New hire will earn more?

[Skyscrapper]

New hire will get paid more than me (it got mentioned by accident at a meeting).

I've been at the company for 14 months and just found out salary negotiations are based on ...negotiations. Not skills, experience or qualifications.

I am the most experienced in the team and work really hard with added responsibilities. Other members of the team (newer than me) are problematic, not well liked at all. Now a new hire coming definitely with less experience and less qualifications...I will be her mentor.

Basically, because she already earns what I do, they'll offer her more. This means the other members of the team could also be on more money.

This came as shock to me because I give my all and they see me as someone they can count on unlike the others.

I don't want to ask for a pay rise as the company is very reluctant to give these, you'd need to beg, it's humiliating. I just feel undervalued and insulted. I just want to leave and become a new hire as well somewhere else and negotiate a better salary.

I'm angry and will quit all added responsibilities (no extra pay) I've been given until I find a new job.

Sorry but so what? Were you happy with your wage before this came out?

Update:

I've arranged a meeting with my line manager this week. Will not mention the new hire salary as advised.
I honestly do have a lot of evidence as to why a pay rise is justified.
Let's see what they say. Plus, I have a Master's degree...all the others only have a bachelor's.

For those stating the new hire is someone they're really keen on looking at leadership, promotion etc- that is not the case at all.

The meeting was actually to discuss the interview candidates as they wanted my opinion as to who's going to join my team. I chose the new hire!! Not because of the experience or qualifications which are not the greatest but because, based on feedback from the interviewers, she sounded genuine, humble and a hardworking person. I value attitude over a great CV.

The only reason why she gets paid more is because she's already earning what I earn (she works for agencies as locum). That's it, that's the way they do it.
They offer more than your previous salary as standard practice.

I was on 47k in my previous job. They offered me 50k and I said yes! Did not negotiate at all, silly me but I was happy. After a year, it has increased just a lil bit.

She's on 50k , they'll offer 53k! This got mentioned by one of the managers in the meeting. I guess he shouldn't have said anything but I'm glad I know.

It's just that they don't have structured pay banding. So I'll be her senior earning less. Absolutely not!!!!

I am now reading a lot about salary negotiations (Thanks to you guys). I need to get savvy, stop being naive

By all means you should ask for reassessment based on your own value to the company. They’re probably not that interested in just ‘being fair’ between colleagues,

I’ve gone PT due to kids so I manage and mentor FT people on quite a bit more than me. Way more expected of me than them even on the part time hours. Nobody covers my non working hours. I feel like I work FT for PT wage. Doesn’t feel great but is very normal situation in public sector. Don’t think it’s a big deal that you should always be on more money than people you support at work though, are you sure you’re on the same working hours?

I had a similar shock about 25 years ago.

If you want to maximise career loyalty you need to change employers every 3/4 years, there's no reward for loyalty.

Employers, like everyone else pay the lowest price they can get for what they need. They don't need to pay you more because you're already there and (they believe) not going anywhere. To attract someone new, they need to make an attractive offer.

That said, within a scale, it should still be equal pay for equal work and if that's not the case, you should certainly challenge it, especially if the new hire is a man.