To wonder if manager did this deliberately

[Eastie77Returns]

I had my annual pay review today over a call. My manager opened the document up on a shared screen and began talking me through it. It was immediately clear to me I was looking at someone else’s document and the base pay was completely different to mine. Overall this person is paid £80k more than me. I was so stunned at this discrepancy I could not register what my manager was saying to me. After a few minutes she ‘realised’ the mistake and shut down the document.

She is usually meticulous and can’t believe this was an error so I think for some reason she wants me to know. She made a point of telling me at the start of the call that she had just finished ‘Jane’s’ pay review (my colleague) so I don’t know if I’m suppose to conclude this is Jane’s pay.

Needless to say I am job hunting.

I am so confounded by this whole situation, I am just in a daze. I knew people in my team were paid different amounts but never dreamt the discrepancy could be so wide. I think I am probably the lowest paid member of the team.

I used top resume and it has served me really well, but I think you'd find as good or better on Fiverr for a rewrite and then put it through jobscan for ATS verification.

I'm bilingual so got a fabulous French version for a specific job on Fiverr. I was offered the job without an interview! Didn't take it though.

Remember you are aiming up not sideways. And you are looking to double your salary. Get informed and then be audacious. I rather like interviewing now! It's fun after a while. I like to see what's out there. I enjoy work.

Op, it’s not nothing to do with you being a woman and I wouldn’t say afraid to ask, but unwilling to ask. You’d have left or gotten a pay rise long ago if it were. But since I see your boss is gratitude journal manager , I remember that thread and can’t believe you’ve survived that long!
todays gratitude to share with the manager:I’m grateful to have realised you don’t value me and never will.

You said your CV was up to date a few hours earlier. And if you have yo go through your emails to find accomplishments then are they really accomplishments?

It's a perfectly valid and reliable approach to use email as a way of identifying accomplishments. Work Email is full of confirmations, transactions and conversations.

Plus Calendar is a good way of flicking back through meetings that took place in the course of the review year, which will align to Annual Objectives/ Goals.

I don’t understand your comment. I work across quite a few deals, projects etc in the course of a year and it’s easy to forget what I’ve accomplished so looking at my emails helps. I also need to recap the deals I’ve helped close to add up the associated $ARR so I can summarise this on my CV. It isn’t unusual to need something to jog your memory when asked about your achievements but this has reminded me to keep a working document going forward.

My CV is updated to the extent is has my current role but then needs to be tweaked for a specific application.

Start keeping a spreadsheet with all the details of your accomplishments so when doing cv or performance management you can open the doc and see instantly

Me an' all! 😮

OP your boss has done you a huge favour - it looks to me that she wants you to be aware so that you can negotiate a better package for yourself. Before you decide to leave you need to have a conversation with her about reviewing your salary to be competitive/in line with benchmarks etc etc. Good luck!

I’m so glad you’ve been able to see how much you’ve accomplished.

All the best going forward.

This IS a blessing in disguise - just look for another job. I have also made a mistake of staying in the same company for too long to only find out that men in my team had much higher bonuses and salaries. I have since switched jobs several times -(not talking job hopping but switching every 3-4-5 years) rather than staying in one job for 11 years. Every time, it was a meaningful uptick in comp and job title/responsibility. I was also terrified of adjusting to a new job, how it would fit with family responsibilities etc. Guess what, it works. And the more senior you get, the more flexibility (although not hours - that often goes up, especially initially). I regret not being more proactive earlier. There’s always a risk - one workplace was an absolutely toxic cesspit which I left after three years, but it gave me a very good addition to my CV, comp bump and led me to getting my current job that I enjoy hugely and which pays even more. Just go for it!

I work in IT. I get it. I have a big team and several on it in your situation.
I’d never do what your boss did, but I’m suprised you didn’t alredy know/ talk with colleagues to know you’re under paid. Reality of IT these days is you make the jumps by moving. There’s a chance if you leave they’ll counter offer (it’s the only way I’m allowed to do internal salary hikes) but some companies have a policy not to, and to be honest by time someone’s resigned they checked out anyway.
use this to drive the next move and make the jump. Jobs are no longer for life. If you can’t cope and be motivated knowing what you know then time to leave. I’m sorry as I know it hurts! (I’ve been there!) 💐

I agree, I often forget about projects I’ve worked on as they come one after another and then I look back through emails and think oh yeah!

But if she is earning £50k in commission more than you, does that not mean her productivity is higher than yours?

I read the “mental health first aider” comment you made, and it’s really neither here nor there. It just means that a person has been trained to be there for a person in crisis, get them water, make sure they are safe before they get professional help (In very simple terms, I’m a MHFA trainer).

Second, internal brand is so important in certain roles unfortunately. It’s easy enough to do even without working overtime or going to every work event. And a lot of mums overlook the importance of this. It’s about making yourself seen and heard, making it clear what your objectives are and where you want to be in the future. If the answer is same job with better pay why bother? Go apply somewhere else. Most companies unfortunately just don’t care about people who have stalled and have no intention to grow.

I've just been looking at your highly entertaining thread on the cringe-making gratitude journals. Does your manager still insist on these? You could get together with a friend to use them to talk each other up and campaign for wage rises. For instance friend could keep recording her gratitude for your brilliant performance on various projects, for you helping others, for the way you can always be relied on, and you could do the same for her.

The manager has breached GDPR because you have seen somebody else's highly sensitive personal data. This is a huge mistake on the managers part and she should have reported the breach to higher management.

It depends how far you want to take this, but you could go to management above her, and say that you saw this document and you now know how much Jane earns and you want to know why there is such a huge discrepancy.

If they say it is because Jane does XYZ more than you, then ask how you can achieve the same level of work/pay.

I totally understand you wanting a fresh start with everything considered...
I mean yes, have the conversation with your current employers too, ideally with an offer in your hand for confidence...
And yes, to some extent you do still need to learn to promote yourself within any organisation
BUT it seems like fighting to change your work persona when you've been overlooked for a long time could be draining and demoralising and I would want to move on... If at all possible to where I already knew someone who could tell me what the workplace culture was like...
All the best x

why are you not addressing this head on? You have seen that someone doing the same job is being paid vast amounts more than you (bonus not included as presumably that’s performance related). I’d be requesting a meeting with boss lady for Monday morning to ask how you can work this out without involving HR/union/ACAS etc

if you’re always this passive about pay reviews TBH I’m not surprised you’re earning less than your colleagues but the figures you state a staggering
all relative of course and if you’re earning £500k then an extra £25k could just be canny negotiating

I had something similar fairly recently when a colleague told me what she was being paid and it was almost 50% more than me in a role I had been promoted from. She had been recently employed at the market rate, I'd been in the business years and was clearly having the p*ss taken out of me and it made me feel sick and completely undervalued. I was honest with my manager and told her how it made me feel and salary was increased to match and I was given some other benefits. However, it has changed my view of the business forever and they have lost my loyalty. Do whats right for you.

I've had friends leave jobs for this reason. Further down the road they've been approached by old company for a more senior role. It's time to move forward @Eastie77Returns

Just Mums eh?

I find your post really condescending. No internal brand is not that, I think most women can do those things, even with their silly baby brains. It’s a corporate buzz word and basically means nothing in my experience.

Why is it that across three companies I’ve worked for, the Mental Health first aiders are normally the ones causing the environment that fosters poor mental health. Maybe I’ve been unlucky, but it definitely seems to attract a certain type of person.

You genuinely sound lovely and as much as I believe you should bring this up so it’s out in the open it may not get you far especially as you may want a reference from her when you look for a new job (which sounds like something you want to do anyway!)

Hope you took a screenshot! (always be ready to screenshot 😂)

Working with multiple screens, it is easy to share the wrong thing so I wouldn't assume it was deliberate. But now you know so you can do something about it (internally or leave for a new job) or you need to forget and move on. It's going to be turbulent times in IT (esp sales) ahead though.

Hey @Eastie77Returns , this sounds rough.

I've left jobs before because I felt it undignified to get into negotiations over pay discrepancies. They had already lost my trust and damaged my self- worth. It sounds like you feel the same?

Have you considered getting some professional coaching? It would help you kick your job search off properly, and when you do get another job, help you present the face the company needs to see in order to invest in you. It sounds like you have all the skills, but lack confidence.

Not everyone is naturally magnetic. Some people are great at schmoozing, and this appeals to certain people, but doesn't necessarily mean they're technical experts.

However, if you are indeed an expert in your field, learning to schmooze could be your next step in professional development. It sounds disingenuous, but if you want to work in large corporations, you need to find some way of making yourself stand out in a crowd.