For those of you who have negotiated (or renegotiated) job perks and more, how do you think things have changed in the past few years? If you’re on the hiring side, what requests seem to be more common these days? (For the hiring peeps: Are there any common requests that always strike you as ridiculous?)

In the past we’ve talked about

• Negotiating a great salary and other benefits (as well as some other less common benefits, like a tech budget — it may also be helpful to know what vacation benefits others get).
• Negotiating flexible work arrangements, like reduced work hours and/or selling a reluctant boss on remote work (that last link was written a few years ago, though, so I’m guessing it’s much easier than it was!).
• How to save $10K a year by using job benefits (and which ones to look at when you’re negotiating).
• Whether you can negotiate future maternity leave (before you’re pregnant)

What other types of things are negotiating right now? Readers are having an interesting threadjack this morning about negotiating travel requirements (particularly in light of Dobbs); you may also be negotiating how much face time is required in the office, if at all.

Let’s hear from you guys — how do you think job negotiations have changed recently?

Stock photo via Stencil.

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I don’t think we’ve had this conversation in a few years, so let’s discuss: What “vacation time” comes with your job? What happens if you don’t take the time? How much time have you taken off in recent years, as a percentage of what you’re eligible for? (If your company allows remote work, do remote workers have the same vacation time packages/expectations as in-office workers?)

I’ve seen four main kinds of paid vacation days given by companies:

Earn your vacation time: You have to work to earn your vacation time. At a smaller office, a newer hire may be prohibited from taking extensive vacations, especially around holidays, as more senior members get first pick of when they’ll take time off. Sick days may “blend” a bit with vacation. (I just saw someone tweeting about how she had worked a zillion days straight while trying to “save up” for her maternity leave. Whee!)

Use it or lose it: Your company may give you a set number of days for vacation — and if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. In my experience, people with these packages are the ones who take vacations the most, even if they’re just restful staycations, because it’s part of the company culture that everyone takes that number of days off.

Rolling over vacation time: Some companies grant a set number of vacation days, and those vacation days can roll over from one year into the next if they go unused. This can be ideal in a situation like a pandemic, where travel can be difficult — but also if you want to bank your days, either for a big trip (honeymoon!) or to extend a limited maternity leave, especially with a small company where FMLA doesn’t apply.

”Unlimited” vacation days: These benefits SEEM like they’ll be amazing at first because, woohoo, unlimited vacation! But in my experience a lot of people in these jobs take less vacation than people with limited vacation days. I think this happens for a few reasons, the biggest of which comes to company culture — without the “use it or lose it” mentality, a lot of people just don’t take vacation. (On the flip side, I know one friend of a friend who’s the top executive at a hospital who has taken probably 10 weeks of vacation between January 2021 and now … so if you can actually take it, good for you!) If you have unlimited vacation days, I’d love to hear how many you take, and what a “reasonable number of vacation days” is (unofficially) among your coworkers.

So let’s discuss, readers: What do your vacation benefits look like? Does your office or team have rules (written or otherwise) on who can go on vacation at what time? Finally, how much vacation have you taken in recent years (and how much are you planning to take over the next 12 months or so)?

Stock photo via Stencil.

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Which is more important — your salary or your title? Reader D wonders…

I would love to see a post on the relative merits of pursing a higher title or more compensation. Would readers be willing to be paid less (or the same amount) for a title bump? Or, would they demand that any title bump come with an increase in pay? Is title more important than money? Or, is money more important than title?

Interesting question. My first reaction was “money — duh” but I suppose there are situations where a title would be more important than money.

We’ve talked before about how job hopping isn’t the best idea, but in some professions (for example, magazines), historically, the way to get through all the bottom-rung positions (editorial assistant, assistant editor, junior editor, etc.) was to change jobs as frequently as possible.

The salary bumps were miniscule, and the job title was, generally, ceremonial — a junior editor still had to sort reader mail as much as an editorial assistant — but they helped you advance to the real editing much more quickly.

{related: how to find jobs with low hours and high pay}

So I suppose, in today’s environment — where more and more industries are taking the Hollywood “Harvard grads start in the mailroom” approach to hiring, and where people often take internship after internship because real jobs are scarce — well, maybe I would take the title over the money.

{related: salary negotiation tips}

However, sometimes bosses give a “title bump” in lieu of a raise. This could be for a number of reasons — chief among them, I think, is that the boss thinks you’ll accept it instead of money.

Each situation is different, and we are in a recession, but if it were me, I would demand a small raise if I were taking a new title — particularly if responsibilities are increasing! — even if it’s only 1% or 2%, and ask for a salary review on a more expedited timeline (such as six months instead of a year) to reassess.

Readers, how do you weigh salary versus title? Would you rather have a better title or a better salary?

Updated images (woman standing at window with men) via Shutterstock / Pavel L Photo and Video. Originally pictured: Up! originally uploaded to Flickr by Peter π.)  

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Ladies, have you ever negotiated your salary or other benefits? Share your tales from the negotiating table with us — we want to hear your wins! This probably won’t be terribly relevant for all of the summer associates out there about to accept job offers, as those are usually lockstep/nonnegotiable offers — but perhaps one of you has a story about someone who actually did negotiate that offer.

{related: our most recent advice on salary negotiation}

Some thoughts out of the gate on negotiating a salary:

• Negotiate. There are all kinds of statistics about how women don’t ask for more money — even Sheryl Sandberg’s inclination was to take the first offer for her Facebook position!
• If you’re starting at a new company, negotiate hard. Companies will pay a lot more for a new employee than an existing one. (This is one of the reasons people advise you to jump ship to climb the ladder!)
• Overcome your fear of negotiating. I’ve seen all sorts of tricks for how to get over your fear of negotiating, such as focusing on other people who will be affected by your salary (such as your kids, your ailing mother, or so forth), or focusing on your value to the company.
• Let them name the number first. There are entire theories (such as the Noel Smith-Wenkle Salary Negotiation Method) about how to sidestep the question so the employer is the one who has to give you a number first.
• Assess the company benefits you’ll be getting as part of the negotiation package — and look for differences between your current job’s benefits package and the job offer on the table. Look at the flex spending opportunities, 401K (including the match, any vesting time, or waiting time before you qualify to invest in it), and dependent care package (even if you don’t yet have kids!). If the new company can’t match it, see if you can put a monetary amount on it — even something like a free monthly subway card will save you more than a thousand dollars a year.
• If possible, negotiate in person or over the phone — avoid email. There was a lot of conversation a year or so ago about a female academic who had a job offer rescinded when she tried to negotiate; one of the missteps that people pointed at was her fairly cold email requesting everything.
• We’ve rounded up a bunch of further reading below, but this Harvard Business Review article about how to use “relational accounts” when you start negotiating is really helpful. From the article:

First, you want to explain to your negotiating counterpart why — in their eyes — it’s legitimate for you to be negotiating (i.e., appropriate or justified under the circumstances). Sheryl says that in her negotiations with Facebook, she told them, “Of course you realize that you’re hiring me to run your deal team so you want me to be a good negotiator.” Sandberg wanted Facebook to see her negotiating as legitimate because, if she didn’t negotiate, they should be worried about whether they’d made the right hire.

Second, you want to signal to your negotiating counterpart that you care about organizational relationships. After pointing out that they should want her to be a good negotiator, Sheryl recounts saying, “This is the only time you and I will ever be on opposite sides of the table.” In other words, “I am clear that we’re on the same team here.”

Ladies, what are your top tips for negotiating? Those of you who’ve hired women who’ve negotiated, what was your takeaway?

Further reading:

• How to Negotiate Salary: 37 Tips You Need to Know [The Muse]
• More Reasons Women Need to Negotiate Their Salaries [Harvard Business Review]
• Stop Saying Women Are Bad at Negotiating Salaries [Bloomberg Businessweek]
• How to Negotiate the Salary and Benefits You Deserve [Fast Company]
• The best way to eliminate the gender pay gap? Ban salary negotiations. [Washington Post]
• How to Negotiate Even if You Really, Really Hate It [Fast Company]

(Originally pictured at top: As You Pass, originally uploaded to Flickr by Brian Talbot. Some social media images via Stencil.)

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Update: We still think this is a fascinating discussion on how NOT to negotiate for job accommodations for severe allergies — you may also want to check out our most recent advice on negotiating a salary and other benefits.

How — and when — should you tell employers about your requirements for an allergy-friendly office? In general how should you negotiate for job accommodations for severe allergies? Reader J wonders:

After reading your latest article on handling frequent doctors’ appointments, I found the courage to write you. I do suffer from severe allergies (foods and aerosols). I have graduated from university (physics), some work experience (energy business) and added up some economics studies, because I was unsure about being able to handle a “normal” office job. By now, I believe more in myself and am searching for a job (consulting/energy), but I will have to tell my future employer about my limits: 1) The rooms in which I work must be free of plants (important!). 2) I might have problems working “on schedule” in August and September. (In our climate here I have been struggling with asthma attacks, circulation problems, and developing new allergies for the last 5 years.) 3) The office should be mostly fragrance-free. These are the “basic conditions” about which I plan to inform any prospective employer in the second interview. How do I best do it without kicking myself out of the game immediately?

Hmmmn. First, J, I’m sorry to hear that you have such severe allergies! I’m not sure that arriving with a list of demands is the best way to go about this, but I’m curious to hear what readers say. The whole letter reminds me a bit of the recent news story about the female academic who had an offer rejected because she was too “demanding” in her requests while negotiating. That’s one way to do it — give your employer a list of things you’d like granted after you have the offer in hand and are negotiating. But a few notes about your situation, which may look a bit like a lesson in how NOT to negotiate for job accommodations:

Know your rights. You may want to consult with an employment lawyer before even starting the process so you know what your rights are going into the situation. This area of law is still in flux and may vary by state — a federal court in Iowa just held that severe allergies may be covered under the American with Disabilities Act. This Department of Labor FAQ sheet on disabled rights may also be helpful to you and inform how you proceed. If your allergy is severe enough that you think you’ll be covered under the law, you may act differently than if, after researching it, you don’t think you’ll be covered. You may also want to get familiar with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Don’t get too “grabby” early on in the interview process. You mention telling your prospective employer in your second interview about the “basic conditions” you require. I’m afraid you will kick yourself out of the game immediately if you do that. I would wait until you have an offer before you make any demands.

Assess what you can without asking directly. For example, asking to see the place where you would be working is a reasonable request, and one that would allow you to see if there are plants there, how many people are in the space immediately around you, and so forth.

Rephrase the conversation in your head to more reasonable (and regular) negotiation topics. For example: extra vacation time, extra sick days, or flexible working conditions would all address your second point about August and September being horrible for you. On the other hand, asking for a “pass” for 1/6th of the year is probably not going to serve you that well.

Realize that not everything has to be “disclosed” or negotiated. You note that you MIGHT have problems working on schedule — I’m curious how many people would agree that you should disclose that. When we’ve talked about this in situations in the past — for example, women interviewing while pregnant, or expecting/trying to get pregnant soon — they might feel obligated to disclose that they may be too sick or exhausted from the pregnancy to work normal hours. The common wisdom that I’ve seen — and I’ll pass to you — is to see how it goes, and deal with the problem when it ACTUALLY happens. You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t. For my $.02, I’d negotiate for flexible working conditions and/or more sick days or vacation days, but I’d keep it close to my chest as to WHY I’m negotiating.

Finally: focus on what your employers can actually grant you. Your third point — a fragrance-free office — may be very hard for an employer to grant. Asking them to circulate a department-wide memo (or a memo targeted to the group of people working in your closest physical vicinity) sounds like a better negotiating request in my mind. In the comments on our post about perfume at the office there was some discussion about perfume sensitivity and how to deal with it at work, so you might find some useful tips there.

(Picture at top via Stencil. Originally pictured: New plants! With names!, originally uploaded to Flickr by Sara Thompson.)

Readers with severe allergies or other environmental sensitivities — do you approach your situation as a disability? What kind of accommodations have you asked for and received? In general do you have any tips for Reader J on how to negotiate — or how NOT to negotiate for job accommodations for severe allergies?

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