One of the most difficult situations in the workplace is when you have to ask your boss for a raise or promotion. The problem is that if you really deserved it, it should have come without your asking. So you have the lurking fear that you may hear something you don’t want to, that the boss thinks you are not good enough. What is worse is that you might get labelled a malcontent, which could affect your future in the company.

Yet in today’s environment, with everybody getting focused on getting ahead, you can’t afford to sit back and wait for the rewards to come your way. You might be labelled a person without ambition, perhaps even someone who will not rock the boat if asked to wait. There is after all a limited amount the company can distribute in increments. The HR department’s job is not just to distribute it fairly, but to do so in a fashion that causes the minimum amount of fuss. In the process, the noisemakers get rewarded and those who only stand and wait get ignored. But that is the way of the world.

Companies realise the dangers of such a situation. People will stand and wait only for some time. After a while, they will silently move to another company that values them. So HR departments have introduced tools like self-assessments and 360 degree appraisals. It is easier to put down your expectations of a raise on paper.

Promotions are a different kettle of fish. Some companies that are facing hard times have delinked promotions from salary increases. You can’t do it in a large organisation, of course. But in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) it has become commonplace to be elevated to the post of, say, general manager and be told that a remuneration increase will come when the situation improves. In a way, it is an exit barrier: you must choose between your better designation here and more money elsewhere.

In larger companies, the work environment is more formal. People find informality in small circles. This is the reason your immediate boss matters so much. If you are going to ask for a raise you go to him, not to some anonymous babu in the HR department.

Having decided to take the plunge, how do you go about it? There are literally hundreds of books on the subject. Ask P.G. Wodehouse. He would tell you to look at your boss with a steely eye and say: “I know your secret”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in real life. Most secrets are of the financial or amatory kind. Both have become so commonplace that they don’t titillate any longer.

Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh distils some of the advice available on the Internet. First, he says, do your homework. Find out how much other people at your level, both within and outside the company, are making. As a result of that research, you may decide not to ask for the raise at all.

Second, do the homework on your own company. Can they afford to give you a raise? Remember that once they give you a hike, others will queue up. You need to take a long-term view. If the company has bright prospects (though it has run into trouble), it may be worth waiting. Make it clear to the people who matter that you are making a sacrifice. If your company has no long-term prospects, get out as soon as possible. You may get a decent job now, not when the roof caves in. Finally, give a well-reasoned argument for the raise.

Singh quotes a GenWealth article to tell you what not to do while asking for a raise:

• Don’t say “I need the money”. That’s your problem, not the company’s.

• Don’t threaten to quit. Nobody is indispensible and your offer could be taken up.

• Don’t leverage another job offer. Nobody likes to be arm-twisted.

• Don’t show a sense of entitlement. From the company perspective, they owe you nothing.

• Don’t whine or complain. The world hates a loser.

“Do these things and you might end up without a pay hike,” says Singh. “And without a job too.”