Same role, different pay grades

[heisthegaffer]

Hi all

Something has been bothering me for a while.

I work for a very large company and have done for a number of years. I've progressed and have been doing my current role for 5 years or so. A colleague does the same role but with lower income and is a higher pay grade than me and has been on this grade for 10 years plus.

I do my role very well and do other things outside of my job spec. I was told a while ago that actually the pay grade has realigned and my colleague is on the incorrect grade whereas I am on the correct one.

This has really got to me now but I feel unable to do anything about it. Everyone else who has done our role (6 people in 10 years) has been the higher grade.

I raise it regularly but the same response. No chance of it changing.

Other than leaving the team or company, do I have any options?

Thanks

[Countdown]

heisthegaffer said:

I raise it regularly but the same response. No chance of it changing.

Other than leaving the team or company, do I have any options?

Thanks

Have they given you a reason as to why your role is lower paid?

Unfortunately I don't think you have any other options.

[StuTheGrouch]

Ignore what your colleagues earn and/or which pay grade they are. No point in worrying about what is fair. Are you happy with the salary/package and is this commensurate with the role you do? Could you get a better package elsewhere?

If the answer is no and yes, then get looking.

[AJB88]

Not sure I follow; I'm gonna put some figures in to clear it up

Either - OP gets paid £40k pear year, OPS colleague gets paid £30k a year, they are now aligning them both at £40k per year

Or - OP gets paid £40k pear year, OPS colleague gets paid £30k a year, they are now aligning them both at £40k per year, but other colleagues are getting £45k a year

If its the latter, then raise it with management and get them all realigned, if its the first and your argument is now you do "extras" so why is the colleague getting the same then you'll probably have to take that on the chin. The amount of staff that do extras over the years and get nowhere for it. Happens all the time, I used to do it then realised you rarely get thanks.

[bristolbaron]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I couldn’t work this out, but looks like colleague manages or achieves a lower sales based income for the company, but receives a higher salary for the same job type.

If he’s been there twice as long as OP, and is therefore on a different contract, that’s absolutely within the companies rights. If OP doesn’t like it then it’s time to move on.

[dundarach]

StuTheGrouch said:

Ignore what your colleagues earn and/or which pay grade they are. No point in worrying about what is fair. Are you happy with the salary/package and is this commensurate with the role you do? Could you get a better package elsewhere?

If the answer is no and yes, then get looking.

That's the only answer you need....seriously either leave or forget about it if you can!

[Red9zero]

dundarach said:

That's the only answer you need....seriously either leave or forget about it if you can!

Pretty much this. I have just queried pay grades with our HR as new starters are being paid more than established staff doing the same role. They won't discuss individuals salary. Case closed.

[Crudeoink]

Just start looking elsewhere, if you've raised it numerous times and had no luck then they don't value you as much as you value yourself. Moving is good for your career, go for it and get paid what you feel you are worth

[frisbee]

Leave and return after a year two grades higher.

[Red9zero]

frisbee said:

Leave and return after a year two grades higher.

This actually works. Especially if you come back as a contractor. We have a few that have done it.

[coldel]

Reality in a large organisation is that you have legacy contracts, pay bands which can traverse a fairly large £ figure in some cases etc.

Something similar happened at a company I was at for 8 years, the company changed hands and the new parent company put in new contracts for anyone joining post acquisition. We had some of the soft benefits of our contract removed/altered, new joiners though had different pay bands (aligned with the parent) and less holiday days.

[Gargamel]

Red9zero said:

dundarach said:

That's the only answer you need....seriously either leave or forget about it if you can!

Pretty much this. I have just queried pay grades with our HR as new starters are being paid more than established staff doing the same role. They won't discuss individuals salary. Case closed.

Naturally they won't discuss individual cases, but any decent HR team should be able to tell you why two roles doing the same task are on two different grades. Now if they ae openly stating one is incorrect, and the actual pay and benefits are the same then it shouldn't really matter.

Annoying but if eveything else is equal and you are a 10 and he is an 11 or whatever then who really cares ?

[deckster]

Gargamel said:

Naturally they won't discuss individual cases, but any decent HR team should be able to tell you why two roles doing the same task are on two different grades. Now if they ae openly stating one is incorrect, and the actual pay and benefits are the same then it shouldn't really matter.

Annoying but if eveything else is equal and you are a 10 and he is an 11 or whatever then who really cares ?

Generally speaking true but often at big companies you get additional perks associated with a higher grade regardless of anything else (private medical insurance, or entitlement to business-class travel are a couple of common ones). So your grade sometimes can make a difference beyond your basic salary.

[heisthegaffer]

Thanks all.

To clarify, my colleague is on a higher pay grade than me. I have absolutely nothing against him, he's a great guy and an innocent bystander in this really.

I guess I'm stuck with this and need to move on mentally or move on out of there! A pity as it's decent other than this issue.

[98elise]

The only time I worked anywhere with roles, paygrades and actual pay aligned was in the forces.

Every where else I've worked it's been the market rate at the time, or whatever was negotiated with the individual. As a manger I had some insight into what people were actually paid, and there were quite some differences for very similar roles.

At one company in particular they would rather see someone leave than pay them the current (higher) market rate, even though replacing them would mean paying the very same market rate!

[Countdown]

98elise said:

At one company in particular they would rather see someone leave than pay them the current (higher) market rate, even though replacing them would mean paying the very same market rate!

IME that's usually because, whilst the post may have merited the higher salary, the incumbent didn't. So it's an easy way of getting rid of somebody (especially if they're a PITA to work with).

[heisthegaffer]

Thanks again for the responses all.

I understand there will always be disparity on pay but I am frustrated on the grade element. It feels personal and when I spoke to my boss, I sense he agrees it's wrong but little he can do.

I have to move on and suppress how much it gets to me.

Cheers.

[98elise]

Countdown said:

98elise said:

At one company in particular they would rather see someone leave than pay them the current (higher) market rate, even though replacing them would mean paying the very same market rate!

IME that's usually because, whilst the post may have merited the higher salary, the incumbent didn't. So it's an easy way of getting rid of somebody (especially if they're a PITA to work with).

I found the opposite. Good people would move on because they could find better paid work elsewhere, often taking good colleagues with them. Mediocre people clung onto their jobs.

The real pain was losing experience. New people couldn't just slot in, they needed to be familiar with the specific sites we worked at. Senior managers just saw them as replaceable drones, hence didn't care if they left.

[heisthegaffer]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's more the principle of the pay grade. I understand that he's been there a lot longer and accept there will be disparity. The bit I'm frustrated about about is I feel singled out vs my current colleague and previous colleagues doing the same role but at the higher grade.

My appraisals are always good. If they weren't and there were fundamental issues with my performance, I'd accept this but there aren't. Plus I do things above and beyond the role.

I just have to try not to think about it and/or look for a new role.

Cheers.

[Countdown]

98elise said:

I found the opposite. Good people would move on because they could find better paid work elsewhere, often taking good colleagues with them. Mediocre people clung onto their jobs.

The real pain was losing experience. New people couldn't just slot in, they needed to be familiar with the specific sites we worked at. Senior managers just saw them as replaceable drones, hence didn't care if they left.

It's probably different processes for different companies (and Managers having different flexibilities). i think what you're saying holds true for the Public Sector but in the private sector it's very easy to get around pay bands e.g. change somebody's Job Description, give them nominal "extra duties" and so on. My boss is the CFO and she covers HR as well, which has meant that I've had a lot of flexibility in regrading people and it helps massively in recruitment and retention.