Hey,
I am a SWE with 2 yrs exp. recently I found out that juniors in my team are being paid atleast 10% more than me. This thing has been bugging me so much that I setup a meeting with my manager but here’s the thing- I have no idea how to talk about this to my manager. I obviously think it’s unfair given how much more work I am doing. Can experienced people here please guide me on how to approach this meeting?
Thanks!
Just break the ice. Start by, “ Hi…. Sorry for the unplanned meeting but I want to talk about my compensation.”
Do I directly request that since juniors are being paid more so my comp also should be revised or idk tell him about my accomplishments or something? Juniors here are new college grads btw.
I don’t think directly mentioning juniors would help your case, but as Dopeypoint mentioned, you can direct the conversation towards discussion around your compensation.
And give agenda that you want to go out of this meeting with a plan on how you can achieve your expected compensation. In between this discussion you can say that according to industry standard you deserve better compensation and how your manager and your contribution can help you achieve it and company wide this is not fair and you might get some reasons also for this.
This is universal. You think 10% is higher?, check the difference between a T1 and rest within same ranks. Nothing can be done, Keep changing jobs untill you have satisfied pay. No point in comparing.
That’s exactly the case here. The juniors are new grads from Tier 1 institutes while I am from tier 2.
10% difference betwen T1 and T2 i very reasonable. Which company? I bet its not a startup.
Super common even if you and they are from the same college. If you mention their salary, you'll also be in negative books because we are not supposed to discuss the salary of other people. Instead switch.
"we are not supposed to discuss the salary of other people"
Corporate propaganda to prevent people from realizing they are getting ripped off
Yes bro, I agree 100%, everyone knows that.
In my personal experience, never compare with someone in front of your manager.
Instead say that you are not happy with current compensation especially given the current market situation or something like that.
And say the competition/same level companies are paying more for same background and experience.
The same way some junior is getting more than you a senior might be getting less than you.
Be as ambiguous as possible when you are saying you compared your salary with others.
After mentioning all of this, ask how can/will your manager help here.
There can be scenarios where a managers hand are really tied. But most managers just don’t like to pay.
(Record the response through your phone or somewhere to see how tactfully he is responding, no official use)
During the meeting, note down everything he is saying in your mail in front of him. And before you conclude send that as an MoM in the meeting room itself. Just say for your personal record only and nothing else.
Most important thing, never start with a complaint. Start off by asking feedback about your work. Use this to understand how he feels about your work. After he concludes (hopefully in a positive way) tell that you also have a concern. And then start this. Never, I repeat, never start the discussion, always follow up.
Was in a similar situation. I did reach out to my manager immediately and let him know of the case. He made sure to match my compensation with what people of my experience were getting.
My manager was good enough so no bad talking about him, but the head of engineering was not ready to increase it as the engineering team's overall performance was low nice 2 quarters.
Had a setup with Head and that lady kept bringing points like market is low and bullshit. I went bit overboard and spoke shit about the hiring process and how people who actually work there don't get any value for their work. She heard and said will try my best to increase it next review cycle.
And 3 months later I was laid off in the 2nd round of layoffs.
So ultimately there's no solution, just switch.
this is more prominent in startups where they dnt decide the compensation based on exp rather than last drawn.similar goes for designations also.low exp guys are being promoted or laterally hired for senior positions just because their last drawn ctc doesn't fit in the current payscale
So you were happy with your salary but once you saw someone with less experience getting more than you made you upset. There will always be someone with more experience getting less salary than you. I understand that everyone wants to grow but comparing yourself with others will always make you unstable.
If you feel you are getting paid less just have a one one one with your manager regarding your growth but dont put your happiness on others salary or any other metrics as such. Have a happy life .
This is a horrible idea. Don't do it.
Do you know HR and the manager has a shared excel sheet of salaries of the team mates under the manager.
Your manager already knows.
And your manager also knows that you know.
If you are going into a meeting without an outside offer letter in your back pocket you are portraying you are "trouble", no one wants trouble teammate.
It's better to lay you off than engage in salary negotiation because from their POV you will repeat in future and thus a perpetual trouble maker.
So build leverage before emotions.
Your leverage will be a higher offer letter.
No leverage no wins.
No one want to bet on non-winners, incl. your manager.
I like this. I am having this internal feeling that going into a compensation discussion, without any leverage just puts me on the bad spot. If I get turned down and stay there (which I’ll have to because I don’t have any offer as of yet) then i know the team dynamics would not stay the same for me.
I’ll probably just have the meeting to talk about feedback and push for promotion I guess.
🤗 that will be a stud move.
Do not make people uncomfortable.
Either make them revere you or forget you.
Nothing in between.
As per my knowledge otpum still is mostly wfh, someone i know (junior dev <2yoe), joined there in covid for 12lpa so most likely they have seperate pay bands for branded freshers and other hires, if the difference is not huge in inr terms, just politely ask about hike in next appraisal cycle, if you genuinely feel the difference impacts your wellbeing start looking for new job with figure in mind.
They are mostly WFO for new joinees. Have seen 17lpa for tier 2 joinee from this year
Comparing salary will either kill you from inside or make you hard to work with. I'd suggest letting it go and working on yourself (ideate on goals)
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