The Reason Most Workers Lose Out on Higher Pay

Many workers are missing out on a chance to boost their income because they fail to negotiate for higher pay, a new survey shows.

According to Glassdoor’s Salary Negotiation Insights Survey, 59 percent of employees accepted the salary they were first offered at their current or most recent job rather than negotiating.

The survey of 2,015 American adults age 18 and older was conducted by Harris Poll and released this week. According to Glassdoor:

The study further reveals that when it comes to successfully securing more salary, only 1 in 10 (or 10%) of U.S. employees report negotiating their salary and getting more money in their current or most recent job.

Results varied based on gender, however. Dawn Lyon, vice president of corporate affairs and chief equal pay advocate at Glassdoor, describes this as “the negotiation gap” between genders.

Men are more likely to negotiate for higher pay, and more than three times likelier to succeed.

Glassdoor found that 52 percent of men accepted the salary they were offered without negotiating, whereas 68 percent of women accepted the salary without negotiating.

Similarly, 15 percent of men reported their salary negotiations resulted in higher pay, whereas 4 percent of women reported successful negotiations.

Older workers were also less likely to negotiate. Glassdoor found 66 percent of workers ages 45 to 54 accepted their initial salary offer without negotiating, while 60 percent of workers ages 18 to 34 and 55 percent of workers ages 35 to 44 accepted offers without negotiating.

Before negotiating for more pay, Glassdoor suggests doing your homework by learning exactly what the salary range is for other people in your position, your city and even the company where you are interviewing.

Glassdoor spokesperson Jessica Jaffe tells CBS MoneyWatch:

“It’s important to understand that an offer is an offer. Come to the table with expectations that you will negotiate, but you want to do that with real numbers. …

Having data is helpful if you’re going to make the case about why you should be offered more.”

For more, check out “13 Tips for Success in Any Negotiation.”

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