Cost of living is getting ridic – and there’s only one real way to get around it. Ask for a pay rise! What? You don’t know how? You’re too scared? You lack the confidence of a middle-aged, white, male, former CEO of a lobbying firm?
It’s time you employed the Stephen Cartwright Method™.
New South Wales’s London agent general is an absolute role model on how to ask for more money without cringing or being mired in feelings of unworthiness and fear.
Cartwright’s salary negotiations have been revealed in garish detail in documents released as part of the NSW parliamentary inquiry into John Barilaro’s appointment to the equivalent New York job. Here are Cartwright’s six tactics in seeking a pay rise that you can try in your office.
1. Don’t be limited by the salary guide
While his boss at Investment NSW, Amy Brown, was only able to authorise wages up to $487,000, according to her testimony to the parliamentary inquiry Cartwright arrived saying he expected $800,000. He eventually managed to walk away with a $600,000 package that included expenses.
2. Compare your pay to that of colleagues
Australians are usually coy about what they get paid. It’s easier to ask how much someone paid for their house, or what their rent is, compared to asking about their salary.
This secrecy means it’s harder for employees to bargain. (Women traditionally have fared badly in this scenario, with the gender pay gap perpetuated by cultures of salary secrecy.)
But in Cartwright’s world this financial information is shared, making it easier to make a case for more money and perks.
“All other AGs and Fed Govt execs have rent, car and school fees covered by their govt,” he reportedly wrote in WhatsApp messages to then trade minister Stuart Ayres.
“The WA Govt is paying 13,500 pounds per month rent – that’s more than my entire net salary!”
£13,500 rent a month … Is the WA employee renting a wing in Buckingham Palace? Who could blame Cartwright for feeling like the impoverished cousin?
3. Allude to other offers but say you want to be loyal
If the reports are to be believed, Cartwright executes this move with precision – by showing he’s in demand, but despite this he’d rather serve the state of NSW and its people. It’s like the salary-seeking equivalent of a humble brag.
He reportedly wrote to Ayres: “I have had two offers for CEO roles back in Sydney but I would rather stay here and deliver for NSW.”
And according to notes taken by recruiters that were tendered to parliament, Cartwright told them “in his previous roles his remuneration has been $850k to $1m+ and he has built a lifestyle and commitments commensurate with that level of remuneration”.
Matching corporate salaries has long been a justification for paying big bucks to attract new blood into the public service. You too can do this. Even if you are a casual cafe worker, or a part-time shop assistant, you can say, “I have had two offers for CEO roles back in Sydney” when negotiating a pay rise. If your employer presses you for more information about these CEO roles, act shocked and say “it’s confidential”.
4. It’s not you that needs more money, it’s your lifestyle
Send your kids to the best schools and buy a house in the poshest suburb – and then use your tastes as a justification for being paid the money to pay for your lifestyle. After all, it’s not your fault, it’s the fault of your lifestyle for being so damn expensive. (See recruiters’ notes above.)
Here’s another example of how it’s done: “But I can’t live here for 3 years without an apartment that can accommodate my family (at least on school holidays as the school fees here are twice that of Knox),” Cartwright reportedly wrote to Ayres.
5. Don’t be afraid to demand action
“Happy to discuss over the phone if you would prefer but something has to be done,” concluded Cartwright, somewhat ominously, in the reported messages.
“Something has to be done” is a line that you could try out on your boss to bring that same air of entitlement to your negotiations.
So often many of us approach asking for even a modest pay rise with fear, trepidation and stubborn belief that secretly we are not worthy of more money.
But if you make your mantra “Something has to be done” – and say in front of the mirror 20 times before you go to work each day – you will be fully amped, and armed to ask for a pay rise Stephen Cartwright style.
6. If all else fails, consider going over their head
If the manager you’re dealing with isn’t responding to your charms, consider escalating matters.
“If things were getting too difficult [Cartwright] seemed to find it a bit of a go-to statement to say he would go to the deputy premier,” Brown told the inquiry.
Again, no reason you can’t do the same.
