What to Do If You Find Out That a Coworker Earns More Than You

Posted on August 28, 2015 by resourcefulman

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. You just learned that your coworker earns more than you, even if both of you do the same job, you are there longer and do your job better. You feel demoralized, offended by your not-so-good employer friend, and offended by your coworker. Before you protest, here’s how to handle the situation professionally.

While it sucks to know that you don’t make as much as your colleague (s), the good thing about this new knowledge is that you can use it to make positive changes, are you improving your skills, are you motivated to ask for raise wages, or find a better job. Keep calm and follow these steps.

Step one: assess the situation and don’t be discouraged

Your gut reaction may be to complain about the situation to your manager or co-workers, but take a step back to think it over carefully. As frustrating as it may be, there may be fair reasons why your coworker is earning more than you. Perhaps the market value or demand for the job has increased since you were hired, so the company had to offer more to new job seekers. Psychologist Art Markman writes in Forbes :

[It is] actually quite common when people are hired after you can end up making more money. While there is always the possibility that it is gender related, it can also reflect market forces. Right now, for example, the economy is doing well, so there is a lot of competition for new talent. As a result, companies may need to offer high starting salaries to attract new employees. If you were hired in a weaker job market, then perhaps you got a lower offer because that was what the market supported. I often see this in universities, where faculty members who have worked at the university for many years can earn about the same (and sometimes even less) than newcomers, simply because the market has become competitive.

I raise this possible explanation because when you find that you are paid less than others doing similar work, it is natural to assume that wage inequality is the result of more nefarious forces. The problem with this assumption is that if your company ends up agreeing to raise your paycheck, you might still leave with bad feelings.

So, before drawing conclusions, assess the situation. If you don’t agree well ( or don’t agree at all ) about your salary, and your coworker did, that may also explain the difference in salary (although it may seem dishonest). Perhaps your coworker has more job responsibilities or additional qualifications, such as more modern skills (which is often the case in the IT world).

Once you find the most likely cause of the pay gap, you can take action to correct it. For example, you can take classes to improve your skill set, or ask for extra responsibility so that you are on an equal footing with your coworker or new hires.

What if there seems to be no good reason why your coworker is earning more? As in other situations where you feel you should be making more money, be prepared to negotiate a raise. We’ll talk about discrimination and pay inequality – another possible cause of wage differentials – in the final section below.

Step two: figure out how much you should be making and ask for a raise

Apart from a colleague’s salary, you should know that you value yourself as an employee. This is an important step when you feel like you’re underpaid (and overworked) , so you can arm yourself with data to help you get a promotion – or decide whether or not to look for another job. Several payroll search sites can help you find the fair market value of your job based on your location, experience and education level, such as Salary.com , Glassdoor.com, and PayScale . Another resource is GetRaised , a free service that can tell you if you are likely underpaid (based on the current rate for your job, not your colleague’s salary!) And helps you script a raise request (even if you’re afraid do it, which should n’t be ).

Once you know how much you can or should earn, ask for a raise , but don’t use a colleague’s salary as the reason you deserve it . Focus on your work, not on comparisons between you and others.

Even though companies are unlawfully taking revenge on employees for discussing wages with each other, Markman says it is “okay to point out that you know what others in the company are doing” when you ask for a raise and mention the salaries of others, as some Lifehacker commentators point out, can still be annoying to management. If you work for a company where wage sharing is taboo, it may not help your case. Approach your request for a raise as you would in other situations when you feel you deserve more.

Here are some more tips to help you when requesting a boost:

If you’re getting a pay raise and the compensation seems fair – great! Mission Complete. If not, read on.

Step three: consider looking for a new job or taking legal action (if necessary)

If you were denied a rate hike, you can still make the situation seem fairer to you. Consider asking for other benefits , such as flexible hours or working from home ( equivalent to a $ 40,000 salary ). You can also ask your boss what you can do to increase your salary and ask for a performance review in a few months.

However, if you feel you deserve or need a promotion, you should be prepared to leave if it doesn’t . But base your decision on what the job is worth to you, not what your colleague gets.

That said, it says it all: Sometimes salary disclosures can reveal pay inequality, as was the case when former Google engineer Erica Baker and his colleagues shared a spreadsheet of their salaries . Gender pay gaps are real , especially in some occupations , as well as discrimination based on age, disability, race, religion, and other factors that have nothing to do with your right to equal pay.

If you believe you have been a victim of discrimination, Consumer Reports recommends filing a complaint with the Equal Employee Opportunity Commission , noting that:

Lilly Ledbetter’s Fair Pay Act of 2009 removes the statute of limitations on complaints of discrimination every time new salaries are paid and allows employees to challenge pay discrimination that is compounded over time by increases, pensions and other contributions.

It may seem unlikely, but people are winning lawsuits against companies for violating the Equal Pay Act, although this type of lawsuit is not very common . It doesn’t help that most companies have a no-share policy when it comes to wages.

Arguments in favor of open salaries

Perhaps transparent salaries are the solution to the wage gap problem for both employers and employees. When Buffer made public the salaries of its employees , revealing how much each employee earns according to the formula “Salary = type of work X seniority X experience + location (+ $ 10K on salary selection)”, it attracted a lot of attention and many new job seekers. … Often companies say they don’t want employees to share their salaries due to privacy concerns, or they want to avoid employee misunderstandings, but when the salaries are not secret and the formulas behind them are clear, it’s easier trust the company and work with your team . Transparent wages also make us more satisfied with our jobs .

However, there are clear reasons why employers want to keep wages secret — clear reasons that do them more benefit than we do. It’s hard when knowing the secrets of wages can make you feel undervalued, but until your company adopts open wage policies, it’s best to always seek wages that you know are fair for the job you do – or walk or sound the alarm if it’s a matter of fairness.

Illustration remixed from Creatarka originals (Shutterstock).