Workers Are Afraid to Ask for a Raise. Is This Good News or Bad News?

Your employees are likely afraid to ask for a pay raise — and that should be concerning.

A recent survey by career advising platform Zety found 3 in 5 workers are willing to accept a smaller pay raise, or no increase at all, because they’re worried about job security and layoffs. Additionally, 66% of the respondents said they simply aren’t willing to ask for a raise right now — a significantly higher proportion than those expressing the same sentiment in a B2B Reviews survey in 2023.

Access a bonus Workspan Daily Plus+ article on this subject:

• How to Reward Top Performers When Pay Raises Aren’t Possible

Jasmine Escalera, a career expert at Zety, said some workers may be fine going without a raise because they’re bringing in a comfortable, livable income and they’re happy with their position and career growth opportunities, but that’s not always the case.

She noted workers who are more reluctant are:

• Seeing laid-off workers having a difficult time finding employment;
• Watching artificial intelligence (AI) evolve at breakneck speeds, with impacts on workplaces and jobs; and,
• Grappling with cost-of-living increases, but fears about job security currently outweigh their willingness to ask for a pay bump.

“In the labor market we have now, we’ve gone from the Great Resignation right into an employer’s market,” said Amy Dwyer, the chief human resources officer at Salary.com, a compensation software, data and services company. “The employee is no longer in the driver’s seat.”

The overarching sentiment of the moment? Don’t rock the boat.

“We hear that a lot — especially from women,” Escalera said. “So, they’re going to overwork themselves for less pay, and that’s going to lead to more burnout, more stress, less productivity, less creativity and less innovation. We’re going to start to see really stressed-out employees.”

An Unsustainable Situation

According to Dwyer, when employees remain in a job — not because they’re happy with their pay and opportunities, but because they’re afraid to jeopardize their livelihood by asking for more money — they begin to feel as though they’re settling, and that’s going to impact their motivation and performance.

Tom McMullen, a senior client partner at consulting firm Korn Ferry, agreed, stating, “When employees feel unable to advocate for fair pay, disengagement and resentment can grow, lowering productivity and discretionary effort.”

With no or low raises on the horizon, many full-time workers are now relying on second jobs, Escalera said. More than 70% of working American depend on secondary income sources, according to a MyPerfectResume survey, with 35% needing to do so to cover basic living expenses (others picked up additional jobs to pay off debt or save for future goals).

“That’s just going to make this situation even worse,” Escalera said. “Taking on a secondary source of income, unless you’re incredibly strategic about that, is absolutely going to add an additional layer of complexity to your life. We’re not looking good for 2026 when it comes to the burnout epidemic for career professionals. … I believe that [in 2026], we’ll see more career professionals saying, ‘This isn’t sustainable for me.’”

Turning Fear into Conversation

Whether or not pay raises are currently feasible, organizations should foster a culture in which employees do feel comfortable discussing their pay and advocating for themselves.

“Employers have to talk about it,” Escalera said. “Open communication from leaders is the best way to form trust and to model open communication from workers. Otherwise, we can’t expect that employees are going to come out and talk about something that’s incredibly hard to talk about.”

McMullen added uncertainty about the current financial health of the organization, or its compensation practices, also can give workers pause when it comes to bringing up pay.

“Trust and clarity reduce anxiety, strengthen engagement and help prevent misunderstandings that drive attrition,” he said.

Empowering managers, who are often on the receiving end of employee requests to discuss pay, is a key step. The experts interviewed in this article shared the following action items:

• Encourage them to build conversations about the value workers bring to the team into department meetings and one-on-ones.
• Provide talking points and encourage them to role-play or practice pay conversations to ensure they’re prepared to field those conversations — including outside of the normal merit cycle, in smaller companies that may not have a regular performance review schedule and even during salary freezes.
• Equip them with data about your organization’s compensation framework, as well as external market factors. Be aware that employees likely will have done their own research before entering the room to discuss the raise — and help managers know how to respond.

“Know that the conversations will be hard, but that doesn’t mean you should shy away from them,” Dwyer said. “Tackle them head-on. That makes it easier for your employees to approach you.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Employee Compensation
• Finance and Budgeting