Do you begrudge high earners?

[cheerscheerscheerstomeyeahcheers]

Do you actually understand what they do and why they earn so much?
Would you be actually willing to put in the time and effort yourself?

I see so much griping about people that earn a lot, but I also see a lot of ignorance about why they earn what they do.

I guess the trouble is we all know or have known a manager or someone in power who we look at and wonder how they got there, but generally no I don’t.

I don't know that people begrude high earners really, or that they don't consider what they do to earn their money. I suppose some people always feel a bit gripy about perks other people have e.g., working from home must always be so relaxing, or teachers get to have lots of holidays. It doesn't mean these things are true, it's just how someone might feel when they're struggling on a low wage, or working long night shifts or sweating in summer on a stinking tram.

Not the money side of things but I hate the insinuation that only high earners work hard.

I agree with this, or the insinuation that anyone can earn 100K+ if they only worked harder

I don’t begrudge higher earners per se, I am very happy with my salary. But as PP said, most of us have worked for someone who wasn’t that good and very senior. I worked directly with someone on over 300k, she constantly went on holidays and had private appointments (yoga etc during work day) and I did a lot of her work (and she lied to CEO saying she did it herself).

What constitutes being a ‘high earner’ in your option @cheerscheerscheerstomeyeahcheers ?

But most do work hard. Or they have a particular skill.

£300k plus

Yes I’m not sure the insinuation is only they work hard. It is more they work hard, fact, doesn’t mean they are saying no one else does.

That's not what I said.... try again.

No. High earners usually have specialist skills or shoulder lots of risk/ stress. I don't want that in my life so I'm a medium earner and am happy with my work/ life balance.

I think often by the time you get to that sort of money the job because easier but the accountability becomes more intense. I’ve never worked for someone on that sort of money but know loads of people that are there and good for them!

I don’t earn a lot of money myself but what I believed and what I think many others think too is that money doubles but it doesn’t.

so to keep the numbers simple, me on 24k for example brings home (let’s pretend) £1500 a month. When someone said they was on 48k, double to “me”, I automatically assumed they bring HOME double at 3k a month, but it doesn’t actually work like that. I think a lot of people think that way.

Or privilege or a specific look that was needed in a certain role.
I worked with two people who got into Harvard on legacy spots (meaning they had a parent and/or grandparent at Harvard). That opens a lot of doors for you and they didn’t get in on hard work alone.

I know someone else who went to Eton and was mentored into his very senior role by his godmother who was senior in his industry. Yes he works hard but privilege gave him opportunities.

No. In fact I applaud women high earners. All power to them. We need more women to bridge the gender wage gap.

I do. Depends what you mean by high earner. I am in top 10% of earners and I see people a tier above me in financial/ corporate jobs and they are largely personally ambitious, self-agrindising and yup I don't think any of them deserve it.

It depends what they do.

Not as individuals, but the income disparities in this country make me angry. There should be a limit on the difference between the salary of the highest and the lowest earner in a company - e.g. highest can't earn more than 10x lowest FTE.

LOL, honestly as a high earner, all the LOLs in the world!

They have a good education, and are mostly fortunate with regards to family/finding study easy.
They are in professions that are to a greater or lesser extent closed.
Their insurer is on the hook if they fuck up.
and if they really really fuck up- then the taxpayers will be made to cough up.

Don’t you think people who earn more than Air Traffic controllers (as an example, and I certainly do) should count their blessings, and not act the victim like you bizarrely are trying to do.

What's a 'high earner' these days? £150k as per the tax bracket? I earn £70k in comparison.

No I don't begrudge them at all. They've almost always worked hard to get there, whether by studying for years - possibly at their own expense, or taking risks, or putting themselves out of their comfort zone, or by being excellent networkers, or by sacrificing their personal lives to some extent.

However the 'long hours' aspect of many high earning roles is neither here nor there for me. My dad is an HGV driver and works 14 hour shifts.

It's not that I begrudge someone a high wage as I'm not willing to give up seeing my children for more money (I am happy with my wage and my career trajectory). I just don't think anyone needs 300k as a wage. If we paid big bosses less then we would be able to pay the workforce more.

I don’t begrudge anyone for earning any amount really. I don’t think pay is a measure of skill, hard work, stress etc as there are so many jobs at different pay scales that have varying degrees of pressure and hard work. I don’t see that the two are correlated.

Not at all. I do hate the sentiment that the harder you work the higher you earn as that is, quite frankly, bollocks!

High earners have a skill set that is valued often because you can link your input to the financial outcome eg I brought in a deal worth x so I should be paid y.

I have worked in the City for decades and I earn well. People pay me for my expertise in solving problems and making decisions. I am not convinced that my work is physically and mentally harder than doing 12 hour shifts in A&E or being a parent to a severely disabled child.

I think high earners should recognise that other people work hard and not punch down.

OP are you a high earner or is it your DH?

I earn £100k. Not sure how much my boss earns- I would guess £1m including all the incentives? I wouldn’t want his job though- a lot of stress, working all hours, huge weight of responsibility on him. I work hard and have a lot of professional postgrad qualifications, but I generally work 8.30-6.30, can flex quite a bit for school plays etc, and when I’m on annual leave I’m not contactable. I wouldn’t want to swap places with my manager.

He is also responsible for keeping about 1,000 in employment.