Locked Doors & Open Windows

Often times during negotiations you hit what at first may seem like an insurmountable impasse. I like to refer to these as locked doors.

The door may be locked for a number of reasons. Often times it is locked because of the 'form' a request or demand takes.

During contract extensions many people try to add new or extra benefits. Granting one employee a benefit that others do not have can be a slippery slope.

The Asian rumor mill is a very real thing and unfortunately exceptions that are granted to a few always seem to find their way out into the open. Once that happens you have the potential for thousands of employees demanding that very same benefit.

Hence we prefer not to grant new benefits. This fact upsets many staff with experience working for more international employers that have - to put it bluntly - much more professional HR departments.

As the global HR manager in charge of recruitment and contract extensions for these international professionals, I usually find myself in the middle of two houses with locked front doors during negotiations because of the demand for extra benefits.

But what are benefits, really? At the end of the day, whilst a specific benefit such as additional leave or a company car may mean or signify a great deal for an individual person, they are simply items with a specific dollar value.

It is very easy - much easier than most think - to justify a salary bump for a respected employee. Where I work is no different.

So when I report on the status of negotiations to my direct boss and corporate HR, I state the benefit that has been requested, and very quickly provide the dollar value and percentage increase in salary that it represents.

I get unofficial approval for that salary increase - or at least an increase that is very close - every time.

Despite the door being locked to a new benefit request, there was a window open to it in a different form.

When I go back to the candidate or colleague I am very upfront with them. After explaining that their request for new benefits is not possible, I pause and let them know there may be another way.

Letting them know the dollar value of their requested benefit (and when appropriate the formula used to make the calculation) is usually enough to give them the feeling that I am taking their case seriously and may even be on their side.

It is never a problem to get someone to take extra money. Letting them know that a certain percentage of their salary or salary increase represents 'x' benefit is just as effective - if not more so - as the actual provisioning of said benefit.

When you run up against a locked door during your next negotiation, look for an open window.