It’s March 1st, meaning my Astronaut Contract is officially up and I am an Unrestricted Free Agent (I’ve been listening to Ed’s random patter about hockey trades a little too closely, it seems). This isn’t anything serious – I’m not going anywhere; I know this – but I am totally stressed out about it and no one seems at all worried except me.
I want a raise. I really feel like I’m underpaid for what I do and what I’ve brought to the Space Station in the past year, and a raise would go a long way in showing they appreciate and have faith in my mad skillz. It would also be a nice perk, seeing as I make two chickens and that’s it – no benefits, no vacation, no sick days, no bonuses, no stock options, no nothing. There’ve been a lot of promises of things changing in the future – give them another 6 months, they say – but in the meantime, I think I deserve some sign that they’re aware of what I have done and can do and am looking forward to doing in the future. That’s not too much to ask, is it? I love my job, but I could be making 50% more elsewhere doing the same thing, not to mention benefits and vacation time and all those other things I literally haven’t had since 2002. I’m getting a little long in the tooth to be playing the office temp game. I want some stability for once, y’know? I want a sign that I’m worth hanging onto, and something more than a “oh, we’ll figure out that ‘real employee’ thing later”.
So, it looks like I need to Have a Talk with some people. Too bad I’m absolutely wretched at important conversations – how does one demand a raise, anyway? It’s causing knots of worry in my belly, and I don’t like it one bit.
delicious juice dot com 
I find the straight forward approach works the best, usually i’ll approach my boss (in person or email), and just say, “My contract expires X day, I would like to talk about how we’re going about renewing it. Let me know what day this week works for you so we can sit down to talk about it”
There’s also some laws around whether your employer is actually allowed to treat you as a contractor or not. There’s a good article here on determining if you’re actually an employee or contractor.
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/taxinfo/a/contractor1.htm
It’s important also for your company to know the repercussions if revenue canada decides that you’re actually an employee rather than contractor. A lot of companies just try to hire everyone as contractors without thinking they may be unlawfully doing so depending on the type of work being done.
It’s that simple: “I could be making 50% more elsewhere doing the same thing – not to mention benefits and vacation time. But I love this job and I’m committed to this company, so I’d like to talk about how this company can make my salary and benefits more comparable to the industry standard.” I mean, Kimify it up a bit, but yeah — if they don’t know what you’re worth, they need to be told, and nobody is looking out for you but you. They’ll keep on paying you as little as possible as long as possible: remember that, at the end of the day, although they love you, being able to keep a line-item low looks good to THEIR bosses. None of this “in six months” crap — in six months you could have found a better job for all they know!
(Re: Amanda’s comment, yeah, they’ll be so screwed if they get audited, because you work in the office on a set schedule using their equipment: that makes you an employee. They will get audited, eventually, given the averages, and when they do they will have to pay penalties. Many penalties. Perhaps it’s worth warning them that this might be the case).
Recommendation: Read “Crucial Conversations”. Gives really good advice about HOW to go about having those crucial conversations in a way that doesn’t have the other person laughing at you or making you cry. :)