Mom: Get The Pay Raise You Deserve
You deserve a raise. You deserve to be paid what you’re worth as a mom. The fact is, unless someone else steps in and helps out with childcare, and with the cooking, cleaning, gardening and other household tasks, it all falls on your shoulders.
You deserve to be paid for all of the work you do. It’s time for you to get the raise that you have rightfully earned! In this blog article we will talk about how to get a deserved pay raise as a mom—from researching ways to boost your salary to asking for more money at work.
But before we dive in, let’s first talk about how much you are worth as a mom. According to a salary comparison calculator from the U.S. Department of Labor, for a 40-hour work week, with two weeks of annual leave and two weeks of sick leave, and given that your job requires a high school diploma or equivalent and you are not represented by a union (so all benefits would come out of your payslip), the value of your work is $38,000. That’s right: You aren’t paid that much – which means that you have been shortchanged probably by as much as $14,000 per year.
Now is the time to get your rightful raise. Here are some tips to help you get your raise:
Document Your Contributions
You know that you do a variety of tasks every day. And you may have even calculated what you earn per hour for all that work. But to make a case for yourself, it is best if you document your contributions. Keep a running list of all the tasks that are associated with your position, and how often each task comes up in a typical month or year. Thereafter, write down how much time it takes you to do each task, and how much time it takes someone else to do that same task (you can ask other mothers or housekeepers). If you can get a list of the tasks your supervisor does, you can ask for an estimate of how much time it would take someone else to do those tasks.
In the United States, you cannot make a title change (e.g., manager to assistant manager) without getting your new position approved by your employer and the local union. However, if you have been doing all of your work yourself before and now want to be paid more for it, you can ask to change jobs. A good place to look for job ads is in the classified section of local newspapers.
If you want to ask for more money, get a good salary history from your current employer, and then approach that employer about a raise. If you are rejected by the first employer, don’t give up. Keep promoting yourself – it is time for us to get what we are worth.
Get Your Supervisor’s Attention
You can motivate your supervisor to change the way he or she is managing by sending an email message to your supervisor explaining how the company has been affected both financially and mentally by your workload. Let him or her know that you are worried about how all of this work will affect your personal life in the long run.
For example, if you or your husband work long hours at home and in your career, and yet are still being taken care of by your spouse or partner, tell him or her that you can’t do this anymore. You want to be the one who takes care of yourself. (The only reason why you are bringing this up here is to prove that you are ready to take care of yourself. You should not be entertaining this notion until you have done all of the work necessary to put yourself on a firm financial ground.)
If he or she supports what you are saying, ask him or her to step up a little. If this argument doesn’t work, then it is time to bring in an advocate. For example, if your child is eleven years old and needs extra help with schoolwork (e.g., your child has special needs), get his or her therapist’s approval, and then talk to the school principal and the teacher about how your child is being set back because he or she has too much work at home.
A useful resource for finding support is a local mom’s group. For example, my husband and I belong to a mom’s support group called Moms On Our Own (MOONY). The other members in the group are great at advocating for each other, and we are all supportive of each others parenting styles.
You don’t want to be the one who cries about how she can’t do this anymore. You have to be proactive about your needs; otherwise no one else will take care of you. Instead, you should show your caring by being there for others when they need help – like taking care of that little sister or nephew who just can’t seem to get anything right.
Granted, this is a difficult line to walk, but if you truly care about your role as a mom, or as a wife or partner who supports her family as the main breadwinner, you cannot afford to be selfish. You have to fight for your family’s well being—and that means advocating for yourself and others when necessary.
Share Your Position With The Union
In the U.S., there are several unions that represent professional and office workers. After you have put in additional time and effort at work, it is time to approach one of these unions and ask their help in adjusting your job title and compensation (i.e., getting a raise). In the U.S. you can both ask your employer yourself or approach your local union.
The nice thing about unions is that they are not limited to the U.S. They are also a good place to look for support if you are living in other countries outside of the States. For example, in Canada the unions are excellent at supporting many aspects of a mom’s life.
There is one major drawback to unions: they can either be pro or anti-mom depending on where you live and who your union is. For example, in the U.S., some of the mothers’ unions are very pro-mom and will take on new management to help support you as a worker and as a mom. In other countries, however, your union may not be on your side. (This is such an important problem that I have dedicated an entire article to this issue.
Conclusion
As a working mom, you have to be proactive. It is time for you to support yourself and your family. Instead of sitting around waiting for someone else to take care of you, find ways to support yourself. If you feel like there is something missing in your life (e.g., more money or more time), then document what you want and make a plan to get it.
For the first couple of times that you ask for something (e.g.