Junior colleague being paid the same as me

[SeaWitchly]

I work in a caring profession. Today my junior colleague let slip how much she earns and I realised she is on the exact same salary as me. I am really annoyed about this. Junior colleague and I have both been in post 2 years. I came in to the role with 10 years experience of doing the role elsewhere. Junior colleague had never worked in the role before and required a lot of support and mentoring from me to get to a competent level. However she is not at a senior level which was confirmed by my manager recently when I suggested we job share the senior role (as it is a lot of work for one person on a part/time contract). Basically as I get all the additional problem solving and planning required with little extra admin time but the exact same client load as junior colleague (we both work 3 days per week). Which means I often find myself working (unpaid) overtime to keep up. At the moment I feel so angry about this I want to quit (and yes I know I am lucky to have a job in the current climate). I don’t think I can ask for a pay rise as I will be told there is no money for this in their budget. AIBU?

Please don’t get your colleague into trouble by revealing you know her pay. That’s pretty illegal to be discussing your pay with co-workers... it shows how junior she is she doesn’t know how to read a basic contract.

You will also get in trouble because that will confirm you have been discussing pay with your colleagues. Best to use this to your advantage when negotiating with your employer.

But ultimately, it is also on you for settling for less than what you must know you’re worth as a senior in your role. Surely you understood you were on junior pay when you accepted the role?

If you’re upset she is getting paid at a senior rate, maybe she just negotiated better, or was the best candidate & they needed to offer her more to woo her to accept?

Isn’t it likely she negotiated her salary? I always have done this, but this seems to be less common in British workplace culture than it is in the Middle East and US. Saying that, you can entirely negotiate your salary too. Work out the added value you bring, and how much overtime they should have paid you, and determine the salary you think you deserve. Give consideration to the market rate, and don’t be afraid to say “we are a market leading company, and that’s why we have the best staff available - to keep them, we need to ensure people are compensated with respect to this.” Get raise schedules in writing too, no “oh let’s do it in 3 months” and it never happens. If you need to, book a quarterly appointment with your manager to discuss your progress and set an agenda that includes goals to attain for your salary increase that you expect year on year.

Ask for a pay rise with justifications.

I read somewhere that part of the reason the pay gap between men and women exists still is because men ask for pay rises more and are more confident in this area.

The junior colleague probably negotiated well when they started. You may not have asked/pushed for a rise when you could. If the company can get away with paying you less than they need then of course they will.

Carry on performing as you are, but tell your boss that the trust you want to have with your employer has been breached because they have failed to differentiate salaries fairly. Any decent employer should take the employer/employee trust seriously. If they don't, just carry on working as you do until you find a different job. Just be honest and open, as you would hope they would be with you.

The key here is for your role are you underpaid? I would ignore what the other person is paid (they may be overpaid)

Maybe she's negotiated a better salary? In a previous job I earned more than my more highly-qualified and generally more experienced (although not in our particular niche) because I would go to our bosses and ask for a pay-rise, complete with case as to why I should get one, and they didn't.

That’s pretty illegal to be discussing your pay with co-workers...
No it's not!

It is absolutely not illegal to discuss pay. Why say things that are not true?!
People should talk about pay more. It is shocking that companies get away with things like this because people want to be ‘polite’

@xolotltezcatlopoca

You can't complain about other people's pay. That's between them and the employer. If you are not happy with your pay, you need to negotiate with your employer.

100% this.

Also companies that tell you contractually you can’t discuss your salary do not have a leg to stand on.

You can't complain about other people's pay. That's between them and the employer. If you are not happy with your pay, you need to negotiate with your employer.

Attitudes like this are one of the reasons we still have a gender pay gap. You have to know you’re being underpaid before you can act on it. Silence on pay only benefits employers.

Its such a double edged sword finding out how much colleagues are paid. In my last job, a colleague accidentally got access to the entire payroll database (MASSIVE gdpr breach but they never found out) and we discovered our boss was being paid for an extra half day per week she didn't work. I smouldered with resentment the rest of my time there but couldn't say a word.

Regards the OP, employers can pay what they like and whilst it may seem unfair i'm not sure it's your business. In a tough market with a lot of applicants and few jobs (such as we are going into right now) an employer may drop the salary of a role just because they can, even though that may mean someone with more experience being paid the same or less than a junior person. Of course you can say something if you think it's unfair but they may just say tough - depends on their culture and your working relationship with your superiors.

Attitudes like this are one of the reasons we still have a gender pay gap. You have to know you’re being underpaid before you can act on it. Silence on pay only benefits employers.

AuntyPasta Incorrect. I’m not advocating staying silent on your pay, I’m saying when bringing up a negotiation you can’t complain someone else gets the same/better than you. You need to negotiate on your own merits, not on what others get.

I'll bet your junior colleague was better at bargaining when it came to pay. I would look at equivalent roles in your area and go and bargain at next appraisal.

I would negotiate using industry average. Tell your manager you've been browsing the job market and jobs for your skill and experience level are a much higher salary than you are currently getting. Would they reconsider your salary in light of the fact that if you move to another job then they will probably have to pay the higher salary anyway to attract a replacement.

It would be good if you could actually screenshot a few jobs with a higher salary. If your industry tends to advertise with generalised 'in line with experience' type salaries then say that you have been speaking to contacts (imaginary contacts if necessary) at other companies about what you could expect to receive.

Apologies illegal not the correct term - I mean contractually not allowed to discuss pay. This has been on every corporate/professional contract I have had...you don’t discuss pay worth colleagues - and if you do in secret, then you certainly don’t tell your boss “so & so gets paid X so why can’t I!”

That could get you in trouble in companies have worked for! It’s a breach of contract.

It is not illegal to discuss salary with colleagues. The Equality Act 2010 explicity entitles employees to discuss salary for the purposes of identifying pay inequality in relation to a protected characteristic. I would imagine any contractual term that prevents salary discussions is unlikely to be enforceable and potentially unlawful.

It sounds like you both started at the same time, and since then you have agreed to take on more senior role aspects of the job; but it's not that unreasonable you were offered the same amount of pay. Even with training etc that she was required, that was up to them to decide what was reasonable, they don't owe you for your previous experience. I started in a role about 10 years ago and started on £5k more than my male counterpart, even though he had years of experience; there must have been something else they thought was worthwhile. He spoke to management when he found out and stated why he felt he should receive a pay rise.

I am in a very similar situation. Saw written proof (sloppy admin by Managers) of a new recruit into our team, at several thousand more than myself and colleagues who have many years experience.

Managers are now trying to pin blame on me for 'seeing' this implying that I somehow was 'prying'. HR advise me it's not the way I found out but the fact that I now have this knowledge and have encouraged me to go for grievance. HR also advise that for fairness the rest of the team need to be bought up to same level as new recruit.

Have joined Union and started grievance procedure, but management are dragging their heels and it has been weeks already, only just had notification of first meeting.

It's not fair on you and you need to fight for justice all the way. They are not valuing or respecting you. Also stop doing any unpaid overtime.

It'll be interesting what the outcome of the grievance is, as unless there's a pay spine they're bound to follow, they are no laws about offering new employees a higher salary than existing members of staff.

It is not illegal to discuss salary with colleagues. The Equality Act 2010 explicity entitles employees to discuss salary for the purposes of identifying pay inequality in relation to a protected characteristic.

Fantastic point. I didn't know this and so googled it. It says this provision makes clauses in employees' contracts that prohibit discussing pay with colleagues unenforceable.

@mosquitofeast
none of your business how much your colleague earns. You deal directly with your employers over your wages, and so does your colleague. How does that sort of information get "let slip"?

And that's why there is still a gender pay gap...

@Colonelblinkee is the new recruit male and you and your colleagues female? Maybe it's sex discrimination?

Honestly she might just have played hard ball with them when she was negotiating her salary or they might have been a scarcity when they hired her. She might just have done a better job than you when discussing salary
Your salary is agreed between you and your manager, If your not happy and feel youre being paid less than market rate, then print off some adverts etc and use them to negotiate an increase.

How often have you asked for a pay rise and/ or re-negotiated your reward package? How many better job offers can you secure and are you prepared to change jobs?

However unfair it might seem, that's what determines your reward package. There really isn't anything

Good luck