To be a bit shocked at how much more my colleague is paid?

[Twittlebee]

My colleague left his open pay slip on his desk, in clear view of our other colleague. Of course this is awful, she shouldn't have had a peak but she did.

She then text me to say how much he is on as she knows how much more it means he is getting paid than us and we were recently discussing our hopes for asking for a payrise.

So we are on exact same level, same qualifications, same experience and same responsibilities etc. I've been at the company 8 months longer than him.

I earn £30k and he earns £45k. That is quite a difference isnt it? I'm struggling to work that out.

My directors have joked about how cheap I am and it's one of the reasons they agreed to hire me despite being pregnant.

I'm not sure what I'm aiming to get out of this post. Maybe an idea of how to ask for a payrise, what do I do with this information, can I expect a £15k jump up in pay?

@Twittlebee I negotiated a 10k pay rise in my job. I found a comparison site of my worth and found I was far below so gave them a list of reasons why I was paid below my worth and why it was in their interests to pay my worth. I was prepared to look for new jobs but was clear and firm about what I brought to the company and what I saved them.

This year I only managed to negotiate 1k but I think it’s really important to ask for a pay review yearly. No company ever wants to pay more than they have to and as women we tend to undervalue ourselves whereas men tend to oversell in my experience.

Good luck.

It's true what a pp said about women and not asking not getting. I recently went for a job interview hoping for a 5k rise. My boyfriend said ask for 8k. The idea of being grateful for 5k didn't even occur to him, he thought I was under selling myself and he's right. I got 6 .

Is a person's payslip a private document and therefore colleague can get reprimanded for sharing information on there?
I know your colleague did it sneakily but if they had asked to see this person's payslip (example, "oh is that your payslip, let's see) would that have made any difference to the outcome - the employer would still have grounds for reprimanding your colleague?

He negotiated better, you under negotiated. Is he more qualified than you?

Really would appreciate if people read the thread thoroughly as a lot of the same questions and point keep being made

@BackInTime yeah that is sadly true isnt it and what was shocking for us was when DH was told if he dared trying to take an emergency day off for child care again (he took one when DS was hospitalised) then he will be barred from overtime!

OP, presumably you were happy to take the job at the salary offered.

What your colleague is being paid isn't any of your business.

Unless you're on NMW then every salary is negotiable, and should have been, prior to accepting the position.

I have zero sympathy or understanding for people who quite willingly accept the terms of one contract, but then get their arse in their hands when they find out someone else has been a better negotiator and is consequently paid more.

This is one of the reasons I like being a civil servant, there are draw backs but at least pay is transparent. All this you can't talk about salaries nonsense and he/she must just be better at negotiating is just wrong.

I have no advice OP as I've never negotiated a salary in my life but your situation is wrong and I hope you can get something sorted.

As I keep saying please do read thread through

Thank you @RollaCola84

Shall see what is said when I see director next

@lilmisstoldyouso I think that's an awful attitude, I'm a better negotiator than you so I get paid more for doing the same job and screw equal pay.

I would test the market properly - apply for some jobs in the £45k range, see if you can get an offer. Then you have a real independent measure of your value - your existing employer matches it or you leave.

I would not raise the issue of the payslip you shouldn't have seen with your employer. All it has done is made you aware of the potential market value of your experience and highlight to you that you need to take some action to fully realise it. For that you should be thankful.

If the roles are identical this is an Equal Pay Act issue which should have been picked up by HR.

However there are a number of potential mitigating factors they might use to justify or explain the disparity:

• he has qualifications or experience that justifies him starting at a higher level on the pay scale
• he was already paid more in his previous role and so that was what it took to recruit him.

The latter would nit be seen as a fair justification for the disparity. The former could justify it if they could argue that means he needs less support or supervision and was given more responsibility in the work he is given. If they cannot show that then it is discrimination.

You should ask HR about the process for making an equal pay claim. That might nudge them to address it without you needing to make the claim. Joking about how cheap you are is simply not acceptable and evidence that they are knowingly discriminating against you. Not a very professional organisation.

Pay is totally negotiable when you start a new job. A few jobs where you negotiate better than a colleague and BAM you're up 15k.

It isn't a feminine trait to negotiate and sell oneself.
It isn't a masculine trait to be grateful (this is feminine v masculine personality traits not male vs female people)

I negotiate hard every time I move. My last job I asked for a payrise based on my qualification status compared to my line manager...I got £3k so I left- I managed to negotiate another 7k on top of the 3k of the old job pay rise. I'm currently scoping the job market again and requesting £10k more than my current salary. I don't inform recruiters what I earn only tell them what I expect and what I feel I am worth. I've had no shortage of opportunities and interviews lined up.

Loyalty doesn't pay...a current employer isn't going to pay you significantly more to keep doing your job. You have to be prepared to stick to your guns though- I expect this or aI leave!

Good luck @Twittlebee just try and remember how much value you bring

Sadly women are guilty of under valuing themselves and there are plenty employers willing to take advantage of this. Also despite all the progress in terms of equality the majority of childcare does fall to women. This means that often decisions around our careers will always have to factor in childcare and family life. Will promotion mean more pressure, longer hours or travel away from home? Can I be good at my job and be a good mum?

It is difficult to compete with male colleagues who can stay late or do lots of work social events when you always have to rush out the door on time to do a nursery pick up or if you are always the one who has to take time off to be with sick DC.

Wow only have a brief read through the responses but really?? 'It's negotiations' /'you accepted it' /'you shouldn't snoop' ... no wonder there is such a disparity betw men and women in pay if women are putting other women down!
It's a clear equal pay claim - you can simply say you are aware your colleague is paid more and would like to understand why.
'He negotiated better' is unlikely to cut it in the eyes of the law!!
Do bring it up OP, don't have to be confrontational, just point out the facts to start with and see where it takes you. You can of course also back it up with market research of similar jobs and outline your own worth etc but your employer has some explaining to do re the colleague!

I recently had this same issue.

The steps I took were as follows:

1. In my case, we had slightly different job titles, so I got a copy of both job specs. I spoke to the man who was on more money and asked what his salary was, whether there were any additional responsibilities that I was unaware of (budgeting, managing etc) and confirmed in my mind that we were doing "like work" as defined by the Equal Pay Act.
2. raised it with my line manager and asked if there was anything he could see that was different about the roles. He said no and advised that I emailed HR with a copy of both job specs
3. emailed HR and asked what the salary bands were for the two roles and why job x paid 75% of job y, and asked if they could review this and explain the discrepancy to me.
4. HR then got the job specs reviewed by an external independent body and amended my salary (& that of my female colleague) in line with the better paid role
5. asked for the salary change to be backdated (not heard back on this yet!)

Nb.If your company employs more than 200 people, they should be publishing their gender pay gap data and salary scales. If you are doing the same job, you should be on the same pay band.

Pregnancy/mat leave is irrelevant. I had recently returned from mat leave on reduced hours when this occurred and I knew I wouldn't be able to find another job that would offer me the same work pattern on the same salary, so they knew I wasn't going to walk out either, but you are within your rights to be paid fairly. It is a legal right, not a lucky bonus you can only dream of. You should be assigned an appropriate pay band for the work you are doing and the benefit you bring to the company. Don't be afraid to push this. From what you've said, your employer is acting illegally, and employers who break the law are like spiders... they are more afraid of you than you are of them!

Good luck! 🍀

Sadly women are guilty of under valuing themselves and there are plenty employers willing to take advantage of this.

Sadly many employers are guilty of undervaluing women and judge women less favourably than they would judge men for the same behaviour. It becomes difficult to value yourself when your manager is telling you you're not as good as you think you are all the time.

Happened to me last year. Less experienced colleague earning 30k more than me. Was given an 18k payrise last year while I was given 4 (brilliant I thought) and told 'there wasn't much more in the pot'.

I ended up leaving because I felt so devalued. Of course the other colleague was male.