Furious about colleague's salary

[fightfirewithfiree]

I am this person's line manager and I just found out she earns more than me.

She does not have any special/ technical skills that I don't - her job role is what I used to do for 4 years before being promoted to management - and she's not even that good at it if I'm honest.

She has been in the organisation a year less than me.

I have been her manager for a year now. My boss is very hush-hush about salaries but I found out inadvertently her salary is £1000 per year more than mine (an administrator/ finance person showed me something she didn't realise I wasn't supposed to see).

I actually think it's ridiculous anyway that I'm her line manager and am not supposed to know her salary. Feel like leaving the organisation, feeling very devalued.

It's a really unpleasant thing to have to raise with my manager, I hate talking about money but if I'm managing someone surely I should earn more than them, I have far more resposibility for all kinds of things.

WWYD?

And it would seem it still has the same approach to rewarding pay rises as it did in the 1700s!

Rewarding longevity over level of responsibility is…. Well, of course you’re going to be supportive of it! 😂

You need to keep asking and asking and asking. Literally every 1 to 1 meeting bring it up.

This is fairly common in my industry (not saying it's right BTW).

I remember getting on a very competitive grad scheme, big corporation - was paid a pittance though but very good for the CV. Did very well, got promoted, worked there 3 years, then another intake of grads came in, I found out they were being paid more than me! They literally had zero experience, were on the same scheme I was on and they were being paid more than me!!!
I brought it up with my manager, who was horrified, and I got an immediate pay rise.

I found out that one of my current colleagues is being paid £10k more than me, she has 10 years less experience, however, she came from a company in the same sector that I know pays well so her base salary was higher than mine. I am pissed off but TBH I am happy with what I have.

@Gumreduction do you feel better now that you got the snark out of you? What a rude thing to say for no reason...

You need to speak to your own manager about your own salary and leave other people out of it.

FWIW OP, if I changed organisations I could easily be paid more than my line manager, because I'm an experienced teacher and it's not unheard of in schools for some bright young thing to be made Head of Department after 3 years, leaving people like me (experienced teachers with a leadership responsibility) outearning them and doing fewer hours. The sad reality is that many of us wouldn't touch a Head of Department job but do expect to be paid appropriately for our years of experience.

God forbid the OP should ask real people who may be in similar real world situations what she should o....just because you have anything constructive to add doesn't mean that others don't.

Wow...just wow

I think rewarding longevity over responsibility is not a great way for a company to structure pay.

chill out. No name calling, no abuse, report if bothered

I feel like all the people who are being unnecessarily rude to OP must be bitterly unsuccessful in their own lives...

Yes, about her “subordinate”

Gumreduction You really have a massive chip on your shoulder. You are coming across as a very unpleasant person.

Cheer up.

Nothing wrong with the term subordinate. That's exactly what they are...

Goodness, that’s quite a leap! 😂

Ah, and it becomes clear why you’re so supportive of the OP

do you line manage?

No, I'm a subordinate lol
And I think you must be a very special type of snowflake to take offense to that term

I line manage

not a chance I think that those I line manage are my “subordinates”

They are my colleagues

I work in HR. It’s incredibly bad practice for a line manager to earn less than their direct reports.I’ve never known this anywhere I’ve worked, and when things like minimum wage/living wage (for example) increases have made the difference in salaries negligible, we have always uplifted the line manager’s salary. The salary reflects seniority, more experience etc. I would ask for an increase, I would state that it’s not appropriate to earn less than someone reporting into me. I would ask for the salary increase backdating, too.

I would also make plans to leave.

Depends on if they are a department manager and responsible for negotiating and applying their department budgets, salaries etc. or someone who just manages workloads, attendance etc or only does supervision type duties of a small team. There is no need for the later to know salaries.

Also, stuff the idea that people shouldn’t discuss their wages. You have a legal right to discuss salaries.

Of course

but legal versus what people choose to share by their own accord - are two different things.

Here is your clue:

"But happens to be pals with my manager."

Very common in many places I have worked where technical experts are much harder to recruit and retain than non-technical managers. There is also an element of risk involved in losing technical knowledge and experience.

It is good practice to pay for the value of the skills rather than their place in an hierarchical organisation chart.

Negotiate a raise on your own merits and leave this other woman out of it.
If necessary you can say it has come to your attention that you are being paid less than one of your reports, but you should be able to negotiate this based on your own worth and the fact that you know know they will pay more.

I have known this to happen a lot and surely depends on the salary bands of the company and amount of experience people have.

I used to work at a corparate with 5 bands
Band 1 went up to £30k per year - share scheme as well
Band 2 £25k to circa £150k - share scheme, some had car allowance
Band 3 £70k to £200k - share scheme, car, performance related pay & shares, private health
Band 4 Directors £150k + loads of perks
Band 5 Board Director - £200k loads of perks

So as you can see a newly promoted Band 3 senior manager may well be managing a highly experienced Band 2 manager who could well be earning more than them. The Band 3 person does get more perks though.

A combination of rampant nepotism and battlefield appointments seems to be very common now in many parts of the workforce, including the NHS and public sector (most of my family and friends work in one or the other) and given the demographics, it was always going to happen. While I don't exactly resent the younger, brighter, sharper kids coming in on more than twice what I've ever earned or will ever earn from an employer, it is galling that those opportunities weren't there for my generation.

It does also mean I'm much less loyal and no longer committed in any shape or form to career development within my own organisation.

I do my job, and to the best of my ability, but I really don't care about the organisation much (not the corporate side, anyway. Colleagues on the front line are a different matter, they deserve every penny they get and far, far more).

Outside working hours for that main employer, my focus is now on building up other funding streams. If it hadn't been for COVID I'd have been on track to kill myself with overwork in a self-employed context, not an employer who doesn't give a monkeys. I also wouldn't be gritting my teeth and having to pull my forelock to a manager less than half my age with a fraction of my life experience and a whole tankload of self-confidence...(and yes, I have been a manager in the past, but after work made me ill I came to conclusion that it's not worth a) my health and b) the oily sycophancy you have to display now to go back into a management role, ever).

Yanbu @fightfirewithfiree

It's outrageous she is being paid more, she's less skilled, has less responsibilities, you line manage her and we're promoted from her job 4 years ago. You also have higher qualifications.

There's something amiss here.

I'm not a HR expert but you should raise this as it undervalues your skills, responsibilities and work. Quite right to be perturbed about this. I hope you get a hefty pay rise

My line manager earns £5k a year more than me and rightly so.