Pay increase? Beams, we hear (5)
I believe the answer is:
raise
'pay increase?' is the definition.
'beams we hear' is the wordplay.
'beams' becomes 'rays' (I've seen this before).
'we hear' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'rays' sounds like 'RAISE'.
(Other definitions for raise that I've seen before include "jack up" , "What a poker player might do" , "To promote" , "Pick up" , "rally" .)