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  • Only 34% of Americans are satisfied with how much they're paid at work.

  • I wish there was like an exact guide of what you should be paid and what everyone else should be paid.

  • There's just not anything like that out there.

  • I was accepting crumbs because I thought it was a really huge deal that I was working for this major news organization.

  • $20,000 was the most I've ever made in my life.

  • So I thought it was what you're supposed to be earning at that stage in my career.

  • What I have learned from that experience is close mouths don't get fed and always keep yourself educated.

  • Most of the time, the people who are paid more, it's just because they asked for it.

  • To get a salary adjustment can be really, really difficult to do.

  • There are some employers who really want you to shake them down in the sense that they will match an offer if you get it from someplace else.

  • It's a bad practice, but it is pretty common.

  • Sometimes it's easier to just jump ship.

  • Here's how to figure out if you're being underpaid and what you can do about it.

  • In 2016, I worked for a major news organization in ad sales as an account executive.

  • I was an immigrant. I was here on DACA, so I was very appreciative of such an amazing opportunity.

  • I was making $40,000 a year.

  • I really thought that that was, you know, a lot of money at the time until I had like a casual conversation with my co-worker who was actually complaining about making about $102,000 a year.

  • It never occurred to me until that conversation that I just, you know, I was severely underpaid.

  • Around one in 20 workers in the U.S. said they would quit if they found out their co-workers earned more money than them.

  • And 63 percent said they would demand equal pay.

  • You can certainly ask other people doing similar jobs in your own organization how much they're being paid.

  • The question, though, is figuring out whether the people you're talking to are really doing the same job that you're doing in all ways that matter.

  • I was a really great account executive.

  • I always hit or exceeded my quota quarter after quarter.

  • At times, I can argue that I was actually doing a lot better than my counterpart that was earning significantly more than I was.

  • I think the only difference between her and I is that she was a lot better at the political side of it, of things.

  • 60 percent of U.S. workers say they didn't negotiate for more money when they were last hired.

  • The difference between someone who gets $55,000 and $60,000 a lot of times is just because person number two just asked for $60,000.

  • It's not because they're better at their job.

  • It's not because they're more experienced.

  • It is simply because they just asked for it.

  • Given the fact that I was an immigrant at the time on DACA, I was always thankful for just any opportunity that came my way.

  • It was I was accepting crumbs.

  • That experience has kind of pushed me to not accept crumbs and to always push and go after more in my life.

  • A discrepancy in pay between two comparable employees may be due to market conditions.

  • There's this issue that's called compression, and compression means that people are being paid differently on otherwise identical jobs because on what the job market happened to be like when they were hired.

  • The big place we see this most commonly is people who've been hired a couple of years ago and then somebody new comes in and gets paid more than they are because the job market has tightened.

  • Their skills are scarce now and they're paid more than you are.

  • My initial reaction, I kept it calm and, you know, I didn't want to allude to her that I made such such little money compared to her.

  • I kind of went back to the drawing board.

  • I thought to myself, OK, clearly I'm underpaid.

  • What am I going to do about it?

  • When you realize that you're underpaid, that is your green light to go do research.

  • The term underpaid shouldn't be used to compare you to a colleague.

  • It should be compared to you and the market.

  • There's always going to be a range in the market.

  • It's possible that an objective person might say you're wrong, that these pay differences are not really that different or there's justifications for them.

  • Compensation has a lot of different pieces to it.

  • It's not just like a simple formula that's like years of experience equals this amount of money.

  • Education equals this amount of money and location equals this amount of money.

  • In addition to speaking to people in your industry, you can do research online.

  • One way is through referencing salary ranges listed on similar job descriptions.

  • There are states and cities that have transparency laws on pay that require the employer to report or make available what they're paying.

  • But the caveat to that is that what they end up reporting are typically salary ranges for a job.

  • When you see a range, and I think I see this with my clients and I see this with candidates, they automatically think, well, I deserve the high end.

  • Like that's just natural.

  • But that's where the disconnect becomes between the candidate wanting the high end and the company knowing, well, that range is not actually true.

  • I would say that when recruiters and hiring managers and companies are putting those numbers up, it's always with the expectation you're probably going to fall somewhere in the middle.

  • Usually the range that they put is the minimum and what's likely the highest that they are willing to pay for that position.

  • Even with sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Blind, Levels.FYI, Salary.com, Builtin, and I use all of these as data points for compensation.

  • But the best way to find that data is really by tracking the jobs that you're applying to and looking at those salary ranges, right?

  • Especially if it's in your location, because location is such a big data point when it comes to compensation.

  • And sometimes I'll have people who will look at positions that for the states that are required to post salaries, like New York and California, which are really, really high cost of living areas.

  • And they'll be like, OK, well, this customer success position is paying $170,000.

  • Yeah, it's paying $170,000 for a unicorn company in California.

  • But you live in Tempe, Arizona, which is probably not going to pay the same amount.

  • At the end of the day, companies are teams and they're going to pick the best players for the best value.

  • I decide to continue on as if nothing ever happened, as if I haven't heard anything and do some market research just to understand how much it is that I am worth, given my experience, what experience that I've had in the past that's transferable, and then take that research with me on to finding a brand new job.

  • One option, if you suspect you're being underpaid, is to request a salary adjustment from your employer.

  • But career experts say you should go into the conversation prepared.

  • You should never bring up another co-worker's name in that conversation.

  • You shouldn't say, I had a conversation with Henry.

  • I know we have the same experience and the same skills.

  • I realize that he gets paid 20% more than me.

  • I want the same salary as him.

  • So when you go for that salary adjustment, you want to bring in other data points.

  • And those data points need to be the impact that you brought to the company.

  • Because at the end of the day, they could just find somebody else who's cheaper to do your job as well.

  • I think what you want to avoid is escalating this to threats, which is easy to do.

  • So once you start saying, this is not fair, other people elsewhere are making more than I am, hint, hint, hint.

  • You know, they're thinking, OK, she's threatening to leave.

  • Your employer might very well say things like, you know, there are other people who would love to have a job like this.

  • Then they're also suggesting that you could end this relationship.

  • And that is really dangerous territory to go into.

  • So I would avoid that almost at all costs.

  • But often your boss doesn't want to let you go.

  • But the people at the top were trying to hold the line on pay, just say, I'm sorry, we can't do it.

  • Good luck.

  • Another option is to try to negotiate other benefits the company provides, such as 401k match, stock options, commuting benefits or paid time off.

  • If your employer is unreceptive to a salary adjustment, you can always consider leaving.

  • But career coaches say you should be careful how you go about it.

  • I knew almost immediately that I wasn't going to go back to, you know, one of my leaders and have a conversation about it because I didn't personally feel like it was going to be a productive conversation.

  • So I decided to just quietly look for other opportunities.

  • One of the things you have to ask yourself is, is there anything that would make me stay here?

  • Will I ever get paid what I'm worth?

  • And if the margins of you getting paid versus what market value is, is too crazy high, that is when you should look at other options out there.

  • It might be changing to a competitor.

  • If you want to make a complete pivot and you're like, you know what, this role that I'm currently in, it's always underpaid.

  • The market value for it is not what I want.

  • Then you need to look at other roles that have a range that's higher, that's better fit for you.

  • I ended up finding another opportunity, which happened to be way better.

  • It was remote, a lot more healthier environment.

  • I used that offer to put in my two weeks and I never looked back since.

  • That gave me the confidence and the guts to kind of land my first six figure offer.

  • Ultimately, in the end, I'm now an assistant VP.

  • Without that experience, I probably wouldn't have been able to get here today.

  • In certain circumstances, underpayment could be a sign of discrimination.

  • Workplace discrimination laws vary by state.

  • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, enforces laws that protect workers from unfair treatment, harassment, retaliation and other potential violations.

  • It's the small little things you've got to look out for.

  • If you constantly feel the microaggressions during your day to day job, it's probably affecting your pay as well.

  • I have been discriminated in my career.

  • I don't think it was necessarily at this organization because I have witnessed them kind of treat everyone equally toxic.

  • You would be surprised at how little evidence you need to start a case like this.

  • And so if you ever feel that, reach out to an employment lawyer in your state.

  • Many lawyers take cases on contingency and will be paid a percentage of any money that results from a judgment.

  • While documentation will assist in moving the legal process forward, cases can take years to work their way through the court system.

  • I definitely would say to anyone else that's listening out there, do your research.

  • Don't be afraid to have those tough conversations.

  • Negotiate. Ask those questions and don't just accept any old crummy offer.

Only 34% of Americans are satisfied with how much they're paid at work.

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