Asking for a pay rise...

A lot is said about how much sports analysts get paid, and it just seems like people have accepted the fact that being in such job, will not afford you a 'decent' salary.

Obviously, there are a lot of variables that determine how much you might get paid as an analyst, including:
- The type of analyst you are (first team, academy, data, recruitment)
- The club that you work for (which league, how big is their budget?)
- Your experience and background.

Knowing how many hours an analyst is expected to work, and comparing that to the average salary, you will start to notice that something just doesn't feel right. Many probably don't realise that they it is possible to ask for more, but even those that do, may be too scared and wonder if they will be replaced or if the request is denied.

There are things you can do to be prepared for this and approach this professionally and hopefully this email will give you some tips. Before we start though you actually have to be giving value to your club and I wouldn't do this after just starting a new job. Demonstrate your skills first. Remember, it's a competitive field so if you are just a below average analyst, should you be given more than average?

I actually did a video on how much sports analysts get paid, and you can check that out here...

Do your research
Before you ask for anything you need to have your facts and figures ready. By this I mean that I would try to collect as much information as possible on what other similar positions are paying.

To do this, each time I seen a job advertised I would make a note of the advertised salary. Granted, these aren't always made public, but if you do some digging and asking around, you can usually find out.

I would then try to look at an average for your position based on what league you are in, the role you do and the location you are in. If you are an academy analyst, you can narrow this down further to Cat 1, Cat 2 etc. based on the rankings of football academies.

Organise a meeting
Asking for something like a pay rise isn't something you want to do casually when passing in the corridor. You want to organise a meeting in which you can get face to face, in private with your boss. This could be a number of different people depending on the position that you actually hold.

It could be the academy manager, first team manager, head of analysis, football operations etc. Depending on the size and structure of your club, the person you approach may be different.

You need to be mindful of when you ask for a meeting too. Don't ask during the run up to an important game, or an audit or anything where the person will have other large things on their mind.

You can simply request a meeting to discuss your performance and plans for the future. When a date and time is set, have your research ready, and onto the next step.

Give evidence to back up your request
For this, I would have all of your research to hand but also lay out to your boss the reasons for needling more salary. I always think a good way to do this is to revert your wages to an hourly rate.

If you can show all of the responsibilities you have reasonably take, let's say 55 hours a week, how much does that equate to, based on wages. Let's work it out.

21k salary divided by 52 weeks of the year = £403.84

£403.84 divided by 55 hours a week = £7.34

Yep, that is less than the national minimum wage!

In the meeting I would definitely layout the following:
- The education and qualifications that you have, along with experience
- The impact that you have on the team on a weekly basis
- The amount of hours you work and tasks you complete
- What other similar roles are paying
- You love the job but you just don't currently feel valued
- The plans you have for the future (if you were happy and fairly compensated)

Have a number in mind
Based on your research you should have an idea of what is fair value. If you feel you should be on more than the average, then you better be able to justify the reasons. If I was doing this exercise, I would probably ask for a little more than you'd be happy with to give you that bit of negotiation.

For example, let's say I am on 21k and want to get to 25k, I'd probably ask for 26 and see how close they can get to that.

You also have to factor in how much the increase is in % terms. Going from 21 to 26 is an almost 24% increase. Although that sounds a lot, if you can argue that 26 is the fair price for your role, you are merely pulling yourself to that rather than being paid extra.

Be professional
Thank your boss for their time and do not just go into the meeting simply to moan about the current level of pay. Be constructive and lay out your reasons professionally. Depending on the outcome, you can organise a time to revisit and check in with this in the future (maybe your boss has to go to HR, maybe they say they will consider at the end of the season).

Make it clear what you think you value is but remain professional about it referring back to your research and evidence.

You want to get across that you really enjoy the job and are happy to give everything to it is you feel like you are being valued. If not, it makes it hard for you to make the sacrifices that you do.

Anyway, to wrap up, I also did a video pretty recently on this exact topic which you can check out here...

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