49% of people employed full-time in financial services are worried that asking for a pay rise could jeopardise their position, according to the results of a new survey by global recruitment firm Randstad.

In addition, 72% of the financial services employees surveyed said that they haven’t asked for a pay rise at all in the past three years.

By contrast, just 6% have asked for a pay rise each year over the past three years, while 22% of employees within financial services have asked for a pay rise either once or twice in the past three years.

Asked what puts them off actively asking for a raise, financial services workers responded to Randstad as follows:

• 44% are put off by the fear of being turned down
• 41% fear their employer’s reaction
• 18% said the idea of having to work longer hours or harder post-promotion
• 34% said the idea of having to justify why they deserve a raise
• While 77% of financial services workers have had a pay rise in the past three years, a perhaps surprising one in 5 respondents said their pay has stayed the same.

Tara Ricks, managing director of Randstad Financial and Professional, said: “For whatever reason, a lot of financial services workers aren’t proactively asking for the pay rise that many of them doubtless deserve. The vast majority are getting a raise, but it’s at the discretion of the employer rather than due to the employee’s initiative. For a sector as confident as financial services, this may come as a surprise.

“It’s important that if people feel like they deserve a raise, they ask for one. The key is to make a clear and methodical case for why you deserve a pay rise and to back it up with plenty of examples of how you are adding value and why you will achieve even more if your salary is increased. It’s also a genuine concern that nearly half of the employees we surveyed are concerned that even asking for a pay rise could jeopardise their position. This simply shouldn’t be the case.”