Direct report on the same salary

[misssunshine4040]

I have been in my job for a year now in a senior management position.

Aprils pay reviews have been published on the system we use and I had a notification to inform me of my teams new rates of pay,

My colleague was promoted to the level below me and I am their line manager but following the April pay increase they are now on the exact same salary as me despite have a more junior role and less responsibility.

Am I being unreasonable to feel uncomfortable about this?

Well it gives you leverage to request a significant rise for yourself so they’ve done you a favour.

Is there any reason you can think of for why this employee specifically would be on a higher salary than their peers?

A good reason for a renegotiation of your own salary.

I have multiple direct reports who earn more than me, either because they are in locations that have higher pay bands... or because they are male. Infuriating, but it is what it is.

They have significant time served in the company but it’s not a policy in the company to uplift so significantly for this reason.

Perhaps they negotiated well on arrival. My OH is apparently on more then people two grades above him due to excellent negotiating when he moved to his current team. Consider it a cue to get negotiating yourself.

This

This often happens when people move jobs and negotiate a salary that is higher than their manager.

Do not hesitate to ask your employer for a raise. If you are a valued employee they will find it hard to justify not giving you a raise.

If they are unwilling to take your salary above your direct report it is time for you to look for employment with higher pay.

Time for you to negotiate your own pay rise.

I have only been there a year and the group is cutting payroll and it’s huge focus so I felt it was inappropriate to ask at this time. There were lots of complaints about the 2% uplift most got so it’s a surprise to several others have bigger raises closing the gap between up significantly.

You don't ask you don't get

This happened to me, I went into managers office and said this is resolved by the end of the day or I'm resigning and my pay rise was swiftly agreed.

I'd imagine loads of people where I work are paid more than their superiors because they have more experience or length of service.

My direct report earns significantly more than me but she has been in her position over 15 years, so her salary just grew (we don't have caps), considering her age and experience I'm okay with it, because it tells me that when I'm in her situation I'm 15 years time, I will continue to have salary growth and don't necessarily need to pursue a promotion either

Yes I understand that they have been there for many years and have lots of experience but they have not progressed to my role in that time so it makes no sense to me why they are paid the same.

Depends what they are doing really.

If they are junior to you they have a different role to you. it's possible to be a manager, yet not be able to do the job that your reports do because your skill is in management, not in some technical area. If the technical skill is in demand, then it is not unreasonable for the report to earn more than the manager (IMO).

The question is, could you do the job they do with the same level of ability ? If you could then maybe time to ask for a pay rise. If you can't then maybe its because they find it harder to find people with that skill set than with management skills.

I can do their job, I had to be their level and to their role to get to my level if that makes sense.
They have more time served but not more expertise.

I don’t want to be outing but it’s not a tech or STEM role if that makes sense.

When I started in my current role, I inherited a senior manager who was actually earning less than one of his direct reports, and had been doing so for years. I don't think he realised. Obviously, I rectified the situation at the earliest opportunity.

I think you could legitimately ask for a review of your salary in this situation.

I dunno. Part of the deal of becoming a manager is that you get access to priviliged information, like peoples salaries. The purpose of getting that information is that you can do your job, not so you can use it as leverage to get more salary yourself, and you might find your managers attitude reflects that.

Certainly if a report came to me and said I've seen person Y gets more than me and I want a rise it would definitely affect my attitude towards them in the future, and whether they should be given any more confidential information that they may choose to try to take personal advantage of. But that's just me. Someone else might give you the rise and someone else might find a way to get rid of you. I guess it is how much you fancy taking the risk.

Because they are male? Are you sure about that?

Hmm, well that was your mistake really. They dropped heavy hints about there being no budget for pay rises and you took the hint and didn't ask for one. Perhaps others ignored the hint and put forward their case for one anyway.

I would approach your own manager and say you'd like to get some clarity on how these pay increases were decided because you were led to believe there was absolutely no budget for it, and now you discover that your direct reports have been awarded big pay rises which mean they're now on more than you are. Either they're being overpaid or you're being underpaid, given that you have more seniority and experience than they do. Ask for an urgent pay review to bring your salary up to an appropriate level, otherwise you will start exploring your options elsewhere.

Completely disagree with this attitude.

Firstly, the only people who benefit from all this secrecy over pay are your employers. If no one ever exchanged salary information, how would a woman find out that she was being paid less than a man who does the exact same job and bring an equal pay claim?

Secondly, it's always a bad idea to put direct reports on higher salaries than their managers because it breeds resentment and isn't conducive to a healthy working relationship. I recently refused an offer of a new job because when I did a bit of digging I discovered that the prospective manager is on a lot less than I am and that this has been a major source of conflict between her and the person currently in the role, who also earns more than her (but less than me). I do not want to be managed by someone who earns less than I do, and although I don't currently manage anyone, I would not want to manage someone who earned more than me.

By all means, negotiate a pay rise but please, base your request on your contribution and the cost to the organisation of replacing you.

There is no de-facto reason they should pay more than someone else. Why would they ?

I think this is unethical from the company’s perspective although I understand it can happen due to long service, etc. Obviously it is not the individual’s fault and it is an unpleasant situation for you both to be in.

Personally, if I had this information, I’d do some market research into comparable salaries to my role elsewhere (ie. Work out your market value). This will let you see what the reason for the discrepancy is - are you being underpaid equivalent to the market or is your colleague overpaid?

If the former, I’d negotiate on pay (based on the external market not your colleague’s salary). If the latter, I might not - provided there was an objective reason for the colleague’s higher salary (niche skill, long service, etc) and that they were a good team member. If there isn’t an objective reason or the colleague is a poor performer, then you start thinking discrimination, etc, but hopefully this is not the case.

My feeling is you’re in quite a vulnerable position in this market if you’re being overpaid as employers know this and that you are unlikely to leave. But you want to get paid your market value.

Just read the above post, which I obviously do. It find to be the case. I have been managed by people who are paid less , we are each paid a market rate for the job we do. I continually update my technical skills to keep up to date and do not enjoy line management.

what is importing to me is to find an organisation which pays a market salary. If you are not happy with your overall reward package, the solution is to find a job where you are valued.

Agree with this

Don't tell me you've never heard of males being paid more than females for doing the same job?