Am I being underpaid and taken for a mug?

[DreamyRubyGoose]

Hi all,

I’ve NC’d for this just in case but obviously I’ve going to try to keep this as unrevealing as possible.

All my working life I’ve been in the public sector where salaries are skewed. I have just moved to the private sector (this is my second month)

The company has around 200 employees, provides two related technical services and is a regulated industry. My job title is (service) manager.

I line manage both of the departments that deliver each technical service, as well as handle complex cases. I develop new products. I liaise with the regulator on the company’s behalf to ensure our services and products remain adhere to regulations. I speak to new clients and develop their bespoke technical packages. I also line manage the comms team and despite “just” being a manager I am expected to attend and contribute to senior leader / C-suite meetings.

I am paid £32k, no bonus or commission, basic 20+8 annual leave, Mon-Fri 9-5 in the office. No other benefits…

I’m being taken for a mug here aren’t I?

It’s impossible to say without knowing more specifics, what others are paid, what the company’s turnover is like, what their responsibilities are etc, which I appreciate you can’t give on here for obvious reasons. But it makes it impossible to say. If you were working for a company making billions in profit annually where the next step up was on 100k+ then yeah probably, if it’s a newer company still building up a reputation/profit and the next up is 40k then no.

Didn’t you negotiate a salary before accepting a job?

Seems an impossible thing for anyone to comment on. What is the industry “norm” for these roles?

I think you are.

DS earns £28K 25 days hol plus 8 days Pension etc

Im on lower band of a new job but earn more than you in an Insurance company 12% Pension. Plus benefits no direct reports. Bonus each year

DD just started a job £30K 20% bonus every 6 months guaranteed.

grossly underpaid

I didn’t do any negotiating… like I say I came from the public sector and was maybe a bit naive…

The company makes somewhere in the lower half of the millions in profit annually and I forgot to add that in order to be “just” an officer providing one of the services requires at least a degree. I have a masters in the academic version of the field if that makes sense? I’ve no idea what my line manager earns.

Dont think I can say much more!

When you say line Manage, so both Department heads report into you? And how many people is that in total?

But mainly, yes, sounds a lot like you are. If you can even give a little more sector info it would be easier to say.

Yes, that's an entry level wage these days not upper management.

As others have said, it's hard to know without more information, though this does sound like a low salary for the responsibilities and level of expectation.

Are you able to dig around a bit and find out what others in similar roles are earning in your industry? If you're willing to share more generically what your field is, someone here may be able to offer more specific advice.

There are no department heads… there are:

• the team that deliver service one
• the team that delivers service two
• the comms team.

Im a bit paranoid about giving too much away, but due to the nature of the business these teams are quite small (less than 10 all together) and most of the rest of the staff are all operational.

I directly line manage each member of these teams

you need to find adverts / salaries for comparable jobs elsewhere. then you will have a good case to go to your company and point out that they are underpaying you and your job should be re-graded. especially if you have lots of management responsibility.

this blog has a lot of useful advice for this kind of situation
www.askamanager.org/2023/07/i-just-found-out-im-seriously-underpaid-now-what.html

If I put you in a market I'm familiar with (Software), you're fairly significantly underpaid.

Anything from £10k to £20-30k more from the info I have/experience.

Massively underpaid. A few years ago I was paid that (corporate after public sector) as a ‘co-ordinator’. Direct line manager to nobody, essentially the PM assistant. My job was to chase people and highlight to managers if something wasn’t done - occasionally doing meetings or basic admin. I was often told I was massively underpaid and I should have been on at least 40k.

from the information you have given I would say yes you are underpaid - even coming from public into private. Have you looked at similar roles and their salaries? Line managing 3 departments is a lot for that figure. It’s not much more than a graduate in our sector would get.

You are probably underpaid but pay structures vary hugely between industries.

That seems very low for any management role. It s been a while since I worked in UK but i was earning that as entry level sales late 90s.

What percentage of the staff actually report to you ? It honestly sounds from your description that you are doing a CEO or at least MD role.

Great learning experience that the only thing that limits your remuneration package is the market and your ability to negotiate.

There are two things for you to do here to turn the situation to your advantage. Firstly work out what your ideal package is and what you would be prepared to settle for., Including pension contributions ( yes, you really do need to work out what you have lost in benefits by moving to the private section, starting with your pension provision and risk around that.

Start testing the market by looking for another job, which matches your 'ideal package'. Don't waste people's time, but do get recommendations of an agent or two that you can trust and see what roles might be available. You have a great story to share of the mistake you made and what you are doing about it. And it will show that you will be negotiating your next move very seriously indeed.

Once you have at least one ideally more serious offers with a package you would find attractive and no down sides, decide whether you are going to give the current organisation a chance to put it right. Ask for a meeting, set out what you have done (secured offers) tell them what you want to stay (include some margin so you can afford to negotiate down a bit and still be delighted. Make sure it includes at least one thing that will remind you of how well you have done.

Then see what they come up with. Either way, you will be moving into a better offer and be winning. And have a tale to tell your grandchildren about how to recover from mistakes.

All the best.

Yeah that's really low for this type of work. I'm on £50k FTE and it's an operational role, I report to somebody in a role like yours who's in a pay band of £60-70k.
Private sector pay can vary hugely though, small to medium sized regional companies often pay very little. If you have a decent CV, which it sounds like you do, I'd be looking around for something better.

Sounds like you’re underpaid but wages vary massively between different companies

for example; if you look at my industry on linked in jobs, you’d see my role advertised as anything between £40 and £120k. It’s crazy