Colleague being paid more - is there anyway to bring this up?

[TheOtherBoleynGirls]

I suspect IABU here but I’ll ask…

Two colleagues and I do the same role, private sector. We were presumably on slightly different salaries. Several months ago the firm reviewed job roles in similar departments and announced us three were being promoted as a ‘recalibration’ to match what people did in the other departments. There was a little consultation about what our roles covered, but none on salaries. The three of us discussed ourselves what we would like from these promotions (ie ensuring lines of management were clear etc) as we felt if we all had the same concerns or issues, a bit of collective bargaining would work better. There were no concerns in the end. I was then told by HR that my title would change and my new salary would be X, which wasn’t an offensive pay rise, if not what I would have bargained for. We weren’t given the opportunity to negotiate a salary, it was just presented to us.

Our firm is big on benchmarking salaries and keeping them relatively level amongst the same role. I assumed all 3 of us would have been offered the same salary.

In a conversation out of work with one of the colleagues about how our promotions were working out, it came out that they were offered a higher salary. She specifically said, “the pay rise to Y amount was nice.” I just nodded - but it’s more than mine.

We have the same management responsibilities, but I have longer service at the company.

Is there anyway at all I can bring this up, as a discussion about my salary, not just whingeing about it? Maybe that colleague was offered a chance to negotiate and the other two of us weren’t? I know it’s sheer luck I found out, and I shouldn’t know, and I don’t want to get that other colleague into trouble.

YABU - tough luck you didn’t try and negotiate, so suck it up
YANBU - there’s a way to bring this up and ask why the company benchmarked different for the same role, or ask what I need to do to match that salary

Does she have experience or qualifications that you don’t have? The time to address your salary would be at your next review.

Not that I know of, but if there is something there I’d like to know so that I can work on matching it.

But also we don’t have reviews - we now have this sort of rolling review system, which means you never actually get to sit down with your manager and/or HR and discuss your year’s work and any salary expectations. Work think it’s a better system but it makes it harder to have these conversations!

That seems very unfair to me.

I would assume the payrise was given as a set figure, like 3k extra. If she came into the business after you she was likely on more than you to start with as newcomers attracted a higher salary which is why despite getting the same rise you are still on different salaries.

Bite the bullet and talk to the colleague about it. She's already told you what the payrise was so it's not a privacy issue and she'll probably be as surprised as you were. Maybe she can give you a reason.

I would absolutely raise this and have done so in the past.

Any suggestions of how I might raise this, given that I found out through an out of work conversation? I’m not averse to a difficult conversation but I know I can’t just ask for a meeting and say Oi, XXXX says they are being paid more than me!

This might be. However I was the first of us three to be promoted to our previous role; we all started at a lower role. In theory I would have guessed I was on the highest salary before promotional, because over the years my annual pay rise would have been on a larger salary.

I asked them to confirm that all of us being recalibrated / benchmarked as being at the same level were being paid the same amount. If not, what criteria were being used and where was I compared to my peers. I didn't ask who was paid what or let on I knew more than they realised but just focused on where I stood against my peers on the salary levels.

YABU. She negotiated, you didn’t. She got a higher pay rise, you didn’t.

If you want higher pay, negotiate it. Don’t bring up your colleague - they are irrelevant.

Why don't you ask what do I need to do in order to get rise to £x in order to match Jane or you could ask what you need to do in order to get a pay rise of £y (more than Jane) to reflect your longer service compared to others doing the exact same role.

Put the onus on them to justify why you are paid less.

I’m assuming she negotiated, but maybe they just offered her that salary.

Anyway, stewing over how doesn’t help. Thanks for the advice above. I need to think how to get into the conversation in the first place, what with our lack of annual reviews, but will focus what needs to be done to hit that salary.

You just ask or book a one to one meeting? Could just be 15 minutes, then agree to have (and book another one) for them to come back to you with a response.

Just don’t make your colleague the focus of your question. Don’t even mention her.

Just bring up that you’d like to negotiate a salary increase and show them why you deserve it.

I actually think it’s totally fine to have a version of the ‘Oi, why aren’t I on the same salary as X?’ conversation.

Given that there’s been all this discussion of benchmarking and review, it’s a legitimate question to ask, and a legitimate conversation to have had with a colleague going through the same process.

‘Hello Manager/HR, it’s come to my attention that following the recent benchmarking process I’m on a lower salary than one of my colleagues doing the same job. Could we discuss this, please?’

Usually it’s irrelevant to negotiating a pay rise what a colleague is on, but in this instance I think it’s fine to bring up that a conversation in the team has alerted you to a pay discrepancy.

It sounds unfair and makes no sense if you’re benchmarked but maybe it’s a range and she was already on a higher rate? Maybe just check your policies before you bring it up as several organisations I’ve worked for prohibited discussing salaries with colleagues.

@NoSquirrels agree with this. You could also say "I'm not being paid competitively for the same responsibilities as others doing the same role, and in the spirit of benchmarking which I know our company is hugely supportive of, I'd like to know what my options are of an increase by £XYZ" I'd then make clear in a passive but obvious way that I may need to consider my options going forward.

When they told you what the salary was, that was your chance to negotiate. I dont' know why you say they didn;t give you an opportunit, were you expecting them to ask you would you like to negotiate?

You made no attempt and just accepted the money. Either your colleague got offered more or she asked for more. Either way,she got more. Why not ask?

Thank you @Parkmama and @NoSquirrels, those are incredibly useful - I can work those into some sort of review conversation.

I'd move, and I have in similar situations. They way to up your salary is to move. Your colleague started after you, they would have come in in a higher base rate so your pay rise may actually have been the same but they are still on a higher salary.