Underpaid but too scared to go leave

D1ss1lusioned

Hi all,

I've been in my job for many years now with a fairly small company. To get payrises you have to request a pay review and what seems like generous increases I realise just gets me a bit above the next minimum wage increase.
I recently looked at the normal salary range for what I do and am literally at the bottom or even less than the range and for a skilled role with the many years of experience I have I realised I am on less money than many supermarket jobs that don't require the same skills and qualifications I have.
There are benefits with the job being quite flexible with home working etc. And hours that suit me and fair annual leave policy. I just can't help feel insulted they pay me so little.
I'm scared to risk going elsewhere as previous jobs didn't work out and I lost them after just being there for months and not even a year so had no real rights. Before this job I spent nearly a year going to lots of interviews and struggling to find work so feel I should just stick with it as I don't have great self esteem as a result and don't like asking for more pay as I don't feel like I'm worth more money as I work alongside younger enthusiastic employees who are trying really hard in their first job. I just need to be able to afford my mortgage and bills etc. And keep up with the cost of living, the younger staff still live at home and this is more disposable income for them.
Of course they have to be fair with pay regardless of personal circumstances.
If I went elsewhere then I wouldn't have the security I have now with the many years of employment, can't claim my unemployment insurance for 6 months and of course if I lost the job then benefits are a lot less and I may lose out on the working from home I have now.
Should I just try and ignore that my salary is lower than the bottom end for what I do?
I considered posting my salary on glassdoor but that would look bad for the company to other potential employees. Could I get into trouble for doing that? I may see other salaries for colleagues and find out how mine compares?

Uriziel

You are thinking too much into it and are being too emotional.
What are you going to get out of hurting the company's reputation on glassdoor?
You need to remember that you mean nothing to the company. The only reason you are there is because they somehow have not figured out how to automate your job and get rid of you. You are not friends or family. Companies will always try to pay as little as possible so if you stick around you will always end up underpaid. IF you want payrises you always need to shop around, do interviews and job hop. This is how many people become senior leadership in their late 20s.
You can start doing interviews while still being in your job and then find a place that will pay you more and once you have the offer you can hand in your notice.
If you think you will struggle to keep a job and you are safe where you are you can stay. This really is not something anyone can advise you on. Nobody can promise you that you will be stay in your new job or not or if you're even going to be happy there. Companies have a lot of ways to make you miserable. They can have a go at you for even being a minute late and various other nonsense which is legal.
If you want any success at all stop being emotional and just explain you're keen on a payrise and you feel you deserve it based on your work and take whatever nonsense response you get at face value.
What you are describing is really just life. People who go out of their comfort zone can get a better return but they risk it backfiring. It really is up to you.

D1ss1lusioned

Thanks, much appreciated. I do feel definitely in any job how I'm only there for their benefit and not mine. It is a very relaxed job compared to others I have done especially in big companies where like you say they get rid of you for being a minute late. I can often feel like I'm on less than other colleagues that are "favourites" and that they pay me less to push me out the door by making me want to go elsewhere for more money. I do get told positive things when in pay reviews but feel that's just a formality.
I have no real attachment with any job, I only work for money so don't feel upset when I lose or leave a job it's purely the financial situation.
I've always hoped to be in the ideal situation where I could pick and choose a job without the financial risk. E.g. if it doesn't work out I wouldn't be risking losing the house etc.
There's so much about office politics and dirty tricks management can do with employees I don't like. They can do many things to make your life difficult if they want. In my place they really do exploit employees to the max for the least amount of pay. I literally only do the job as required and don't go above and beyond as I've seen people that do, never get rewarded or more money and end up going elsewhere.

jackieblack

In my opinion, it depends how much you value your job security and flexibility/working from home.
To me, any job is just a means of paying the bills, literally ‘making a living’. I’ve worked for many years in a low paid industry, but I value the job security and relative flexibility and, to me, the payoff is worth it. I’ve looked at other better paying jobs a few times over the years but, after weighing up all the advantages/disadvantages of both positions, have always decided that, for me, there are more advantages to staying where I am - the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence, as several ex-colleagues have discovered… 
But only you can determine what the best option for you might be.

MyRealNameToo

Certainly consider the total reward package not just the take home cash and the other soft benefits you appreciate like flexible working from home etc. 

Im in the exact opposite boat, as a contractor I get a very high income but no paid holiday, no sick pay, no job security etc. It works for me and some are envious of it but the reality is the difference is as big as it first looks when considering pension comes 100% out of my money, no employers 10% for me, holidays really eat into monies etc. 

There is always the option of securing another job elsewhere and use an offer on the table of an extra £x per hour as leverage to get them to pay you more but only do it if you will genuinely walk away if they won't come close enough. Also be clear with them, just because you have an offer of £20/hr doesnt mean you have to have a counter offer of the same, you could say that you do value parts of the current role and therefore you'd be happy with £18 or whatever 

Strummer22

MyRealNameToo said:

There is always the option of securing another job elsewhere and use an offer on the table of an extra £x per hour as leverage to get them to pay you more but only do it if you will genuinely walk away if they won't come close enough. Also be clear with them, just because you have an offer of £20/hr doesnt mean you have to have a counter offer of the same, you could say that you do value parts of the current role and therefore you'd be happy with £18 or whatever 

This is good advice.

How much information can you get regarding the financial performance of the company? Either from what they share internally, or from their annual accounts available on Companies House. You say they're fairly small, so they may be exempt from submitting full accounts, but you may be able to find some info. If the profit margins are slim (or they're losing money), or revenue declining year-on-year, there's probably not much scope for pay rises. In fact, several years of decreasing revenue would be a red flag to jump ship!

Anyway, if you have experience and are underpaid, try as MyRealNameToo said to get interviews and see if you can secure an offer with better pay. Use that to negotiate with your current employer but be prepared to actually take the new job if your relationship with your current employer sours. Any recruiter/new employer will try to get you to tell them your current salary (so they can lowball any offer). Don't tell them. Just say you understand the market salary for this position would be in the range of £XX, so that's your salary expectation.  

TELLIT01

Why did you fail to retain other jobs but been in this one for many years.  You need to rationalise that before looking to move on, or push for a better pay increase.

These days it is very difficult to climb the salary ladder in the same job.  If a company does give rises in line with inflation you are really only marking time on the salary scale as that has probably been moved up too.

D1ss1lusioned

jackieblack said:

In my opinion, it depends how much you value your job security and flexibility/working from home.
To me, any job is just a means of paying the bills, literally ‘making a living’. I’ve worked for many years in a low paid industry, but I value the job security and relative flexibility and, to me, the payoff is worth it. I’ve looked at other better paying jobs a few times over the years but, after weighing up all the advantages/disadvantages of both positions, have always decided that, for me, there are more advantages to staying where I am - the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence, as several ex-colleagues have discovered… 
But only you can determine what the best option for you might be.

Thanks, appreciated. I'm not a workaholic in the slightest. Like you say it's just to pay the bills and allow for as much personal time as possible with a full time job.
A number of people have left to get more money elsewhere, I haven’t really kept in touch but believe they have done ok. For me it was definitely the case the grass wasn't greener when going to other jobs. The best job I did for a number of years before was lost due to mass redundancies. That was paying just a couple of grand less over 10 years ago than what I'm on where I work now but it was a big company.
I can never be sure if they're stingy on wages as they don't have much money as a business or not but job security is important to me so like to think if they did go downhill then I'd leave with redundancy payout at least.
Personal life is more important although I feel getting more money would pay off the mortgage faster and speed up retirement or part time working possibility.

D1ss1lusioned

MyRealNameToo said:

Certainly consider the total reward package not just the take home cash and the other soft benefits you appreciate like flexible working from home etc. 

Im in the exact opposite boat, as a contractor I get a very high income but no paid holiday, no sick pay, no job security etc. It works for me and some are envious of it but the reality is the difference is as big as it first looks when considering pension comes 100% out of my money, no employers 10% for me, holidays really eat into monies etc. 

There is always the option of securing another job elsewhere and use an offer on the table of an extra £x per hour as leverage to get them to pay you more but only do it if you will genuinely walk away if they won't come close enough. Also be clear with them, just because you have an offer of £20/hr doesnt mean you have to have a counter offer of the same, you could say that you do value parts of the current role and therefore you'd be happy with £18 or whatever 

That's great, thanks. I did consider contract work or being self employed before. Definitely much to consider with the pros and cons for those. I must admit I didn't even consider the pension aspect, more the requirement for finding new contracts but potentially having nice gaps inbetween them.
There isn't really much in the way of rewards, very small if anything. There is a small yearly bonus but definitely small and less than I had about 10 years or so ago.

D1ss1lusioned

Strummer22 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

There is always the option of securing another job elsewhere and use an offer on the table of an extra £x per hour as leverage to get them to pay you more but only do it if you will genuinely walk away if they won't come close enough. Also be clear with them, just because you have an offer of £20/hr doesnt mean you have to have a counter offer of the same, you could say that you do value parts of the current role and therefore you'd be happy with £18 or whatever 

This is good advice.

How much information can you get regarding the financial performance of the company? Either from what they share internally, or from their annual accounts available on Companies House. You say they're fairly small, so they may be exempt from submitting full accounts, but you may be able to find some info. If the profit margins are slim (or they're losing money), or revenue declining year-on-year, there's probably not much scope for pay rises. In fact, several years of decreasing revenue would be a red flag to jump ship!

Anyway, if you have experience and are underpaid, try as MyRealNameToo said to get interviews and see if you can secure an offer with better pay. Use that to negotiate with your current employer but be prepared to actually take the new job if your relationship with your current employer sours. Any recruiter/new employer will try to get you to tell them your current salary (so they can lowball any offer). Don't tell them. Just say you understand the market salary for this position would be in the range of £XX, so that's your salary expectation.  

Good tip on the salary aspect thanks. I have made a huge mess of interviews before. In this role I was unemployed at the time so less bargaining power. I assumed the salary would go up more than it has. I don't think I'd be running to another job for say an extra £1k or £2k a year because of the risks involved.

I'll check out companies house, as far as I know they're doing better each year but feel they might be giving new staff higher salaries than me as I can't imagine what would lure them in if they offered a salary well below average like mine.

D1ss1lusioned

TELLIT01 said:

Why did you fail to retain other jobs but been in this one for many years.  You need to rationalise that before looking to move on, or push for a better pay increase.

These days it is very difficult to climb the salary ladder in the same job.  If a company does give rises in line with inflation you are really only marking time on the salary scale as that has probably been moved up too.

I can totally believe that, I felt like I did better in big companies as there were better defined roles, you applied for other jobs internally with a new pay rate etc. Where I am now everything is messy, job roles aren't that clear and you tend to get paid based on how much the MD likes you. There is little point in excelling or going above and beyond as it is unlikely to get noticed as the management are only aware when something goes wrong and you get told off. All the while everything is fine and your doing your job well it goes totally unnoticed.

Ok so job history and reasons for losing them:

1st main job, big company, defined role, good pay and progressed to other roles internally although payrises didn’t happen in relation to those roles. Lost due to redundancies after being there for years

2nd job there less than a year, made one or two mistakes and was called up on a rapid disciplinary process and given the boot before being there a year. Small company, was told later should have gone to tribunal.

3rd job, big company, as a temp, there for a few months. When there was an issue I pointed out how a colleague was 100% at fault but he was the favourite and there before me and being made permanent. They basically said there were no permanent positions available and I wasn't needed anymore.

4th job, big company, totally new role I had no experience in and given training. Found it very difficult and it was made worse as a colleague cherry picked the easiest jobs and I unknowingly had really difficult ones as a result. They got rid of me as I found it too difficult and needed lots of help and they agreed they were difficult jobs to do. I met with the team leader months after who told me that colleague was found out and given the boot for what he did. Obviously that didn't help me at all.

Current job they were a growing company and believed I had more potential it seems and relished my years of experience in the first job mentioned. They knew I was desperate to take anything as I needed work. Saw many others come and go over the years as they realised how bad the pay was and left for better pay elsewhere.
They keep me for my reliability and trustworthiness and attention to detail. I've only had a few sick days in many years.