How To Negotiate Your Salary Like It's 2020

"What's the harm in asking?"

"Stop leaving dollars in your employer's pocket and ask for what you're worth."

This is the advice you’ll get from most negotiation or business books.

This single narrative of “go hard or go home” stems from the idea that negotiation is like war, where one party has to outclass the other.

This may not be the best approach to salary negotiations, especially when you consider the long-term outcomes.

The Wharton Advice

New research suggests that the hardball, winner-takes-all approach may be myopic and doesn't take into consideration what happens when negotiations end.

Research conducted by the Wharton Business School's Maurice Schweitzer and Einav Hart argues that taking a harmonious bargaining approach — or not negotiating at all — are the best approaches to achieving long-term career goals.

Entering salary negotiations when you shouldn’t can harm your relationship with your employer and affect what occurs after the agreement, Schweitzer said in a recent podcast.

People Don't Forget

Although you may come to an agreement, people don’t forget what occurred during negotiations. Things were said, and this may affect your perceptions of your employer and their opinion of you.

It’s like negotiating for a coffee table on Craigslist. Although you'll agree on a price, how you negotiate will affect how and when the seller decides to ship the table, or your post-negotiation relationship. 

Gen Z: The Assertive Generation

A recent Randstad US study found that millennials and generation Z employees are more assertive when it comes to salary negotiations. By being assertive and more aggressive during salary negotiations, these individuals may end with a better deal but create conflict in the process, according to a recent Wharton research paper.

"[W]e found that negotiators — workers who discussed their wage with the employer and kind of went back and forth — did substantially less work after that. They did substantially less compared to workers who received a non-negotiable wage," said Wharton's Hart.

So do you sit and hope your boss gives you a raise?

No, don't do that.

Build A Rapport

Engage in small talk, go to sports events together, take each other for dinner as you negotiate. Taking this approach will ensure that the post-negotiation relationship isn't negatively affected, according to Schweitzer.

Before entering into salary negotiations, be mindful of your interactions with others. Don't highlight your points of conflict and leave your counterpart feeling like their interests clash with yours.

Even if you’re supposed to put yourself first, consider your long-term career goals and how negotiations will affect your relationship with your employer.