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.

Ok, that’s a drip feed. So they’ve told you that you’re only being brought in as this person is underperforming and it’s now impacting the business. As such, then you don’t need to focus on that, or them, as comparable salaries, as I assume they will shortly be terminated and are currently on a pip.

I think this is a great way to go about it and we had similar analsys from colleague - but the information she came back with was faulty - she didn't understand the difference in job titles mapped to responsibilities across the industry - when rogue data was removed, her analysis suggested she was being overpaid - she'd gone in too hard, been too indignant about being underpaid. She stopped the conversation immediately. I was slightly embarrassed for her. Be sure of your facts or at least don't pretend they are "facts". Good luck!

I’m not actually pissed off. I’m assessing how I feel about a situation and how I should approach it to best benefit me. Not everyone immediately knows exactly the right thing to do in every situation, if they did MN wouldn’t exist.

You’re just saying ‘Negotiate’, and yes I will, but if you have tips on how to ‘negotiate’ or benchmark my role that would be appreciated.

This news was imparted on Monday, I’m not at a point of negotiation yet, it’s been less than 48 hours. I’ve started a thread on MN to discuss how I deal with this with impartial strangers. No one is forcing you to engage with this thread.

I earn more than my manager. She has been in the company for about 18 years and so has been getting the annual rises. I joined just 2 years ago and negotiated. She has even moaned to me about it! If she wants to earn more she needs to maybe move companies or negotiate with her boss. Which is what you need to do. If they don’t give you an increase you should look elsewhere

If she’s managing someone with less responsibility who earns £17k more, that’s not just a negotiation issue — it’s a pay equity question.

And if the higher-paid colleague is a man, gender is absolutely relevant under the Equality Act.

Calling it now, he’ll be promoted over you within 12 months.

Confused how you’ve come to that conclusion?

I don’t understand why you’re so focused on this person and their performance and how you’re better, when you’ve been told you’ve been brought it as they are so bad and damaging the business. At worst you’d use it as comparable salaries, and responsibilities, but no one in their right mind would be saying I should be paid the same or more than the person you want rid of.

And I don’t understand how any poster in their right mind could think that my level of negotiating would be to march into HR and simply demand more than this particular colleague. Of course I’m not going to do that, I’ve not made it this far through being unprofessional.

Of course I will complete a benchmarking exercise myself, and prepare a full business case for the level of increase I want. I am purely trying to figure out what I do actually want.

In deciding what level of increase I want to achieve, one aspect that comes into that assessment is comparison to this particular colleague because I’m essentially being asked to fix and oversee their work and be accountable for it going forward, and I think that deserves a salary level of equal to or greater than this colleague who is not performing. It’s just one of the things I am taking into account, not the basis for my entire negotiation.

No i dont see you have an argument.

In my industry it's very common to be managing people who earn more than their manager.

Managers are there to manage performance not salary.

Because the person they were reporting to prior would never have done that, they have never held my colleague to account for their work. This person, along with others, have now left/been made redundant. I would imagine my colleague will be at risk of redundancy if we don’t sort the department out this year.

Not currently on a PIP, but will have to be considered if things don’t change. I am taking the position that we are starting from scratch so hopefully they will get on board and make the changes needed. Even if pip proceeds/redundancy comes up, this will take a long time and a lot of my time to manage.

Sorry you found yourself in that position as well, it really can make you feel undervalued. I am prepared to walk and would secure another role without difficulty. What I want to do is establish exactly how much I feel this role is worth and be confident in asking for it. But I’ll also be confident in handing in my notice if negotiations don’t go how I hope.

I have also found myself in this position with a male colleague. It does feel unfair but it does put you in a very strong position. I raised the issue of my salary not reflecting my comparative seniority in the organisation (without naming any individuals) and it was adjusted appropriately. Any employee who is getting overpaid in this market is at real risk of redundancy.

Deal with the issues objectively and separately - namely, the employee's under-performance and your underpayment. Just ask for your pay to be benchmarked and do not waste time feeling aggrieved unless they refuse.

Your colleague has done you a huge service (although they dont know it) by being open about their salary. Remember, they likely have no idea of the situation or how precarious their position is - so dont make it personal.

Any employee who is getting overpaid in this market is at real risk of redundancy.

Surely that would be illegal. It’s the role that is made redundant, not the employee.

Yes but the role of ‘Senior Associate’ could be made redundant as a restructure has meant some tasks being taken on by other employees and the co now needs an ‘Associate’ or even a ‘Junior Associate’. The Senior Associate could apply for the newly created Associate role but the responsibilities are lower and so is the pay.

Of course - as long as all the “senior associates” are put equally in the redundancy pool.

I’ve been on the other side of this.

Headhunted for a position with a scarce skill set. I was actually over qualified for it, but had highly relevant experience that they were interested in. Knocked the headhunters back a couple of times. They kept upping the salary offer but I said no.

A few months later decided I did want to change jobs due to redundancies at my current employer, which didn’t effect my team but did significantly affect people on other teams I worked a lot with. Contacted a range of recruitment agencies, including the one that had been in touch before.

They said that position was still open would I be interested now. I said not really, but it became clear they wouldn’t show me other things until I least went for a chat with the first company. They upped the money offer again.

So I did that, but declined a formal interview to follow. They upped the money again, said that was their absolute top offer.

I went for the formal interview, got offered it, turned it down. They upped it again. I said I’d consider it for another 5% on top of that. The Head of Depertment and recruitment firm said they couldn’t possibly do that. Ok.

Then the HR department phoned and said they had made a mistake with their budget calculations and they could find the extra money after all.

When I started my line manager made my life hell.

After a few months I went for a coffee with someone in an adjacent team I’d become friendly with, who had noticed how hostile my line manager was being. A few other people had noticed.

She said she thought my line manager was being hostile due to my level of experience, people were surprised I had taken the job. The people who had noticed thought she was threatened by me, especially as it was common knowledge in the office that she was trying to have a baby, so they thought she was worried she would go on maternity leave and come back and find I was managing her, not the other way round.

So I explained that the salary offer combined with less responsibility made it seem worth it. We spoke a bit about salary ranges and it turned out I was being paid significantly more.

Anyway, I resigned quickly after that. It was obvious the were also kind of looking for someone to step up in her absence and cover the work of two, plus she really was an absolute bitch to me on a daily basis.

What difference does what he's paid make to you? If he's underperforming then you need to tackle it, because you're the manager. That would be the same task and requirement whatever he's paid. If you think that you've been given a particularly difficult situation to manage that would seem relevant as part of your own negotiations, but his pay isn't part of that.

@InAWorkPickle if I were you I would get ready to discuss your pay and the work you do and can do in the new role:
I joined the co in 2022 as a Mgmt Accountant on £50k. In the last 4 years I have reduced costs by Y and taken on the additional responsibility of Z. But I only received a small pay rise of A% over those 4 years.

I have considered leaving. In fact I was offered two roles in the last 12 months. Role A was as a Senior X and paid £60k and Role B was as a Y and paid £65k. Ultimately I decided neither role was quite right for me but they do provide a benchmark of my earning potential.

The new increased role you are asking me to do will include taking on extra mgmt responsibilities and overseeing a team which is currently underperforming. The cost per year of this team is £Xk pa which is relatively high for the results they are achieving and we need to consider ways of making the team more efficient and effective so they can contribute more to the success of the business. Fortunately as I already work here and am familiar with the department I already have some ideas and creating a high performing team is likely to involve large scale process changes and possibly even staff changes and won’t be easy to balance alongside my existing responsibilities.

In return for fully committing to this new role which is an expansion of my current role I would like a salary of £70k. This is more than Role B which I was offered last year but the role you are asking me to do involves transforming the team and increased management responsibilities plus, as a current employee I can hit the ground running. If you have to hire someone externally they would likely need a settling in period before starting the transformation.