With the price of everything increasing at the moment it’s no wonder that most people are really beginning to feel the squeeze when it comes to their family budget. The average wage is not increasing inline with the average inflation of bills and goods so there’s a very obvious deficit.

So what can you do? It may be tempting to look for a new better paid job however you should always at least give your employer the chance to make you an offer to stay.

Now it wouldn’t be appropriate to go in to a meeting making demands and in fact that’s a sure-fire way to not getting a rise and risk getting fired instead. So how should you go about it. Firstly, these things are always better done face-to-face rather than over phone or email. You should ask your boss whether you would be able to have a meeting with them. Ideally choose a time after lunch but not too late in the day as studies show this is when a person is at their most rational level headed point of the day, not too hungry, not too tired.  Prepare well and state your case calmly evidencing achievements you have made and ways in which you have saved/made the company money. Finally allow your boss time to think about it and don’t apply too much pressure!