Story time.
I don’t want to bore you with the ins and outs of title discussion. I understand that, as an employer, one may want to discourage employees from discussing salaries to avoid jealousy and uncomfortable conversations.
I’ve seen some of this in action with bonuses. I have a friend, who I love dearly, that I used to work with closely. There was a point in her life where she was undergoing some big life changes, some good, some bad. Unfortunately, her performance suffered greatly, and I, as her team lead at the time, was put in a weird spot because she just wasn’t pulling her weight. Think DMing people all day on Instagram when we had project cost reports due to our government customers.
That Christmas, employees were given gift card bonuses. Our boss discouraged some of us (with higher bonuses) from discussing with other employees because not everyone got the same amount. Granted, gift cards may not be the traditional bonus, but bonuses are often merit-based, so it didn’t seem like too much to ask to keep it to ourselves because amounts would vary based on performance. Naturally, though, my friend went and asked another colleague how much she’d gotten, which was far more than my friend received.
There was a big stink about it, but it was awkward listening to my friend rant about it because I had seen first hand how much she really hadn’t been contributing. Our boss sat in the office with us and apparently noticed. There were some days that I ended up having to finish work for her because she just wasn’t getting it done, and it was effecting the whole team.
So, I get it from that perspective. Sometimes, it avoids the awkward conversation where an employer basically has to spell out that the employee didn’t perform to expectations or in line with their peers.
That’s not even my story. I just wanted to let it be known that I’ve seen it in action for better or for worse.
Here’s why I think it’s important to discuss salary with colleagues you trust. Interestingly, it involves the same company as the above anecdote.
Back in 2016, I’d been at a job for almost 3 years and had been promoted to the aforementioned team lead position. I was working a lot of 12 hour days because the workload was insane (I do not recommend setting that precedent, for the record). I, for the most part, had a solid team where we all got along well. A few teammates and I got on the topic of my salary one day.
Most of my teammates had a bachelor’s degree. I do not. My employer had brought that up during a previous review where I’d requested a raise, so naïve me didn’t question that and assumed I was making a salary comparable to my colleagues. Wrong.
At the time, I was making $50,000. Now, if I hadn’t been in a team lead role, I wouldn’t have thought much else about that. But three of my teammates (with degrees, who I trained and managed) were talking with me one particularly stressful afternoon. One of them asked me what I made, and all three of their jaws dropped when I told them.
It turns out that I was making $25,000 LESS THAN THEM AS THEIR TEAM LEAD. They were horrified, as was I. I asked if maybe it had to do with my lack of a bachelor’s degree, which they all scoffed at, saying that it shouldn’t make a difference. If it was that important, the company would have promoted someone with a degree instead of me.
And you know what? My coworkers were right. They were hard workers, but they weren’t working 12 hour days. They weren’t training teammates. They weren’t acting as the face of the team and getting the hard questions from leadership.
I went to my boss and asked for a mid-year review, not letting on that I knew about my teammates’ salaries. They granted it, which was peppered with praise and a song and dance about the big raise they would be giving me…… More on that in a minute.
Around this time, I’d also become burned out and ready for a change. Two of my teammates (that had been in on the salary conversation) told me about an opening at their previous organization. It sounded great, and they followed my resume submission up with emails to the right people, letting them know I was a good bet. I interviewed with the New Company, it went really well, and when they asked what I wanted for salary, I said $75,000. THEY IMMEDIATELY AGREED. No questions, no low-balling. I nearly laughed right there because I couldn’t believe it.
Back to my mid-year review with the Old Company, a few days after this interview. At this point, I just waiting for an official offer letter.
At my review, my supervisor and the company VP sang my praises and made a big fuss about my upcoming raise. That raise was for $60,000. Still $15,000 under my colleagues’ salaries and the salary I’d agreed upon with New Company. It was difficult to act gracious when I felt like they were taking advantage of me, my time, my experience, and my knowledge.
I said my thank-yous, and within the next day or two, New Company came in with my offer letter. My boss was a little shocked when I came to her office with it. Truthfully, at that point, it was time to go for reasons beyond the financials, but when they countered New Company’s $75,000 offer with $78,000, it felt like more of a slap in the face than anything.
Basically, they could have been paying me $78,000 this entire time to do my job. But instead, it was $50,000…. $60,000 after a full production of persuasive writing and briefing on my part of what value I’d added to the program.
I left. New Company turned out to be the best I’ve ever worked with. I always felt valued and paid fairly. When my customers raved about my performance, New Company would give me bonuses and raises. They were flexible with me teleworking when my mother became terminally ill (long before it was the norm). Another opportunity came up a few years later, but it was honestly hard to leave.
What would it have been like if I’d stayed with Old Company? How much money would I have lost out on if my colleagues hadn’t told me what they were making? If we’re looking at it from an investment perspective, it could have been hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run. Not to mention, I’d have no hair left.
Team Let’s Talk Salary, over and out.
-K