaries and wages, market value, or going rate, is the amount you should be earning based on your job title, years of experience and skills.
Do you know what a salary range is? A salary range is the minimum and maximum amount an employer pays for someone doing a particular job.
For example, according to one job-searching website, the average salary of an accountant in Australia is between $60000 and $80000.
That's the salary range. $60000 is the low- end, while $80000 represents the high or upper end of the range, the maximum you could get for that job.
Allan said he is looking for,
I’m looking for something in the upper end of that salary range.
Claire
Well, Allan, we look forward to working with you, but the salary we offer is fair compensation and what we have budgeted for this role.
When Claire said that the salary she offered was fair compensation and what the company had budgeted for the role, she was talking about the total amount the company was willing to pay for the job.
When I heard Claire’s answer, I felt that Allan may not be able to get what he wanted.
In his place, I wouldn't know what to say next, and the negotiation would be over. But luckily for us, Allan has more experience than me.
Do you remember what he asked before giving his counteroffer? Those questions are very useful whether you are negotiating your wages or salary or asking for a pay rise.
And do you know what a counteroffer is? How about a pay rise?
Many factors have an impact on the amount we earn and where we fit into a salary range like our working experience or how successful we have been in our current and past employment, because this can show off our skills.
Then there is the market value or how much other people will pay for the same type of job in the industry; our reputation because people who come highly recommended by previous employers can easily argue for the upper end of a salary range.
So, it is very important that we research and prepare before we start negotiating our income, whether we are about to start a new job or are asking for a pay rise. And this is important for two reasons.
Firstly, we need to be realistic with our counteroffers. A counteroffer is an offer we make in response to an offer from our employer.
And secondly, we don't want to get the short end of the stick in the deal.
Getting the short end of the stick means being disadvantaged somehow, finding yourself with an outcome that is not as good as it should be.
So, we need to do our research and work on our confidence, and one way of doing that is by knowing what to say and what to ask.
Let’s learn from, Allan.
Allan
Can you move at all on that figure? I'd feel more comfortable if we could settle on a higher base salary because my experience and skills are worth it. Or maybe we could find a creative way to get to that number? Adding an additional week of paid vacation, for example, along with the salary you suggested would be great. If you can do that, I’m on board.
Allan first asked,
Can you move at all on that figure?
Here, Allan is asking if there is any possibility to change the salary he was offered.
Another question we could use is,
Is this salary up for negotiation?Claire
But if you don't want to sound too direct, you could say,
Is there any room for negotiation?Claire
After these questions, it is good to say something that will show why they should consider giving you more money.
You could use Allan’s phrase when he said,
I'd feel more comfortable if we could settle on a higher base salary because my experience and skills are worth it.
Another phrase that shows that you are confident and that you have done your research is,
My salary expectations are in line with my experience and qualifications.Claire
If your salary is in line with your experience and qualifications, it suits the experience and qualifications you bring to the job.
But you know what? Money is not the only thing we can negotiate. We could also ask for other benefits, like support for education and training, paid leave, vacation time, and so on.
And that's what Allan did when he gave his counteroffer,
Maybe we could find a creative way to get to that number?
Allan
Adding an additional week of paid vacation along with the salary you suggested would be great. If you can do that, I'm on board.
Allan's counteroffer was asking for an additional week of paid vacation. And if you are on board with something, it means you agree to something, or you've accepted it.
My guest today is Martika Trpenovska, employment solicitor from the in NSW.
Hi Martika, can you tell us what your organisation does?
Martika
Josipa, thanks for inviting me. ERLS, which is short for the Employment Rights Legal Service, is a partnership between the Inner City, Kingsford and Redfern legal centres.
It is a free legal service for migrants and vulnerable workers in NSW, and we help with problems like not being paid the right amount or losing your job unfairly. We also help if someone has experienced bullying , or sexual harassment or discrimination at their work.
Josipa
Can you give me an example of how you helped someone?
Martika
Sure, we have plenty of success stories. For example, we had a lot of Brazilian cleaners who came to us for advice about being underpaid at work by the same employer. Almost all of these workers were on temporary visas and only spoke a little English.
We provided advice to over 20 such employees and calculated that they had collectively been underpaid almost $300,000. We then wrote letters and helped gather all the legal documents they needed to prove their case.
Josipa
Is low levels of English often a reason why migrants are treated unfairly in their workplace?
Martika
Unfortunately, yes. There is a real need for organisations like ours who help migrants with problems at work. We are all very experienced at working with people from diverse backgrounds. If your listeners want to know more, we have brochures about what we do and how we can help in a lot of different languages, and they can also contact us through the Translating and Interpreting Service. All that information is on our website, you can find us by searching for in NSW. Your listeners can also fill in a web form to reach us.
Josipa
But what about our listeners from other parts of Australia, let’s say Victoria for example?
Martika
There is available help for them too. For example, provides free legal assistance to Victorian, Tasmanian and QLD workers. You know, across Australia there are about who provide free services to people experiencing financial hardship, discrimination or some other form of disadvantage, or who are experiencing domestic or family violence.
A big thank you to our educational consultant Professor Lynda Yates, our guests Martika Trpenovska and Haofei Wang.
Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan voiced the characters of Allan and Claire. Lia Crowley is our audio engineer.
