I couldn't negotiate my postdoc salary during HR meeting, should I try days later? (I haven't received the formal offer yet) I had a meeting with HR last week. During the meeting, the recruitment officer talked about a lot of things very quickly in the first 5 meetings: &quot;you will receive a formal offer in the next few days, since you don't have much experience you will salary will be 30k (lowest spine point for postdocs in the UK), and for the visa....&quot;
So, I just focused about the visa because it was most important to me. Next, I received an email reiterating these points and I just said &quot;I'm excited for the position&quot;, I couldn't bring the topic to the PI and I don't even know if I should..
But now, days later, I don't know how I feel about the salary. It's my first postdoc after my PhD (computer science), yes I don't have experience in the industry, but I have a lot of experience for a full-time phd student (for my home country) in teaching and supervising students. For my department, I assisted professors in teaching activities in 3 classes/semesters, supersized around 10 students and I was a jury member of many graduation projection presentations. I was even hired as a fixed-term lecturer at a another university for 2 semesters (where I design my course, supervised even more students and everything). I also reviewed papers in conferences and I was a member of the organizing committee of many and many conferences.. On tap of that, noticed that it's below the average salary in Glassdoor (34k)
I really feel that I deserve more, but I am afraid it's too late and the PI might have a bad impression about me.. Should I bring this up to the HR? if so how can I approach the situation?
In the UK, it is not common for postdocs and entry-level lecturers to negotiate their salaries. This is different from the customs in the USA and some EU countries.
In the UK, the starting salary of a postdoc or a lecturer would normally be set up by HR in consultation with postdoc's PI or lecturer's HoD. As a postdoc, if you want a better offer, you have the following options:

Provide additional evidence of your relevant experience. Note that an experience of course design and &quot;helping professors with teaching&quot; may not be considered relevant for a research-focused postdoc position. And even if you have relevant experience, it may not be considered sufficient by the PI or HR.
Tell them that you can not accept the offer unless they raise it. This is a risky move, which can cost you an offer. Bear in mind that HRs are not really interested in hiring you, their goal is to ensure the hiring process goes smoothly and according to the rules. They may approve your claim, provided there is a budget for a raise and the PI/HoD supports it. Or they can send you a polite email starting from &quot;We are sorry to hear that you declined our offer&quot; and offer the job to the next candidate.

Before you proceed, note that if your postdoc salary comes from a grant, there may be a firm cap on how much the University can offer you from the limited grant budget. You may want to ask your PI if there is even any room for negotiation before discussing it with the HR.