Thought Leadership

Written by: Sophie Warwick As women there is often social and systemic pressure to put the needs of everyone around us first. We may unintentionally find ourselves supporting our own needs with only the energy that happens to be left over. However, it’s difficult to show up fully for other people if we haven’t taken care of ourselves first. One of the most important areas we need to support ourselves in is our compensation and financial wellbeing. Compensation is so closely t

Written By: Jillian Climie. When we first started The Thoughtful Co., I assumed that a lot of the executive women we worked with would have negotiated their compensation before. These women are powerhouses, running massive business lines or portfolios, with huge teams, budgets and scope. They are actively negotiating with vendors to get the best price, or negotiating for money for their own teams – but strangely enough, so many have never done it for themselves. It’s importan

Written by: Sophie Warwick. Salary negotiations can be nerve wracking and emotional conversations. We spend a lot of time preparing and crafting exactly what we’re going to say. However, sometimes budget constraints are real, and our ask can’t be approved in the moment. How do you move forward ensuring you maintain a positive relationship with your leader, while still being recognized for the value you’re delivering? In this article, I’ll outline four key steps to define a po

Written By: Jillian Climie. You’ve gotten the job offer and you're feeling good about the compensation and benefits package. Anything else you should be negotiating for? We recommend thinking about allowances. Over the past few years, we’ve seen them become more and more common as organizations compete with each other to attract and retain the best talent. Read on for five types of allowances you should consider negotiating for. 1) Professional development & coaching allowanc

Written By: Jillian Climie. After supporting many women in negotiating their compensation, two strategies have stood out to me as being the most impactful in increasing that final amount of money you receive. Neither of these come naturally to most of us; they must be practiced and worked on in advance. Strategy #1: The power of the pause. I’ve been in many negotiations where the person asking for more money almost talks themselves out of the negotiation. They’ll ask for thei

Written By: Jillian Climie. In the next edition of our explainer series, we discuss the common types of bonus structures you may come across at work: annual bonuses, quarterly bonuses, and sign-on/one-time bonuses. We’ll go through key terms, questions to ask your employer, and areas that are negotiable. Annual Bonus Structure Overall : An annual bonus structure is the most typical structure we see in the corporate world. There are exceptions to this in certain industries, li