We're finding some pretty large pay disparities among our team and would like to compile an open sheet of salaries and bonuses. Some of our executive management has been very vocally against this and there are fears of retaliation. We'd like to be careful in how we go about this.
If someone comes to me and says "Hey, why is John paid 20k more than me when we are both doing the same thing in the same team?", I may counter that with "Well may be John brings more value than you. So instead of comparing with JOhn, why don't you make a case for getting the additional 20k or whatever. What if John does a better job than you?"
Yes some people are underpaid because they don't know any better but it is a losing battle to compare with co-workers. Compare with your own value and make your case. If you are worth it, they will do it. If not, they will tell you and you have the choice to go find something else that does. In IT, there are plenty of options.
Comparison with others implicitly helps find one’s value.
- One person is more reliable than the other
- One person does more than bare minimum (you can love it or hate it but employers do care and pay attention)
- One person solves more problems than others
- One person owns more and complains less
Lot of things that can make one person different than another even though they both may have the same job titles and responsibilities on paper.
Whatever the government doesn't take goes to wife and kids.