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?

Because they are in a more senior position with more responsibility?

how much of a raise would be acceptable? What if £900 per year was offered. Would that be a enough gap in salary between us?

we had this a few people were on the same as there manager due to them being there years and on old contract and pay scale
Mangers were restructured some moved up done moved down but the new management we’re on different pay scale

Hard to say when we don’t know what job you do / industry you are in
£900 might be ok in some industries and completely unacceptable in others

Our salary is around the £45k mark. Which is ok for the industry.

I am wondering if they were to offer me a small amout such as £900 to raise it slightly a would that be acceptable ?

I would be looking for £2- 3k difference as a reasonable amount but if they have budget restrictions on pay roll then would I be expected to accept a smaller amount than that as reasonable

I would nearly start looking for another job as it sounds a bit like the company are gearing themselves up for your work colleague to take over your position as they seem highly valued….is that a possibility

Otherwise I would expect at least 3-5k of a difference

Yes I was very shocked when I saw the figure and this is what went through my mind.
After the annual pay review there was some discussion about some getting more than to 2% and the head of the business sent an email telling people not to discuss and gossip about salaries amongst each other.

There are not a lot of positions going unfortunately or I would certainly consider moving. I am worried about raising it for these reasons

In my industry there is a specific job role where the line managers are all on 25k less than the people they manage.

Considering what you just said then I wouldn’t ask for a pay rise just now if you are happy with your salary, let things be for the moment and maybe raise it in a few months time if it seems like the company is in a better financial position…..I would possibly start looking around to see what else is out there and keep an eye on the situation with your work colleague and their position within the company

It is not unusual in certain industries for a manager to be paid less than one of their staff. Where the skillset is the same, a manager would normally be paid more. For example, in IT, "star" programmers could be paid considerably more than their manager as the manager's job is to manage, not to code, and they could be downright poor at programming. The "star" programmers may never be promoted if they would make ropey managers, but they could be far more valuable to the company and much more damaging if they left and went to competitor.

One of the most extreme examples is in professional sport, and approximate salaries are easier to find. Many players at Nottingham Forest are paid much more than their manager, with the highest paid player earning nearly 3 times more!

I know lots of Managers where their direct reports may even be on more than them if they're in a technical role which is more specialist than being a Manager. Manager doesn't always equal the most pay, that's quite an archaic way of thinking

Also OP you may have also been given this role as a growth opportunity, where are you on your band? Alternatively someone with more experience than you may have been paid higher for the same role. There are lots of variables

It kind of depends how pay ranges work.

In a few places I've worked at, the pay scales overlap, so the grade below finishes at the middle of the grade above. You usually start at the bottom and go up each year, or where you are in the band or grade would be based on performance.

So say band A pay scale 30k-40k, band B 35K-45K. When I started one job like this I negotiated to start at the mid point of my grade (example band A 35K). I was there 2 years then got a new manager. At that point I was paid more than my manager who just joined the organisation (bottom of pay scale band B, so e.g. 35K).

depends on the industry. In my line of work line managers don’t necessarily earn more than their direct reports. Salary is banded around experience, length of service and job title - you could be a very senior job title with lots of responsibility but no direct reports as your remit isn’t people management. If it’s not the norm in your sector query with your boss.

There was a fascinating book some time ago :

Why women don't ask-Babcock

It's a fascinating read..

How does your salary compare to with out managers

Personally I think it’s a red flag when a business doesn’t want its employees discussing the amount it pays.

But the OP has said that their roles are the same but she has line management duties on top.

I can see how a manager of highly skilled specialists eg IT would be paid less if the role was simply to make sure they did what they were told to on time and to the required standard without being a specialist themselves, but in many cases, the manager is experienced and knowledgeable in the profession so would be expected to train/guide their direct reports as well as being responsible for the team getting the work done.

And I don't think that £900 pa is sufficient pay differential in the OPs case. If that's all that's on offer, I'd tell them to forget it, relinquish my line manager duties and just concentrate on the job in hand without all the extra hassle for virtually no extra pay, it's going to be an extra £50 a month, if that.

We don’t have the same role, I have an executive position whereas they have an operational role.

They are similar in some aspects but are not involved in the commercial and financial side of business whereas I am.

To be honest, OP, if you have an "executive position" and yet your salary is low enough to have been affected, even indirectly, by changes to the NMW, it sounds like you are very poorly paid for what you do. Have you looked to see what you could be getting paid elsewhere?

In my industry, certain lower bands received higher % pay rises than higher bands because those higher bands receive a larger proportion of the bonus pool. It doesn’t mean that lower bands earn higher but it’s just the way the pots are divided up.

It’s the industry unfortunately, well renowned for being poorly paid

Women typically don’t negotiate well for ourselves, even if we think we do.