How do I ask for an out-of-cycle pay increase?

Question

I feel the quality and quantity of my contributions greatly exceeds the expectations of my level, so I'd like to ask for a raise. I'm basing this self-assessment based off raw diff count + SEV participation + project count + good peer feedback.

Typically raises are given out once a year at Robinhood, and I've only heard of employees get an off-cycle pay increase if they threaten to quit. How should I ask for a raise?

Rahul Pandey · Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, I think it's challenging for employees to have much leverage here, especially at a place like Robinhood where the company has already laid people off, and the hiring market is not as strong now.

Leverage comes from being willing to walk away (BATNA), but I'm not sure if you're in a position to walk away. (Threatening to quit seems to have worked at least once based on your people you know.)

It's not in the best interest of the company to give pay raises to people who ask, since they'd get lots of people asking. I know at Meta, they had an official policy that they wouldn't negotiate comp with current employees. However, I have heard pretty massive swings in comp from Google employees who had competing offers. Two pieces of advice I can share:

Back up your ask with a competitive offer which is clearly higher than Robinhood. Then phrase it like "A company reached out and it turns out they are paying significantly higher than RH. I like this team and company, but I also want to make the financially best choice -- can you help bridge the gap?" This is a lot better than simply asking for a raise because you think you're doing a good job.
Have an agreed upon date (in writing) for when your comp will go up, and by how much. You can even talk about it in terms of different parts of the comp structure, and what your expectations are with salary vs equity.

How do I ask for an out-of-cycle pay increase?

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