Negotiations and Strikes

Looking round the world at this time you can see lots of issues developing between unions and employers. Power shifts are key here and in any negotiation you have to look at where the power is and how you can work together for a win win situation. Collaboration for the benefit of all is critical, rather than positional bargaining which is win lose. To cut the jargon, work together to find a solution.

In South Africa for example there is a petrol tankers strike. What a crazy thing to happen when the South African economy is suffering from the recession. Entrenched positions are not helpful. Getting together and listening to the other side and finding out what they really want (including personal agenda's is key to haggling and bargaining.

In salary negotiating find out what are the motivators for your key people which may not be money.

Women and Salaries

My negotiation research tells me that women continue to earn less than men doing the same job and it is probably getting worse in 2009. The reason for this is probably -
1 - They are generally more trusting in the system
2 - They are less competitive than men doing the same job
3 - They are less likely to ask / haggle for a rise than a man

If you have any comments additions to my findings please email me and I will look into them

Sir Fred Goodwin - The Negotiator, win/lose negotiating

Sir Fred Goodwin gets the Derek Arden award for Salary Negotiating in this decade. Having destroyed the RBS / NatWest brand / shareholder value and any other Business School measure; his I Win / You Lose Negotiating style has bought the biggest pile of non performing toxic assets (ABN/AMRO) for the largest inflated price ever paid for a bank.

This is without any kind of due diligence of the toxic assets and saddled the UK taxpayer with £300 billion of toxic debt. At the same time he Negotiates himself a payout and a pension of £650,000 a year from the UK taxpayer which at age 50 is probably worth more than £20m.

Knighted by a subdued Prime Minister for services to banking in 2004 - 100,000 RBS staff have seen their shares / given in lieu of pay reduced to zero. Most of which are nice genuine people working hard under enormous pressure.

I was asked to run training for a 6 branch bank that Barclays bought in 1984 and learnt at that time it was not possible to audit a loan book in less than 3 months. Hello wake up FSA.

Sir Fred, you have shredded, the RBS / NatWest brand and lined your own pockets. Now I know what they really meant when they said Fred the Shred. "Derek Arden The Negotiation Advisor"

Soft pound deals - haggle for extras

Unless you are in a very powerful haggling position - this might not be the best time to negotiate your salary or fees.

Now is the time to do barter or swap transactions. Do things that you are an expert at, in return for something that is valuable to you from the other side.

If you are in salaried employment this could be having extra study leave, your company paying for extra training which will benefit both of you. More flexi-time etc etc

When you are doing this do not forget the usual rules of haggling / negotiation. Build rapport first, ask gentle teaser questions, come out with your proposition, back off if its no and re-ask later coming from another angle once you have found out where the company is coming from.

If you don't ask you don't get

Derek Arden - the negotiation mentor

Look surprised when they make an offer

Phillippa one of my clients looked deliberately surprised when she was given her salary rise for a new job she was taking on. Actually she was surprised how much they had offered, but as coached she said nothing and with the silence held, her boss said you seem a bit dissappointed I will see what else I can do. He came back with another £2,500. You never know what you can haggle in Salary negotiations.

Timing is crucial in any negotiation

I am advising a couple of my cleints not to negotiate their salary at the present time, due to difficulties within their companies and and the credit crunch. It is better to wait until the economic situation improves in their case. However now is the time to negotiate anything related to costs. Get your negotiating timing right.

Time + Skills (should) = Pay Package

I always say to my clients, if all things are equal this equation is right. Now we all have issues with the credit crunch, the oil price and the economic situation. Lots of jobs in IT are continuing to be outsourced to India, at 20% of the salaries paid in the UK. However in today's Sunday Times there is an article about these Indian graduates setting up their own unofficial trade union and coming to negotiate with the UK employers direct. In a global economy things will balance out in the end.

What skills are you learning now to take into effect the opportunities that will come to you with the recession?