being paid less than colleagues in the same job

tomcorby1

hello thanks for reading.

I have been with my current employer for 4 years. I work as part of a group of 4 senior managers at a University who do the same job but I've just discovered that I am paid several thousands of pounds less than at least 2 of my colleagues and perhaps all 3 of them.

I am a protected characteristic, and am significantly more experienced with a better track record than all of them. 
I'm quite dismayed and would like to approach HR to confirm this situation and put in train a process of pay parity and some kind of compensation.

Any advice gratefully received.

Maddy.

[Deleted User]

It's not unusual for there to be pay differences at the same level.

If you want to increase your pay, you need to put together your justification for why you think you should be paid more - what you contribute, what you've achieved, example of salaries elsewhere.  But don't go down the 'compensation' route and don't ask them to confirm what others are paid. Neither of those things will happen.

Ultimately, it's their decision.

74jax

You say you are a protected characteristic, do you mean you categorically know you are paid less due to a protected characteristic, or that the other 3 maybe negotiated better and it has nothing to do with characteristics at all?

It really does matter what the answer is. 

pinkshoes

Perhaps the others have better negotiation skills than you?

Why not ask for a pay rise and apply to jobs elsewhere if they say no?

Sandtree

tomcorby1 said:

I have been with my current employer for 4 years. I work as part of a group of 4 senior managers at a University who do the same job but I've just discovered that I am paid several thousands of pounds less than at least 2 of my colleagues and perhaps all 3 of them.

I am a protected characteristic, and am significantly more experienced with a better track record than all of them. 
I'm quite dismayed and would like to approach HR to confirm this situation and put in train a process of pay parity and some kind of compensation.

To be a little blunt, how can you be a senior manager and not understand how salaries work? 

Many roles are within pay bands and so not only can differences be several thousands but potentially couple of tens of thousands... last time I was an employee the Senior Manager grade 1 role was £75,000 to £150,000 band. Now Ops will be at the lower end, Actuarial at the higher but in our Change team we had 4 SM1 managers with over £40k between the top and lowest paid one (before bonuses etc)

Salaries are generally individually negotiated so depending on how good you are at that, and an element of timing, can significantly impact your impact. Right now its a candidate market, in my line of work anyway, and so anyone changing job now is getting more money than someone hired this time last year when the job market wasn't great.  If you can prove they are paying you less due to your sexual orientation/ race etc then you have a case but just because you were poor at negotiating and happen to have a protected characteristic isn't the same thing. 

According to an article, if a job is advertised without a salary females typically state their expectation is notably lower than males. When a salary range is shown the requested monies are much closer.

hangryconsumer

Aren't university roles graded? Assuming they are all on the same grade as you, it might be that you started at the bottom of the grade and are now working your way up the salary scale of that grade. The others would have advanced further up having been there longer than you. I don't know at what stage "senior managers" would exist outside of the role grading system,

Savvy_Sue

If you're in a union, speak to them. But I'd echo all the points above: just because you're paid less it doesn't mean it's because of your protected characteristic, and you might have a hard time demonstrating that it was. 

Ath_Wat

tomcorby1 said:

hello thanks for reading.

I have been with my current employer for 4 years. I work as part of a group of 4 senior managers at a University who do the same job but I've just discovered that I am paid several thousands of pounds less than at least 2 of my colleagues and perhaps all 3 of them.

I am a protected characteristic, and am significantly more experienced with a better track record than all of them. 
I'm quite dismayed and would like to approach HR to confirm this situation and put in train a process of pay parity and some kind of compensation.

Any advice gratefully received.

Maddy.

You can certainly ask them to  increase your salary to parity, and you might find they are happy to do it.  If they won't, you can leave and get a different job elsewhere and negotiate a better salary from the off.

As for compensation, unless you think they have deliberately paid you less because you have a protected characteristic, you have no chance.  Do you believe they have done this?  If so, what gives you that impression?  Most people who are paid less than colleagues are paid less simply because at interview/offer stage they indicated they were willing to take less.  A pay disparity between people in the same role is such a massively common - almost universal - situation  that the simple fact of its existence is not going to get you anywhere.

Marcon

tomcorby1 said:

hello thanks for reading.

I have been with my current employer for 4 years. I work as part of a group of 4 senior managers at a University who do the same job but I've just discovered that I am paid several thousands of pounds less than at least 2 of my colleagues and perhaps all 3 of them.

I am a protected characteristic, and am significantly more experienced with a better track record than all of them. 
I'm quite dismayed and would like to approach HR to confirm this situation and put in train a process of pay parity and some kind of compensation.

Any advice gratefully received.

Maddy.

How did you discover their salaries - or are you simply guessing, given that you don't really seem to know? This sort of information isn't generally readily available and you may find disciplinary action being taken against you if you cannot demonstrate that you had a lawful reason for possessing it - and you need to show that it came into your possession for GDPR compliant reasons. Did it?

You can't 'be' a protected characteristic. You would need to demonstrate that you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of a protected characteristic. Simply being in a minority (say you are female, the other 3 are male) doesn't automatically mean unlawful discrimination - plenty of reasons why others might be paid more.

Why not simply talk to HR about a pay rise and see what response you get?

Dakta

"Why not simply talk to HR about a pay rise and see what response you get?"

Definitely this - there's no automatic right to the same pay and as said a few times on here it can be down to as little as your negotiating skills

If the pay gap was because of a protected characteristic it gets a bit more interesting but then the difficulty would be in proving it.

TBagpuss

AS others have said, it's pretty common for different people with the same job title to get paid different amounts. it may be due to their specific skill set or responsibilities, their capability and performance, their negotiating skills etc.

Having a protected characteristic is  relevant only  if that is the reason that you are paid less, but you haven't said anything to suggest that that is that case.

What you can do is speak to HR - set out why you feel you should be paid more - base this on your expertise, levels of experience, performance against your KPIs. You can raise the issue of industry norms in your field, if you are being underpaid against what others doing a similar job to a similar level are paid.
You say that you have a better track record than your peers - in speaking to HR you would need to be able to quantify this - is it objectively true? Are the areas where you perform better ones which are valuable to your employer? 

Have any of your coworkers told you what they earn? If so, then you can raise the fact that you are getting less and can ask HR why that is.

Do you have anyone who is in a similar or senior position to yours who can tell you whether your view that your performance is better than that of your peers is objectively correct, or whether there are factors which might cause management to see the others as being more valuable?