Advice Needed - New starter salary considerably more than other staff

ckerrd

Bobl wrote: »

It is pretty well known that to get a decent pay rise you need to move to a new job; even in these challenged times.

You need to gather evidence to prove that you are worth the extra, not compare yourself or others with the new person, all employees are different.

And I personally do not advocate joining a union, all that does is guarantee that everyone will earn a pittance. Look after yourself and be happy if you are paid what you are worth, not what other people earn.

Have you got a link to back up that ridiculous statement?

Uncertain

I am normally very sympathetic to employees asking for advice on this forum but not this time.

All that is relevant to you is what YOU are paid for the job that you do.

It may be that your employers feel this person has more potential than you and are willing to pay more to secure her services. That may or may not be fair but it is their right.

For reasons I won't go into I was once in the position of your new colleague and was given an assurance of confidentiality. However, some busy body secretary found out, didn't like it and "accidentally" left the papers on her desk. The bottom line cost the company quite a lot of money, did my health no good at all and cost the secretary her job!

smartpicture

I actually have a lot of sympathy, you must be raging! It's never nice to feel under-valued, but sadly that is the way of the world - if you want a higher salary then you need to be prepared to move companies a few times to get it.

As a group, I don't think you have any extra power, unless you're all willing to down tools or go on a go slow or something, but that's a very risky path and you would need 100% committment from everybody involved. And no matter what action you took, it's unlikely the business will be able to afford to suddenly increase everyone's salary by several thousand pounds, willing or not.

I would also be very careful about telling the boss who circulated this information, as it could be regarded as a disciplinary issue.

Any

rachelj121 wrote: »

We really are not being ungrateful - most of the team are being paid considerably lower for the exactly the same job but are stuggling families so for that reason why should we just carry on as normal, continuing to be told there is nothing in the pot...

I think this has got out of hand, maybe it was not explained well enough, I don't know. Maybe its the fact that you can't get a feeling for tone of voice, expression etc in written text. I was merely trying to establish if as a group this was something we were able to discuss with our HR Dept and if anyone had a similar experiance.

No, you don't have to carry on as normal. Noone has to.
You can just go and look for another job & if you get offered more money tell your employer that either they will match it or you are out.
Or just go and ask for more.

If you do EXACTLY the same job as her and have EXACTLY the same experience and worth in their eyes, they WILL give you the same money.

If they don't they don't appreciate you the same way they do her. If you still believe you are worth it, then go and look for another job.

I don't pay for goods more then the marked price just because other shop does sell it for more and I believe it is worth the cost - however if it's sold out at the cheaper shop I will then go and buy it for more.

What I am trying to say - You don't ask, you don't get!!

euronorris

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for this to happen. However, they would not have offered her such a salary if they did not believe that she deserves it.

It is not just about length of service and experience. She may also have qualifications, relevant to the job, that you and your colleagues do not have. As others have also said, she may be taking on more responsibility than has been announced so far.

When I was leaving the UK firm, they brought in a new girl to replace me. I know her starting salary was higher than mine, despite her lack of experience, but I also know why. Rightly or wrongly, the firm I work for places a lot of importance on qualifications, degrees in particular. She had one and I didn't. But, I was in a different position to you as I was leaving the company anyway and my salary here (along with the benefits) is considerably higher than the UK (although I am taxed slightly more).

It is also worth noting that, if you a good enough employee, just the threat of leaving can lead to an offer of a higher salary. The UK firm offered me an increase when I handed my notice in. But again, my situation was different. The money was not the problem, I was leaving the country. But, please, please, please do not try this unless you have a genuine job offer elsewhere. Otherwise, it could severly backfire on you!

You don't know and you won't find out by trying to 'get a feel for her'. I understand why you would want to, but I don't think it would be a good idea. Whether you intend to upset her or not, it is likely that she will notice you all paying attention to her and her work inparticular, and she will then feel unwelcome.

If you each believe that you are entitled to a higher salary and/or promotion, then I would recommend that you speak to your relevant line manager about putting some objectives in place that would lead to said payrise/promotion in X amount of time.

INT1

I think you and your friends should in that case ask for a salary review and benchmark what other companies are paying for similarly advertised jobs.

Badger_Lady

I found this out afterwards but it's a true tale.

Couple of jobs ago, I started at a new company working in a team of six employees. Just before I started, the other four who were doing the same job found out that I'd been offered a much higher wage (how they found out, I've no idea).

They discussed it between themselves and approached the boss en masse, expressing how upset they were. All of those employees were then awarded payrises to match mine.

Happy team

pimento

I'm just glad I work for a government (not the British). We all know what we earn and there's none of this 'it's none of your business' malarky.

If everyone's salary was kept a secret, women would still be earning less for doing the same job as a man.

Bobl

ckerrd wrote: »

Have you got a link to back up that ridiculous statement?

I don't need a link, I have negotiated with Unions over pay, and it always resulted in those whose pay was negotiated collectively getting less than I would offer to individuals who perform well. Not everyone in a group deserves the same pay rise/salary, that's why individual bargaining works for me every time.

ckerrd

Bobl wrote: »

I don't need a link, I have negotiated with Unions over pay, and it always resulted in those whose pay was negotiated collectively getting less than I would offer to individuals who perform well. Not everyone in a group deserves the same pay rise/salary, that's why individual bargaining works for me every time.

So all the people who negotiate collectively get a pittance do they?
Which is what you said - I was hoping that you could back that up but it appears not.