Negotiating salaries can be just as difficult for you as it can be for your employees. Here are some tips to master this fine art, from Susan M. Heathfield’s article titled Tips For A Successful Salary Negotiation:

• Make your goal a win-win situation, says Heathfield. Don’t go into the conversation feeling like you need to win and your employee needs to lose. Instead, focus on how you can work together to come to an agreement that you’re both happy with.
• Be prepared with information about your employee’s former salary, Heathfield recommends. Some candidates provide their salary requirements on their resumes. If you don’t have this information, you can always contact her previous employer and ask while you check her references. You’ll want to know what your employee might be looking for.
• Prior to the negotiation, you need to find out what your limitations are in terms of what you can offer your employee, Heathfield advises. Things you’ll want to consider include what your other employees in the same positions are making, what your peers are offering for the same or similar positions, and how high your company’s profit margin is.
• If your salary offer is not negotiable, be prepared to negotiate other areas such as benefits, tuition assistance, bonuses, vacation time and signing bonuses, Heathfield suggests. “In fact, sophisticated candidates will negotiate in all of these areas and more,” she warns.
• Resist the urge to violate your organization’s limits on how much you can offer, even if you really want to keep your employee with your company and feel that she is valuable, Heathfield cautions.
• If your offer is not negotiable, you can still indicate to your employee when you could make another offer, says Heathfield. For example: You can tell her that she can start at your offered salary, but that she still has the potential to earn X amount within the next year or couple of years. Your original offer might not be what she wants, but her potential earnings could pique her interest.

Filed under: Management Minute