New direct report earning higher salary

[InAWorkPickle]

Currently navigating some changes at work following a recent restructuring. I’ve taken on additional responsibilities and as well as that, now oversee a department of two people.

However, one of the team members is currently earning significantly more than I am, despite having fewer responsibilities and tbh skills. There are definite issues with productivity etc from the department, which is why I think I’ve been put in there.

Have been told that remuneration will be discussed in a couple of weeks time and I came here because I want to be sure… the salary situation is not right? I can’t be expected to manage someone with less responsibilities and a greater salary?

To me, this seems obvious, but anxiety and imposter syndrome are issues with me and I’d like to get some feedback and discuss here before having the conversations at work.

Your issue isn’t so much the pay differential it is determining which salary is out of line.

Are you underpaid vs equivalent roles in the wider business or is your direct report overpaid vs other similar roles?

If it’s the former it should be relatively easy to resolve. If it’s the latter then you’ll probably struggle.

If for whatever reason a business ends up with one person on an inflated salary they don’t just increase everyone else’s pay thereby making everyone overpaid.

In my experience the most effective way to achieve decent pay rises is to benchmark against wider industry roles. If you can prove that it would cost more to replace you than you are currently paid then your employer will normally look to rectify that.

Yes, and this is going to create huge amounts of work! It’s been made clear that transformation is expected and that requires lots of effort and longer hours. And I do think I should be compensated equally to, if not greater than, the person whose work I’m managing because it’s ineffective. But I want to gauge if I’m justified in that feeling.

So they have said that a benchmarking exercise will be done on their side for this new role I’m taking on. Presumably they’ll share whatever this says in a few weeks.

But I think the problem is equally that I’m underpaid, my role has evolved over time and is not in line with what it should be. And my colleague is also paid approx £30k more than they should be so it’s difficult to know where they will land on this.

Any tips on how to benchmark the role myself would be really appreciated.

Your salary negotiation shouldn’t be about this person - your salary negotiation needs to be about how valuable you are and what you bring to your specific role.

You need to be proactive and do your own research into what you think you should be paid. No decent senior member of staff is going to hand over extra salary to someone who doesn’t even know what they should be paid and why.

I earn more than my line manager (different incremental points although we are on the same grade). I negotiated my initial salary to the top of the grade when I started but I’ve gave access to her salary details on budget reports (part of my job) and she obviously didn’t negotiate.

Always negotiate. I used my previous (different sector) experience as leverage. I’ve been there 2 years now and am about to ask for my role to be regraded because I’ve delivered more than they thought possible but that’s because of my particular expertise.

I don’t have any qualms about my approach to this. It’s what a mediocre man would do without a second thought. Sod that imposter syndrome OP.

This is very common in my private sector , non unionised industry, where salaries are entirely a matter of negotiation.

In your position, I would take the role and get agreement for a renegotiation of your salary. Do a great job and base your argument on your own productivity, results and market value elsewhere.

I would not be impressed with the argument that you feel you should be paid more than one of your direct reports who appears to have negotiated their salary differently to you.

Bear in mind that your strongest position for this negotiation is always when they have decided they want to employ you but you have not yet accepted the role. It is always much more difficult to negotiate when you are already there. They will be looking to pay you the least they can get away with and hope you don’t leave.

it’s not fair, but it is quite simple.

@InAWorkPickleIt’s very difficult to do that. Processional jobs are advertised so look for them. However benchmarking in your own firm is very difficult unless you know salaries, experience required and job descriptions - to name just a few things

If the higher paid colleague is male, and earning more for less responsibility, that contravenes equal pay legislation.

The organisation should evaluate your job against other jobs with equal responsibility, qualifications and experience needed. Identical jobs aren’t necessary. It’s not a personal evaluation and they 100% should have done this before appointing anyone to the job. It’s like paying a deputy head more than the head in a school. No one would accept the heads job!

The employee can be given a protected salary for a period before the salary for the job drops to the accurate level. The job could be made redundant and they start again. Or they can pay you a lot more!

I’d not accept a job to manage someone who is paid more than me. How did they recruit you? Job description and spec? Or a tap on your shoulder? It’s unprofessional in my view and they do need a job structure within the company or they risk contravening legislation.

Thanks for this @Holymolyrigmoroleits definitely not something I’m good at, but you’re so right, a mediocre man would do it without any qualms.

I worked minimum wage jobs, with long long hours for years and years, and have been so grateful for every little bump in salary but I’ve always been underpaid for what I bring tbh. This has been my highest salary to date and I’m really grateful, but I also don’t want to do myself a disservice by not handling this situation in the right way.

I know I need to do my own benchmarking so I’ll start that tomorrow. If you have any tips in that regard, websites/other sources, that would be great.

It shouldn't be right but the private sector (I'm assuming that's where you're based, for example you're not banded like civil servants or NHS) I found was like the wild West of salaries 🤣

I left my job in midwifery for a career break. Moved into private healthcare and asked them to match my salary at the time (28k) on a 20k job. Because I fit the bill and they liked that I had a healthcare qual they accepted my negotiation.

It later transpired I was earning nearly 9k more a year than my team leader, who had 5 of us to manage.

It was completely new to me having always worked in the NHS.

We also weren't allowed to discuss our salaries with each other? I assume for the reasons above? I've since returned to the NHS so never got to the bottom of it.

Your salary negotiation should be about your salary not anyone elses. It should reflect the work you are going, the responsibilites and skills that you have.
If it's not enough, you need to negotiate it.

My team know by now that anyone who comes to me referencing someone else's salary on the team is shut down. It's none of their business. If they want to make a case for why they should get an increase fine, I'm all ears but "I want more because Johnny gets more" isn't a reasonable negotiation tactic or a basis for mature discussion.

If your colleague is underperforming, address it. In the exact same way that you would address an underperforming colleague on a lower salary.

Also, use published salary benchmarks to articulate your case for your salary too. Most sectors will have salary guides online published by recruitment specialists.

Okay thank you for this. It’s an option, if I don’t quite get what I’d like from the negotiations initially, I could ask for a review again in 6 months or so.

I got my employer to do a benchmarking exercise for my role a couple of years ago.

I work in a senior compliance role in a highly regulated sector where salaries have increased quite significantly as global regulations expand.

I did as much research as I could regarding similar roles within the same industry. I spoke with contacts and ex-colleagues who were happy to share salary and reward package details. I also spoke with industry headhunters to get a feel for salaries.

I then wrote a report outlining increase in responsibility in part due to external factors such as regulatory change, and listed some anonymised jobs and reward packages at competitors explaining that these packages would be required if my employer ever needed to replace me.

While it was impossible for my employer to verify all the info, I do know they made some enquiries to gauge whether the numbers I quoted were reasonable.

The outcome was I received a significant enhancement to my reward package worth an additional 50k. Had I not initiated this process I’m pretty sure I’d still be earning 50k less today.

I should also add that timing is very important. This isn’t something you can do every year so make sure when you do decide to kick it off it is at a point when the business is doing well and you are in the corporate good books otherwise you could end up wasting the opportunity.

So there's no harm in asking. I have come across situations like that in the past. One case an individual was on pay protection so that ws why.
In terms of benchmarking your role. Can you find other positions out there that are similar and advertised with salary ranges?

In the short term, my focus would be that 50% of my team is not performing to a satisfactory level.

It won’t reflect well on your pay negotiations if you have not done anything to address this

The equal pay legislation point is interesting, but something I’d be loathed to pursue tbh.
There has been individual meetings with everyone the team, everything is above board in that sense and job spec will be sent by the end of the week.

I just have no words, this is incredible 👏

@InAWorkPickle

Id really encourage you to have a good look at what you could earn elsewhere. This is essentially your backstop and power in the negotiation.

I don’t claim any skill at negotiation but happen to have been lucky a couple of times when I have moved around

Beware that imposter syndrome. Understanding that you allow it to hold you back, keep your expectations in check is the runner’s up prize. Winning means recognising that you are absolutely a catch in the employment market and deserve to be paid well.

good luck.

Well yes, if I do end up asking for another pay review in x months time, I’d hope the dept is performing better but who knows? I do know what needs to be done to improve things, so it’ll have to be a case of get on board or there’ll unfortunately be issues. But that’s a whole other thread!

I’ve actually done a couple of interviews last year prior to these changes, just to keep fresh 😅 and I’m always approached by recruiters, I’m aware I could earn more elsewhere, but I do actually really enjoy what I do and it’s great for this stage of my life for a number of reasons. In a few years I’ll look elsewhere I’m sure, but I would definitely have options if I wanted to leave now, which is nice.

“do I have an argument here to be paid as much/more than my colleague?” Only you can answer this but if your entire argument is basically “I manage him so I should be paid the same/more” then no, you don’t have an argument.

It’s really common in my experience for this to happen, mainly because managing a team does not automatically = more valuable than the members of that team, and I’ve been on both sides of that coin. I was managing a team of people some of which earned more than me a few years ago and completely deservedly so, their contribution both in skills/contacts/knowledge far outweighed the value to the company of managing that team which I did, anyone with management experience could have filled my job, it would have taken a LOT to find someone to replace one of the higher paid team members because they had connections & skills above and beyond that were really valuable. I’m now a direct report earning more than their manager and again, that’s deserved and there is a few on our team that do, we are paid for the value we provide and also to reflect how hard we would be to replace!

I completely understand that, and understand those types of situations are probably common in many industries. Unfortunately that’s not the situation here though, or I would not feel as aggrieved I don’t think. There is no network or expertise that are of any great value to the company. the company is overpaying massively for what is returned.

I've taken on additional responsibilities and as well as that, now oversee a department of two people

Seems to me you have been promoted in all but remuneration, and this has happened during a restructuring exercise. Fairly common. They get people to take on a higher level of responsibility and more work, and forget to pay you any more.

You need to negotiate hard on this.

Wanting to earn more than someone you manage is not valid point for negotiation of salary.

You need a business case and to show you deserve more. If you didn’t know about that person’s salary would you have raised the question about yours? If the answer is no - reflect on that.

From your perspective they don’t have the skills, they don’t deserve their salary etc but the reality is you weren’t the one who negotiated it and do not know why that was given. It may have been because they had high paid job before and wouldn’t take the pay cut. It may have been that their role has changes over time, their motivation has changed etc. it doesn’t matter why they are paid more. What matters is can you negotiate higher salary for yourself without bringing them in the discussion?

You are not managing their salary, you should be managing the person. If their work isn't up to scratch, then put them on a PIP.

Two wrongs don’t make a right so if this person shouldn’t be paid what they are, I would not expect to have pay increased to reflect that. If it’s a reflection of complexity in the area, and you’re expected to step up to get up to speed with it, that’s a completely different conversation.

I have managed two people who earned more than me, one over £30k more. She was an industry expert in her field with decades of experience, I frankly was not 😅 wouldn’t have occurred to me to object to that