How to Ask for a Raise: A Career Coach's Script
How to ask for a raise: prepare your evidence and number, a word-for-word meeting script, email templates, what to do after a no, and the rules in Germany.
How to ask for a raise, in short: book a meeting for that purpose, open with the request, show three or four results from the last year, name one figure backed by market pay data, and then stop talking. If the answer is no, ask what it would take and agree a date to revisit. Confirm everything by email. In Germany, check first whether a collective agreement sets your pay: 49% of employees work in a company bound by one, and there the talk is about your pay group. You can also use the Pay Transparency Act to learn what comparable colleagues earn.
Salary questions are a standard part of German job interviews, and interview practice is part of my career coaching. The legal points come from Destatis, German statute law and the EU Pay Transparency Directive, checked in October 2026.
How to ask for a raise in five steps
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Collect evidence | A one-page list of results, new responsibilities and praise since your last pay change |
| 2. Find your number | Market pay for your role and region, plus what your results are worth |
| 3. Pick the moment | Before budgets are set, after a win, never in a crisis week for your boss |
| 4. Run the meeting | Ask, prove, name the number, stop talking |
| 5. Follow up | Email the outcome; if it is a no, a plan with dates |
1. Collect your evidence
Your manager has to defend the raise to someone else: their boss, HR, the budget. Give them the material. Write one page with:
- results with numbers: revenue, savings, time saved, projects delivered, clients kept
- responsibilities you took on since your last pay change
- skills or certificates you added
- praise from clients or colleagues, in writing
Keep it factual. A raise based on your results is easier to approve than a raise based on your rent going up.
2. Find your number
Look up market pay for your role, level and region. In Germany, the Federal Employment Agency's Entgeltatlas (opens in a new tab) shows median gross monthly pay by occupation and region. Job ads that state a salary help too, and in the EU more of them will, as the Pay Transparency Directive requires employers to share starting pay or a range with applicants.
Pick one figure, not a range. If you say "between 4,000 and 4,400", expect to hear 4,000.
3. Pick the moment
Ask before the budget for next year is set, so your manager can still plan your raise into it. A good week is after a visible win. A bad week is when your boss is fighting a fire.
4. Run the meeting
Ask for the meeting in advance and name the topic, so your manager is not caught off guard. Then follow the script below.
5. Follow up in writing
Send a short email the same day with what you agreed. If the answer was a no, the email holds your manager to the conditions and the date.
The raise script
Adapt the words to your own voice, and keep the order.
Open with the request. "Thank you for the time. I want to talk about my salary. Based on my results this year and the market rate for my role, I am asking for a raise to [figure]."
Show the evidence. "Since my last pay review I have [result 1 with a number], [result 2], and I took over [responsibility]. I put the details on one page for you." Hand it over.
Connect it to the market. "For [role] in [city], the median I found is [figure from your source]. With the scope I have now, [your figure] is in line with that."
Stop talking. Silence feels long. Let your manager answer first.
If the answer is yes or maybe: "Thank you. When would it take effect, and what do you need from me to get it approved?"
If the answer is no: "I understand. What would I need to deliver, and by when, for this to be a yes? Can we agree on a date to review it?"
Email templates
Asking for the meeting
Subject: Meeting about my salary
Hi [name], could we book 30 minutes in the next two weeks to talk about my salary and my role? I would like to share what I have delivered this year and discuss next steps. Thank you, [name]
After the meeting
Subject: Follow-up on our conversation
Hi [name], thank you for the conversation today. As agreed, [outcome: the raise to X from date Y / we will review my salary on date Z once I have delivered A and B]. Please let me know if I have missed anything. Best, [name]
How to ask for a raise in Germany
Germany has two features that change the conversation.
Collective agreements
According to Destatis (opens in a new tab), 49% of all employees in Germany worked in a company bound by a collective agreement (Tarifvertrag) in 2025. The share depends on the sector:
| Sector | Share of employees in companies bound by a collective agreement, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Public administration, defence, social security | 100% |
| Energy supply | 84% |
| Education | 79% |
| Finance and insurance | 68% |
| Hospitality | 23% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 23% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 10% |
If an agreement covers your job, it sets the pay groups (Entgeltgruppen). Ask HR which group you are in and what moves you into the next one. Your options then include a higher group, a role graded higher, or pay above the agreement where your employer allows it.
If no agreement covers you, the conversation works as in the script above.
Your right to pay information
The Pay Transparency Act (opens in a new tab) (Entgelttransparenzgesetz) gives you a right to information to check equal pay between women and men. The main points:
- It applies in establishments with as a rule more than 200 employees at the same employer.
- You name a comparable job and ask in text form, for example by email.
- The employer tells you the criteria and procedure used to set your pay and the comparison pay.
- The comparison pay is the median gross monthly pay of colleagues of the other sex in the comparison group, converted to full time, plus up to two pay components you name, such as a bonus.
- You can ask again after two years, or earlier if your situation changed in a material way.
The data tells you whether you are paid in line with comparable colleagues of the other sex, and gives you a figure to bring into the meeting.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive
The EU's Pay Transparency Directive (opens in a new tab) (2023/970) gave member states until 7 June 2026 to put it into national law. It gives workers the right to request in writing their own pay level and the average pay, broken down by sex, for colleagues doing the same work or work of equal value, with an answer within two months. Applicants get the right to the starting pay or its range, and employers may no longer ask about your pay history. When I checked in October 2026, the German law in force was still the 2017 Pay Transparency Act, so check the current status before you rely on the new rights.
If you work in the US
The National Labor Relations Board states that covered employees may discuss wages with each other, face to face, by phone and in writing, and that policies banning those conversations are unlawful. Talking pay with colleagues is a legal way to find out whether your number is realistic.
Salary negotiation tips for a new job
Changing employers resets your salary base, so the offer stage is a strong moment to negotiate. When you negotiate an offer:
- research the market rate before the first interview; German interviewers often ask "Welche Gehaltsvorstellungen haben Sie?" (What are your salary expectations?)
- give one figure and say whether it is gross yearly or monthly
- ask what else is negotiable: start date, training budget, remote days, extra holiday
My guide to the job interview in Germany covers the salary question and the rest of the German interview.
Practise the conversation
Most people know their case. The hard part is saying the number out loud and holding the silence after it. In my career coaching we rehearse the conversation until it sounds like you, in English, German, Lithuanian or Russian. Book a call before your next review.
Questions and answers
How do I ask my boss for a raise?
Ask for a meeting with the purpose stated, bring a one-page list of your results and a number based on market pay data, and open with the request. Give your evidence, name the figure, then stop talking and listen. Confirm what was agreed in a short email afterwards.
How much of a raise should I ask for?
Base the number on market data for your role and region, and on what your results are worth to the employer. Name one specific figure. In Germany the Federal Employment Agency's Entgeltatlas shows median pay by occupation and region.
Can I ask for a raise in Germany if I am paid under a collective agreement?
Your base pay then follows the pay groups in the agreement, so the conversation is about moving into a higher group, taking on a role graded higher, or extras outside the agreement. In 2025, 49% of employees in Germany worked in a company bound by a collective agreement, according to Destatis.
Can I find out what my colleagues earn in Germany?
In establishments with more than 200 employees, the Pay Transparency Act gives you the right to ask, in text form, how your pay is set and what colleagues of the other sex doing comparable work earn, as a median of their gross monthly pay. The EU Pay Transparency Directive extends these rights once Germany writes it into national law.
What do I do if my boss says no to a raise?
Ask what it would take and by when: which results, which responsibilities, which date. Put the answer in writing and book the follow-up meeting. If the answer stays vague twice, compare offers on the market.