Advice: Manager earning less than new (transferred) Employee ??

Emmzi

but he isn't taking on more responsibility; his job tomorrow is essentially the same as it is today.

I'd view it as
a) yay, experienced person, he'll be an asset
b) I'm seen as having higher skills and more career prospects than him
c) legally they can't cut his pay, so I will live with it. It's not as good as me getting a raise, but I could be the poor sod who just got demoted

top tip: have an honest conversation with the guy abouthis ability, don't through your weight around, see if he actually wants a hand to leave or if he is ok. some strategic cv and career coaching may be what he needs to move on.

SandC

Im amazed that everyone replying would apparently be happy to be earning less than someone who reports to them. Is it really that common?

I can only advise that you arrange 1-2-1 with your boss and discuss the situation with him.

Obviously as difficult as this is, it is not the fault of the employee concerned and a situation like this could be seen as good leverage for your to gain a rise where you wouldn't have been able to negotiate one before. I would try to look at it like that.

Beast

It's very common and not worth making a big deal out of. We have teams where the very experienced individual contributors earn £30,000 - £40,000 more a year than their manager.

Voyager2002

It seems only fair that the people who actually produce should be paid more than those who merely manage.

bristol_pilot

I have managed people who earn more than me throughout the past 15 years of my career. I currently have 4 people reporting to me who earn considerably more than I do. They are on the technical/specialist scale (near the top of it), I am on the managerial scale (somewhat less than near the top of it). Their contribution to the organisation outweighs mine, so they get paid more. They have some of them 40+ years experience and were working when I was in infant school. As a manager, this is a total non-issue to me.

terra_ferma

Voyager2002 wrote: »

It seems only fair that the people who actually produce should be paid more than those who merely manage.

Who would want the hassle and responsibility of being a manager then?

SueC_2

I've not really got much to say that hasn't already be said, but yes, this kind of situation is very common. I've worked in organisations where my team was made up of numerous employees who had TUPE'd in from a variety of other organisations, as well as some who had been recruited by the current organisation.

As a result there were employees of the same grade not only on VASTLY differing salaries, but with hugely different holiday entitlements, sick pay schemes, pension agreements and just about every other benefit.

There were also more junior members of the team earning considerably more than more senior members of the team.

At times it was a hard situation to manage (endless streams of employees complaining "he earns more than me..."), and no, it certainly wasn't 'fair'.

But when did anyone ever say life was going to be fair?

As has been said many many times before, unless the reason for the salary differential is discriminatory (as legally defined) you do not have a claim.

You can either accept it, negotiate a salary increase (but trust me, beginning it by saying "he/she earns more than me..." is unlikely to get you very far), or move on to another job where the problem doesn't exist.

Hammyman

SandC wrote: »

Im amazed that everyone replying would apparently be happy to be earning less than someone who reports to them. Is it really that common?

It is in transport. In most haulage companies, the drivers earn more than the managers. Then again, the drivers are doing 60+hr weeks.

There are also many technical companies where the technicians earn more than the managers because the managers manage and aren't technicians.

I know many businesses where the owner earns less than the staff.