•How well paid you are at the moment compared to the market norms

•The rate of inflation

•Where you live and work and the costs of living associated with the area, and in relation to other geographical locations where company employs people

•The company's position concerning staff turn-over, retention, recruitment and head-count (ie increasing, reducing, or static; in accordance with planned levels or not)

•The company's trading performance (relative to budgeted costs and planned sales and profitability)

•The available budget your company has for pay rises (which is usually none, apart from annual salary review time)

•The company's last company-wide salary review, and the range of % increases awarded

•The company's next company-wide salary review, and the likely range of % increases

•What precedents would be set for other employees by giving you a rise (this is often a significant issue for the company)

•How valued you are to your boss and company

•How easy it would be for them to replace you with someone of similar capability and value at the same or less salary

•How much extra responsibility and/or you are prepared to take on

•How much extra effort you are prepared to put into the job and how ambitious you are

•And, very importantly, what you will do if you don't get a raise or salary increase (ie., how much you want to stay with your present company and how confident you are that you could find a better job elsewhere)