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I have recently unintentionally learnt that a colleague of mine who is just few months out of university is making more money than I do with my 5 years of experience, while both of us hold Software Engineer titles. At the time when I was hired, the offer seemed extremely competitive and I felt very happy with everything the company had to offer (I have provided the expected salary). One thing I did not realize was that I have highly underestimated the potential of the company in terms of the pay. The information on the Glassdoor turned out to have some highly misleading and outdated salary statistics. Regardless of the fact that I am in a very friendly relationship with this colleague, my knowledge of the situation affects my mood and overall morale. How should I personally deal with this?

eYe
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    Voting to close as "how should I deal with this?" is asking for opinions, which we can't provide. You should decide how you want to deal with this and then we can surely help you accomplish it. So; do you want to negotiate a higher salary within your current job, or do you just want to know how to get an equal salary (switching jobs tends to help a lot in terms of pay) or something else entirely? – Erik Apr 14 '17 at 06:59
  • "underestimated the potential of the company in terms of the pay." - Did you make your decision based on what you anticipated that company could afford, instead of on your general market worth? – Nathan Apr 14 '17 at 08:16
  • Don't look other's salaries, look market's salary. – Walfrat Apr 14 '17 at 08:32
  • How exactly do you know your colleagues pay? You do the payroll? – Kilisi Apr 14 '17 at 08:46
  • See How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid? – Brandin Apr 14 '17 at 09:26
  • In any case you should be making the issue your pay and what it should be. Don't think about the other developer's. – Brandin Apr 14 '17 at 09:28
  • "How should I personally deal with this?" That's something you'll have to figure out. There is no question that we can answer here. – Lilienthal Apr 14 '17 at 11:01
  • "At the time when I was hired, the offer seemed extremely competitive" -> did you have other offers in writing back in the day? Those were your bargaining chips with which you could've negotiated more pay. Also, markets change and therefore salary might be lower/higher. – Edwin Lambregts Apr 14 '17 at 11:32
  • Get this through your head now, there is no such thing as a company that pays fair salaries in the perception of all employees. Every person makes less than someone else who they think doesn't deserve more money. If everyone were paid exactly the same thing, people would still think they deserved more than "George" because they are so much better. So pay no attention whatsoever to what other people make and pay attention only to how you can maximize your own value to the company and make the money you want to make. – HLGEM Apr 14 '17 at 13:48
  • @Kilisi we have an internal employee profile system that is private. So the person discussed accidentally flashed part of his profile in front of me while we peer coded. He must've been looking for something and forgot to close it. – eYe Apr 14 '17 at 16:36

2 Answers2

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I would recommend finding another job and then re-negotiating the salary with them when you say you found another job that pays more. If you goal is to progress and increase in wages then you need to hold the cards.

Optionally you could just ask them for a wage increase without mentioning the other persons salary, but from my experience that is harder to do than forcing them to prove your worth to them by having another situation available to you and they need to compete for your talents and abilities.

If you mention the other persons salary you could jeopardize that persons job and career as well, since usually companies prohibit salary discussions among employees.

mutt
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    finding another job and then re-negotiating - This seems like a bad idea, since it signals that you're just there for the money. While not explicitly mentioned, it seems that the OP is happy at the job, and wants to stay. "Pay me more or I'll leave" will almost certainly damage his standing. companies prohibit salary discussions - While it's usually considered to be "private" from a social point of view, I've never heard of companies outright forbidding it. Much less firing someone over discussing it. This seems like a toxic to pay everyone as little as possible. – Martin Tournoij Apr 14 '17 at 04:11
  • I have been through 4 companies like that and avoided a dozen others. Not going to always find great companies to work for and there are a ton of greedy ones. After all owners of companies are usually owners to make money, otherwise they work in humanitarian and non-profit fields. Maybe the UK only has companies that like to help all their employees out, but I wouldn't say so for the rest of the world and a large number I have seen will happily pay employees the minimal they have to pay to keep them instead of being fair to all. – mutt Apr 14 '17 at 04:18
  • Sure, I've worked at plenty of places that did their best to pay me as little as possible; but outright prohibiting salary discussions? Sjeez. That's a whole new level! – Martin Tournoij Apr 14 '17 at 04:28
  • The prohibition is between employee/employee not manager employee...did it read like manager/employee salary discussion prohibited? I have seen someone fired for sharing their salary with other employees though yes... – mutt Apr 14 '17 at 13:49
  • "finding another job and then re-negotiating the salary with them" Being (in the past) on the other side of the equation, I never give in to blackmail. I tied to make sure that an employee would never feel that they were in that position to start with, but if they came to me with the only bargaining point of 'Company X is offering me more', then they'd better be ready to move to Company X... – PeteCon Apr 14 '17 at 16:13
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    @PeteCon If you think you're paying an employee what they are worth and they receive a job offer for much higher pay from another company, perhaps this is a good time for you to reassess the situation and reconsider what you are paying them. Taking it personal and calling it blackmail is certainly one approach, but in the process you lose a valuable employee, you end up going through the expense of having to find and retrain someone else, there are work delays, and you run the risk of losing information or having work fall between the cracks. – Lazor Apr 14 '17 at 18:08
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This situation you described is commonplace. A few points:

One

I ... learnt that a colleague of mine who is just few months out of university is making more money than I do

This is very common. Companies very rigorously revise salaries that are given out to college freshers for they have to compete neck-to-neck with other similar paying companies for potential employees who are smart, do not hold strong preferences for job families and mostly care about high salaries only.

Two

One thing I did not realize was that I have highly underestimated the potential of the company in terms of the pay. The information on the Glassdoor turned out to have some highly misleading.

First off, almost any company can make a few exceptional offers that aren't the norm. May be your colleague is one such. Another factor could be that over the past few years your company has focused more on higher renumeration to new employees. Who is to tell that other new hires (freshers or experienced) aren't earning way more than you too.

Third

Regardless of the fact that I am in a very friendly relationship with this colleague, my knowledge of the situation affects my mood and overall morale.

This is the tricky bit. This is why organizations try to maintain strict secrecy of compensation details. But again, what has happened is common. Know that salary is not the best measure for talent. Your work will speak for itself. More so if you work hand-in-hand with your colleague and may be even mentor him in the process to ultimately deliver fantastic results, that will go a longer way. The other alternative is not very good.

Last

How should I personally deal with this?

I would urge you to not go ahead and figure out ways to trying to deal with it right away. You have in your possession a knowledge that can come in handy at a later stage. The stage being promotion (vertical growth).

Given that you know a. company can pay higher, b. you are not among the ones who get the most, c. you have performed as well as others until the time of your promotion; you shouldn't have any apprehensions of asking a huge and well-deserved hike. Good companies try their best to smooth out the differences overtime. And if you stay long enough you should be able to see it too.

Hope that answers your questions.

iammrigank
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