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Original poster

Disparity in pay between workers doing the same job? Is this allowed?

66 replies

Payproblems · 05/09/2021 10:34

We work in the public sector, but I found out a colleuge asked for more ££ and got it.

Now they are advertising the same role but for higher pay.

My colleuge doesn't pull their weight or do their job properly and everyone else on the team knows this so the fact they are earning more then me has really upset me.
Then I see the same job being advertiser but for more than money again I feel upset.

However this is the public sector, is this usual practise? Will it be normal to have people doing the same job on all different rates?

OP posts:
BeyondMyWits · 05/09/2021 11:13

If you don't ask, you won't get. Need to be a bit pushy.

AlbertBridge · 05/09/2021 11:14

You said your colleague asked for more money and got it. So why not just ask for more money yourself?

There's loads of advice online about how to ask for a pay rise.

Do it. And good luck!!

TheChiefJo · 05/09/2021 11:14

Oh, and I definitely would mention the new job ad.

"as you are recruiting new staff into a similar role with promise of pay higher than my current pay, I think you can afford to remunerate me for my loyalty"

maddiemookins16mum · 05/09/2021 11:15

Private sector here. 3 people doing the same role with one (totally useless, can’t even use Teams), paid more than 5K more. Why? She’s been there longer yet cannot do half as much as the other two, including simple calls to customers ‘I don’t speak to customers’ she says.
Same job title, same job description.
It’s ridiculous.

HeckyPeck · 05/09/2021 11:15

@Payproblems

Hecky that's a good stragety thank you. I know I'm over complicating it 🤣. Asking about this will be way out of my comfort zone.
I don't like things like this either. I find it really awkward, but I find having the information makes it slightly less awkward 😁
Ughmaybenot · 05/09/2021 11:15

Ask for a meeting with your manager, and say that in the light of your glowing review plus knowing they are paying more for the same role, you would like a pay rise please
Do this!! Nearly every pay rise I got at my last job (over the course of five years) was because I got some evidence together, went and presented my case and asked for a payrise. Don’t ask, don’t get as my old grampy used to say.

HotPenguin · 05/09/2021 11:17

Your boss may not know what you earn if you are in a large organisation, so ask.

BoredZelda · 05/09/2021 11:17

Asking about this will be way out of my comfort zone.

Which is why you are so poorly paid. No business anywhere just ups people’s pay other than for inflation.

HeckyPeck · 05/09/2021 11:18

And I would get the info before asking for th pay rise.

If you are in a position with banding it might be that they have rebanded the role, in which case you might be getting a raise anyway.

Your colleague might have negotiated to move up in the banding, in which case you shouldn't have a problem doing the same given your recent review.

Dashel · 05/09/2021 11:21

Normally you can’t ask and get a pay rise in the public sector.

Speak to your manager to find out what’s going on as normally there are set grades and bands in place and To get a pay rise outside of the yearly bands they would either need to get a new job or have their current job regraded, it kind of sounds like the job regraded option but yours hasn’t been, so find out why your colleagues has been.

Don’t mention that they are lazy or anything like that, keep it neutral and find out why and if you need to then apply for the better paid job, but if you resign you might loose out to a colleague and then be stuck.

AccidentallyOnPurpose · 05/09/2021 11:21

The main difference here is that the colleague asked and you didn't.

Ask, and if nothing happens then you'll actually have something to be upset and even make a complaint about

JamMakingWannaBe · 05/09/2021 11:26

You don't need to resign. You can just apply for the other position.

Alpinechalet · 05/09/2021 12:09

@Payproblems

Wow. What's go stop me resigning and re joining?
Why resign, just apply for the job. If you get the jib they will have to pay the higher salary as you have been tested against the market.
Sciurus83 · 05/09/2021 13:24

Where in the public sector can you negotiate a pay rise?!!! We are all stuck on the bottom, no pay progression, you can be as deserving, experienced as you like it makes no difference everyone's the same! In your shoes though why are you waiting for someone to offer and getting down about it? Go get a meeting with your manager and explain everything you have said here and say you will be exploring your options of a raise isn't forthcoming. I would apply for the role on the higher salary if I were you.

MorganKitten · 05/09/2021 13:28

@KatherineOfGaunt

A newly-qualified teacher can start on a higher rate of pay if they negotiate it.

As a retail worker straight out of uni, I found out the other young woman my age was on more pay for the same job. I'd been to uni for three years and she had been working in retail for three years.

I think it's just how it is. 🤷🏻‍♀️

She’d been doing the retail job three years, yet you expected to walk in on the same salary? Uni doesn’t mean the right to higher pay over those who have been doing the job longer. Or any job.
seaandsandcastles · 05/09/2021 13:30

Sounds like you need to learn how to negotiate.

seaandsandcastles · 05/09/2021 13:32

@KatherineOfGaunt

A newly-qualified teacher can start on a higher rate of pay if they negotiate it.

As a retail worker straight out of uni, I found out the other young woman my age was on more pay for the same job. I'd been to uni for three years and she had been working in retail for three years.

I think it's just how it is. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Of course she was! She has experience… you had none.
FinallyHere · 05/09/2021 13:47

Now they are advertising the same role but for higher pay.

Why would t you just apply for this new role?

It will come down to whether they can manage without you and his likely they think you are to get a better job elsewhere if you are not successful.

Have you honestly not made a case for your own pay rise. Maybe they think you will put up without a rise.

They also seem to think that you are motivated by praise rather than money. Is that true ? Would you be happy with the pay rise if it meant they never praised you again.

Not everyone cares about praise. Do you?

MrsToadflax · 05/09/2021 13:58

I understand it's out of your comfort zone, but if you don't ask you won't get. I would ask for a meeting with your manager/HR and say you've seen the recent job ad for your role at a higher rate. Say that you had a very positive review and have done x,y and z and would like the same level of pay as advertised. If they give an excuse about it being a new role blah blah, you've then got your trump card of your colleague also being paid more. You find it demoralising etc. If they can't up your pay now, ask for a clear plan of how you work towards it and a timeframe.

ConsulTremas · 05/09/2021 14:01

Have you actually asked for more money? You can hardly complain if not.

I earn more than one of my colleagues who does the same job because I negotiated my salary when I joined. I asked for more money to move (because my previous employer offered me more to stay) and they met it. I asked, and I got.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 05/09/2021 14:03

Where I work if my role was advertised at more than I'm on, I'd just go into my bosses office, wave it at him and tell him not to play silly buggers & that I expect a raise. The exception to that is if they hire someone with more experience or qualifications etc thus justifying the pay differential.

SinkGirl · 05/09/2021 14:09

This is the easiest scenario in which to ask for a pay rise.

You have noticed that they are advertising to recruit into the same role as yours, with a starting salary that’s higher than yours despite your two years of experience and service. Absolutely you should be asking, and it’s evident you deserve more so you should have no problem getting it!

girlmom21 · 05/09/2021 14:12

Ask for more money and if they say no ask if you can apply for the vacant position.

Elouera · 05/09/2021 14:16

How do you know what they earn? I find it odd that you'd ask, and that they'd tell you!

Aren't you paid within a band and scale? How many years experience do you have at your level? Would this warrant going up a pay band?

I started a public sector role 2 weeks ago. When they sent me the pay, I queried this, because they'd put me on the lowest pay scale for that band- despite having 10+yrs at this level previously! I queried it, had to provide past past slips as proof of higher earnings, and was offered a higher banding and pay.

If you have the experience to warrant a higher pay, you need to formalise it in a letter to them.

EBearhug · 05/09/2021 14:35

How do you know what they earn? I find it odd that you'd ask, and that they'd tell you!

I ask my immediate peers. I'm the only woman in the department and I've spent years fighting for equal pay. A couple of years ago, my employer did a big pay review to fix the easy part of the gender pay gap, and I am finally on the same as my peers. The three of us do the same work, so should be paid roughly the same. I asked them,because there's no other way for me to know, and I said they were free not to answer if they weren't comfortable with it, but I was asking for reason equality. I think it's better for all of us to know what each other is on. (At least now we're about the same, anyway...)