Our expert gives some helpful tips on what to aim for and how to put your case...
I'm a General Manager and Head Chef at a good-quality country inn. I'm currently re-negotiating my salary because this job became available to me after the previous general manager was sacked for poor performance. He was earning ?25,000.
Since I've taken over, we have beaten our targets and improved the service we offer by quite a lot. The company is very happy with my performance.
When I was just the Head Chef I was earning ?22,000 plus bonuses. What sort of salary and bonuses should I be aiming for? The company is not known for being generous.
Expert answer
Michael Moor, managing director at Chef Centre, replies:
Salary negotiations require careful consideration.
You have a value to your employer based on revenue generation and profitability, reputation, consistency and loyalty.
Similarly your job has a value to you ? satisfaction, security, nice surroundings and lifestyle, maybe accommodation, health and pension schemes ? and these all have to be balanced.
Take action
Although you don't say how long your previous manager was there, your employers were paying him ?25,000 while he was under-performing, so:
- Suggest an increase to ?25,000 as your basic salary. This would seem a reasonable starting point, perhaps with an initial bonus for improvements made since taking over, seeing as any new targets will be set on your current levels rather than the poor ones in place before you were promoted.
- You are confident of all-round improvement so you should look for bonuses based on:
profitability a fixed sum for each percent or half-percent achieved above an agreed gross profit figure
sales based on number of covers served or turnover
payroll keeping below an overall percentage of turnover
This should enable you to regularly add a sizeable chunk to your earnings, while steadily increasing the bottom line figures for your employers.