Being paid less than my team member who reports to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Employers can pay people whatever the heck they want to. Sometimes they pay someone more because they have more experience and or degrees or because they needed to lure them away from another employer. Sometimes they pay other employees less because they are new in the position or are younger or because their spouse makes plenty of money or the person is considered easily replaced. If you have limited information on compensation in your group and are a poor negotiator - you're screwed.

The goal for an employer is to keep all of this secret and to pound down individuals compensation as much as possible. (Even better is to eliminate positions entirely) Bosses paid less than underlings? So what.

Employers don't have to follow any "rules" so long as they don't get caught punishing certain classes of employees (gender, parents, orientation, race, etc)

OP here.I agree that the key is to not get caught punishing a high performing non white woman but i have caught them out. I have the other person's comp as it was sent to me so its there in black and white.

The question is now what do I do to make sure i get paid appropriately. The response so far seems to be nothing and you're screwed . Is that right?

[Anonymous]

This is outrageous and an email is the least of what I would do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you a woman OP? If so this is very typical.

Yes

[Anonymous]

OP, I would start with meeting with your boss to ask about this discrepancy. Is it possible that your boss doesn't know about the difference in salary? I think you just need to be very matter of fact about it - you have the same background, experience, expertise, etc. - and now you are taking on even more responsibility and expect to be compensated accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Are you educated the same?

[Anonymous]

hah. Lots of jobs have people report to them that make more than them! Highly paid people or highly educated people don't always make the best managers. Managers don't need to be SMEs to manage well.

DH is a fed and manages 5 contractors who all make more than him. His highest paid contractor bills $300 an hour. It's life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would start with meeting with your boss to ask about this discrepancy. Is it possible that your boss doesn't know about the difference in salary? I think you just need to be very matter of fact about it - you have the same background, experience, expertise, etc. - and now you are taking on even more responsibility and expect to be compensated accordingly.

Thank you. I am planning to write this email - grateful for comments

Hi abc
I was somewhat surprised to note that xyz's comp package is higher than mine for 2017. [insert details of the comp difference]. Given my background, experience and increased responsibilities, I presume that this was a inadvertent error and can be resolved fairly easily upon review.

If not please let me know who I should speak to in order to resolve this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you educated the same?

No - Im much more highly educated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hah. Lots of jobs have people report to them that make more than them! Highly paid people or highly educated people don't always make the best managers. Managers don't need to be SMEs to manage well.

DH is a fed and manages 5 contractors who all make more than him. His highest paid contractor bills $300 an hour. It's life.

Yes I agree and understand that this is par for the course in some areas particularly where people reporting to you are revenue generators or have a highly specialized skill set that you lack. I have worked in such organizations in the past and understand that the comp structure varies a lot.

We however, are in a technical role, not revenue generating and I am more qualified than he is and a better rated performer overall.

[Anonymous]

I would meet first and ask for an explanation of the comp policy. Nicely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would start with meeting with your boss to ask about this discrepancy. Is it possible that your boss doesn't know about the difference in salary? I think you just need to be very matter of fact about it - you have the same background, experience, expertise, etc. - and now you are taking on even more responsibility and expect to be compensated accordingly.

Thank you. I am planning to write this email - grateful for comments

Hi abc
I was somewhat surprised to note that xyz's comp package is higher than mine for 2017. [insert details of the comp difference]. Given my background, experience and increased responsibilities, I presume that this was a inadvertent error and can be resolved fairly easily upon review.

If not please let me know who I should speak to in order to resolve this.

This is absolutely perfect OP.

Please keep us updated and let us know how it goes. This is completely egregious and i want some actual resolution. The days of women giving free labor are OVER.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't take too much advice from DCUM. You know your situation better than we do.

I'm going to guess you're in a large organization with an HR department. This gets back to previous discussions about having to provide current compensation information when applying for a new job. Lazy HR departments use current compensation to determine what they will pay new hires. So someone who was already well-paid does even better, and someone who was underpaid continues to be so. That guy probably got a good salary somewhere along the way and it just kept going.

HR departments at large companies often limit what salary increases are allowed, even when someone is promoted or takes a new position. I've seen it happen, and at one of my last employers, the only way to get paid fairly was to leave and go work for a competitor for a while, then my company would hire them back after a year or two at a big salary jump. They'd never avoid this by giving out an appropriate salary in the first place. It was ridiculous. It's one way that women often end up earning less than men for similar work, simply because they started out with less in the first place and it just continues on.

I totally get why you are angry, and wish you luck on rectifying the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would start with meeting with your boss to ask about this discrepancy. Is it possible that your boss doesn't know about the difference in salary? I think you just need to be very matter of fact about it - you have the same background, experience, expertise, etc. - and now you are taking on even more responsibility and expect to be compensated accordingly.

Thank you. I am planning to write this email - grateful for comments

Hi abc
I was somewhat surprised to note that xyz's comp package is higher than mine for 2017. [insert details of the comp difference]. Given my background, experience and increased responsibilities, I presume that this was a inadvertent error and can be resolved fairly easily upon review.

If not please let me know who I should speak to in order to resolve this.

I'm not the pp but I think I would broach this subject in person rather than email. Tone doesn't always come across properly in email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happens a lot, OP. My DH has 4 direct reports and they all earn more than he does. They're valuable SMEs, and he doesn't mind. They're good professionals who make his life easy.

I have 12 direct reports and 8 of them make more than I do by about $25k. The reason is we are in the government and they are at the top of their pay grade, while I was just promoted and am at the lowest step of mine. My ultimate earning potential is more but it will take 10 or 15 years to reach the top of my grade. Ah well. Such is life in the government. I would be more displeased in the private sector where salary ought to correspond more closely to position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would start with meeting with your boss to ask about this discrepancy. Is it possible that your boss doesn't know about the difference in salary? I think you just need to be very matter of fact about it - you have the same background, experience, expertise, etc. - and now you are taking on even more responsibility and expect to be compensated accordingly.

Thank you. I am planning to write this email - grateful for comments

Hi abc
I was somewhat surprised to note that xyz's comp package is higher than mine for 2017. [insert details of the comp difference]. Given my background, experience and increased responsibilities, I presume that this was a inadvertent error and can be resolved fairly easily upon review.

If not please let me know who I should speak to in order to resolve this.

I'm not the pp but I think I would broach this subject in person rather than email. Tone doesn't always come across properly in email.

Agree, plus the email is kind of vague. Go in person, say you have become aware that Y makes more than you do, yet you have equal or better qualifications, experience, and performance rating, plus you are his supervisor. So you think you are not being fairly compensated and should be making more than he, even if it's just by a smidgen. (At the very least it should be equal!)

Good luck. I've never done this with salary but I did once with a promotion I believed I was due, and I got it.