How to Ask for a Raise (Script + Email Template)

You’ve been doing the work for a while now — the project that shipped, the extra scope nobody formally handed you, the year that passed without your pay moving. You know you should say something. You also know exactly how that conversation could go sideways: too pushy and it reads as an ultimatum, too soft and it reads as a suggestion your manager can quietly ignore. So the ask keeps getting postponed to “next quarter,” and next quarter arrives with the same silence.

This guide is the ask, broken into the parts that actually decide the outcome: when to bring it up, exactly what to say out loud, the email that books the conversation without forcing it, how to build the case if you think you’re underpaid, and what to do if the answer is no. This is a different room than negotiating a salary offer for a brand-new job — here you already have the relationship, and that changes both the risk and the leverage. Same core skill, different setup.

When to ask for a raise

Timing doesn’t guarantee a yes, but the wrong moment can guarantee a no before you’ve said a word. Three signals are worth acting on:

• Right after a win. You just closed the project, hit the number, or got visible praise from a client or exec. Indeed’s guide is direct about this: ask for a raise after completing a significant task or project, while the accomplishment is still fresh and easy to point to.
• During or right before a performance review. Reviews are the one moment your manager is already expecting a compensation conversation. The Muse’s guidance on negotiating at your review frames performance reviews as “an ideal time to negotiate” — precisely because the conversation is already scheduled and the frame is already about your performance, not an ambush.
• A year (or more) since your last increase. If it’s been over twelve months since your pay last moved, that gap alone is a reasonable opening — most companies expect to revisit compensation on roughly that cadence, and going longer than that without a conversation quietly costs you every year it continues.

One thing to weigh alongside all three: your manager’s own bandwidth. If they’re visibly buried in a crisis or a reorg, the case might be just as strong next month, delivered to someone who can actually hear it.

What to say — the script

Once the timing is right, the words matter less than you’d think — the shape is short, and most of the risk lives in undercutting yourself with hedges. Indeed’s raise guide gives a clean template for the opener:

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I’d like to discuss my compensation. Over the past [period], I’ve [specific accomplishment with a number attached]. Based on my research and the value I’ve added, I’d like to discuss an increase of [X]%.”

Three things make that version work:

1. A number attached to the accomplishment. “Launched a rebrand that drove a 20% increase in site visits” lands harder than “did great work on the rebrand.” Indeed’s guidance is explicit that using concrete numbers to illustrate an accomplishment makes the case for you instead of asking your manager to take your word for it.
2. “Earned,” not “deserve.” Payscale’s guide on asking your boss for a raise makes a small but real distinction: “I believe I’ve earned a raise” reads as evidence, where “I deserve a raise” reads as an opinion. Same intent, different weight.
3. No hedges. Indeed’s guide flags a specific set of words to catch yourself on — avoid “believe, feel, think, just, only and might,” because each one quietly signals you’re not sure you’re right to ask.

The exact lines for the harder moments — what to say if your manager pushes back or stalls — live in a salary negotiation script. It was written for a job-offer counter, but the mechanics of stating a number and holding it are the same skill wearing a different hat.

How to ask for a raise via email

Sometimes the first move is a message, not a meeting — either because your manager is remote, your schedules don’t overlap easily, or you’d rather not ambush them in a hallway. The trick with a raise email is knowing what it’s for: booking the conversation, not winning it in text.

Subject: Time to review my compensation

Hi [Manager],

I’d like to set up a short meeting to discuss my compensation. Over the past [period], I’ve [one specific result — shipped X, grew Y, took on Z]. Is there a day this week or next that works for that conversation?

Thanks, [You]

Keep it short and don’t argue the whole case in writing — a long persuasive email invites a delayed “let me think about it” with no meeting attached. State the ask, name one result, and get the time on the calendar. Make your full case — the numbers, the market research, the specific figure — out loud, where you can respond to questions as they come instead of hoping the email covers every objection in advance.

If you’re underpaid: making the case with numbers

“I feel underpaid” doesn’t move a budget. A documented gap does. Two things to gather before the conversation:

• The market rate for your role, level, and location. Look it up on a salary tool — the same research you’d do before negotiating a brand-new offer applies here. If the market clearly pays more for your title than you currently earn, that gap is the backbone of your ask.
• A one- to two-page accomplishment summary. Indeed’s guide recommends bringing proof of your increased responsibilities or exceptional performance to the meeting — a short, printed list of what you’ve shipped, with numbers attached wherever you have them.

Bring both, and frame the gap as a market fact rather than a grievance: “Based on my research, people at my level in this role typically earn $X, and I wanted to talk about closing that gap.” That’s a fact you’re presenting, not a complaint you’re airing — and it’s much easier for a manager to act on.

What if they say no

A “no” today doesn’t have to mean nothing changed. Two moves keep the door open instead of closing it:

• Ask what would need to be true. “What would you want to see from me before we could revisit this?” turns a flat no into a checklist you can actually complete.
• Set the follow-up date before you leave the room. Don’t accept a vague “let’s check in sometime” — The Muse’s guidance on review negotiations is specific that you should set a concrete date for the follow-up conversation before you leave the office rather than merely trying to get one.

If the base salary is genuinely fixed for now, widen the ask: extra vacation days, a one-time bonus, a flexible schedule, or a title change that strengthens your case the next time around. None of those undo a no on salary, but none of them cost you anything to ask for either.

Practice saying the number out loud

Reading a script and saying a number to your actual manager, in your actual next-to-your-desk voice, are two different things — the words above are the easy half. Voiced is built to help you practice negotiation conversations out loud, against realistic pushback, so the real meeting isn’t the first time you’ve heard yourself hold your number. Today that rehearsal is built specifically around negotiating a job offer against an AI recruiter — a different room than the one with your manager, but the same underlying skill: stating a figure, and not discounting it the moment the silence gets uncomfortable.

If you’re also weighing a competing offer as part of this raise conversation — a common and legitimate way people build leverage — that’s exactly the scenario Voiced rehearses today.

Try a free negotiation rehearsal

Pick the right moment, bring your number and your evidence, say it plainly instead of apologetically, and leave with either an answer or a date. Do that and asking for a raise stops being a favor you’re hoping for and becomes a conversation you’ve prepared for.