Pay parity, finally?
During my annual review last week, my boss admitted that two senior executives, myself included, had been paid less than our peers with similar experience and backgrounds for years. I have been with the company for 12 years, starting as a junior manager and working my way up to a senior role for most of the last nine years.
I feel frustrated knowing that despite my hard work and consistently spectacular reviews, I have been getting paid for so long.
My former boss, who switched roles with my current boss and is now our VP, is probably responsible for this, but my new boss still consults him closely before making decisions. While my current boss has told me he plans to raise my salary to help catch up, he hasn’t committed to bringing it fully in line with others or addressing years of inequality.
Not sure what my options are at this point. I don’t want to sound too demanding, but it’s hard not to feel like I was too convenient. If they admit to paying me so carelessly, it seems they still see me as a compromise and low risk for them. Which really pisses me off.
— Anonymous
You haven’t been very welcoming all these years — because you didn’t know you were unpaid. Let’s get this out of the way first, because it seems to me that some part of you is blaming yourself for… what? The fact is that nothing in the past was your fault or under your control. It seems that the blame falls on your former boss because 1) you don’t reward the quality of your work and 2) you don’t make your salary commensurate with what other people at your level did and do.
I’m curious to know how your current boss broke the news that you were underpaid. Was it a slip of the tongue? A confession? Was it said apologetically? Embarrassed or sad? I have to imagine that if your current boss disclosed this information in an apologetic manner, it could signal a willingness to make things right.
On making things right: I am troubled by your reluctance — or reluctance — to bring your salary fully in line with that of your similarly situated professional peers. Have you asked your current boss why he won’t make things right in this regard? Did you specifically ask him about addressing inequality in a way that includes back pay?
As for your choices, well, you have every right to be demanding or, at the very least, persistent and assertive about it. They’ve been underpaying you for years. Years! I would be angry too (I’m already angry on your behalf). And don’t think for a second that I haven’t noticed that both your former boss and your current boss are male and that, based on the name given in your email, you are female. Women still make less than men—84 percent of what men earn, regardless of race and ethnicity—and suffer from societal assumptions that they’ll be welcome, thanks to the ways we’re socialized as girls. (I’m writing a book about it, actually.)
I’m curious: What did you say in response to your current boss when he told you that you were underpaid? Did you take notes? Later or later? Have you spoken to the other underpaid senior manager you work with? What did he or she say? (I’m also dying to know if this person is male or female.) (Some states are moving to enact salary transparency laws. Is that yours?) Again: did you ask your boss directly to fix things?
I think you should find an employment lawyer and have an introductory discussion with them. And, depending on what your employer or boss says, you might just want to consider looking for another job. Pay gaps can get worse over the years. What may seem like a small difference in annual salary adds up to much more over the decades, as you’ve just experienced firsthand. Will feeling outmatched, taken for granted, and disrespected decrease if your salary is brought in line—or close to—that of others? You are still in the process of discovering it. But what you can find is that “accommodation” means hospitality thyself and honoring your sense of self-respect. And that you’d be better off taking your talents elsewhere.
