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5 Signs You're Underpaid (18.8.16)

So you have a nagging feeling you're underpaid.

Maybe you overheard some gossip in the staff room about how much one of your colleagues is earning. Or perhaps you’ve just never been good at negotiating and you're pretty sure you've been shortchanging yourself.

Here are some rock solid signs your fears could be well-founded. The presence of any one of these warrants some further research into how your salary compares to market rates:

1. You started out on a low salary

A low starting salary – whether in your first job ever, or just in your first role at your current company – can follow you around like a bad smell for years. As you progress through your career, that low salary becomes your starting point for each subsequent pay negotiation, making it difficult for you to catch up without a concerted effort.

2. You’ve been at one company forever

Once you join a company, any annual raises you receive will most likely be a percentage of your salary. Often there will be quite rigid limits to what percentage your manager can offer you. In New Zealand, it’s common practice to give an increase that’s equivalent to inflation, with maybe an extra percentage or two thrown in for high performers.

This means that if you’ve been significantly adding to your skill set and responsibilities, but you’ve only been receiving 1-5% annual pay rises, there’s a good chance your pay has fallen behind the market.

3. You’re a woman in a senior position

While the overall gender pay gap is significant in New Zealand, with women earning on average just 86c for every dollar men earn, much of that gap can be accounted for by the fact that women are under-represented in more senior roles. For lower- and intermediate-level roles, there’s often no gap at all, or a fairly small one.

For example, data from the peer-to-peer salary comparison tool What’s My Worth show that across New Zealand, female full-time Financial Accountants earn on average only 2% less than their male counterparts. But by the time they reach Finance Manager level, women working the same number of hours are earning on average 9% less than men – or $9,354 per annum.

4. You took a step backwards or sideways at some point

If you’ve ever made a career decision that meant you had to compromise on salary (for example you changed industries, negotiated flexible hours, or moved countries), there’s a strong chance your salary is still below market rates – even if your circumstances have now changed.

5. Your company has a high staff turnover

There are many possible reasons for a high staff turnover, but if it’s not immediately obvious to you why people are leaving in droves (i.e. the culture and management are fine), then there’s a good chance it’s happening because they’re underpaid compared to the market and they’re being lured away by bigger pay packets.

If you’ve ticked any of these boxes, it doesn’t mean for certain you’re underpaid. The only sure way to find out for sure is to do a little research. If you’re in accounting and finance, hop on over to whatsmyworth.co.nz and enter your details. You’ll be given a detailed breakdown of how your salary and benefits compare to your peers.

And if you do find you’re underpaid? The only person who can fix that is you.

Asking For A Pay Rise? Avoid These 5 Blunders (9.3.16)

You’ve done your research and discovered you’re underpaid.

What now? If you’re waiting for your boss to spontaneously address this oversight, you may as well pull up a chair and get comfy.

The reality is, the only person who really cares about your pay, is you. If you want more money, you’re going to have to put on your big boy/girl undies and ask for it.

Don’t worry though, it’s not as scary as all that.

You don’t need any fancy Jedi mind tricks. And you don’t need to go in, guns blazing, looking to pick a fight.

You do need to be positive and objective, and take into account your boss’s perspective.

In a nutshell, this is how the conversation should go (maybe with less exclamation points, depending on where your boss sits on the fun-o-meter):

“I love this company and I love my job! See all the great work I’ve been doing! Let me show you how it’s improved the company’s bottom line. But – alas! – I’ve discovered I’m being underpaid compared to the market. I’ve done some research and here are the facts. How can we fix this? Thank you for my pay rise! I’m really excited to keep doing great work for you!”

Honestly, it’s that simple.

But, as with all seemingly-simple things, there are ways this conversation could go wrong.

Here are 5 things NOT to do when negotiating your pay rise:

1. Ask at the wrong time

The company’s just announced budget cuts. You’ve ballsed up a project. Your boss has a tonne on their plate and is in really a foul mood. These are times it would just be plain silly to ask for a raise. Timing is everything!

Note though, if the timing never seems right, and you know you’re well overdue a raise, you’re going to have to bring it up at some point. If you put forward a really strong case, and the answer is still no, ask your boss what you need to do to earn a pay rise. If they can’t give you a clear answer, then it’s probably time to look elsewhere.

2. Neglect to do your research

Ultimately, the only thing that should influence your salary level is how much your boss would have to pay if they were to go out tomorrow and recruit someone with the same skills and experience as you.

You can’t just spitball this. If you don’t have solid, objective research to show exactly how much you’re worth in the labour market, forget about it.

3. Be too scared to blow your own trumpet

You’ve added a lot of value to the company since your last pay rise (or else you wouldn’t even be having this discussion, right?!).

Maybe you’ve developed some new skills that are helping the company grow, pulled off some important projects that have resulted in cost savings, or mentored new staff to help them achieve more for the company.

Don’t expect that your boss already knows all this. If you’re a high performer, they probably won’t be across everything you’re doing – it’s your job to point it out. Bring concrete evidence of your achievements to your meeting and be prepared to paint them a picture.

4. Make it personal

Your salary has nothing to do with what’s going on your personal life, and everything to do with what you’re worth in the market (see Point #2). Imagine if your dentist asked you to pay her 20% more for your filling because she just bought a new house and needs more for the mortgage repayments! That’s just not how the world works.

Leave discussions about your plans to start a family or upgrade your car out of it, and focus on the value you bring to the company.

5. Threaten to leave

No-one likes to feel like they’ve got a gun to their head. A good boss doesn’t need the threat of your resignation to pay you more – they’ll do everything in their power to get you a pay rise so long as you make a rock solid case for it.

On the flip side, a bad bass will only pay you more if you they know they’re about to lose you. If they can keep you without having to pay more, they will. And nobody wants to work for a boss like that anyway (more on this on the blog next week).

As with anything worth shooting for, preparation is everything! Do your research, prepare what you're going to say, pick the right time and go for it. Good luck!

Author: Angela Cameron, MD of Consult Recruitment

The first official What's My Worth infographic! (17.9.14)

New online salary comparison tool, What's My Worth? profiled on The Global Recruiter website (04.08.14)