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I have had to set the salary rate for different employees over my working years. There are many factors, that determine a persons salary. Lets look at factors that are taken into consideration.
Education. Experience. Difference in performance between two people, and one actually does nor work than the others. Difficulty of each employees job. One is more qualified for the first promotion that comes along, and you want to retain them till an opening occurs. Ones attitude and willingness to take on more responsibility when needed. Time on the job. One is more reliable than the others and actually one you care to keep in case someone is let go to cut the payroll or due to lack of work. The persons value to the company. Those are just a few factors, when deciding who to give some higher pay. And there are more, depending on the position and the person. Often one will far exceed the other employees when the different scores are added up, and that person is the one that will make more money.
For myself, I know at all times I was in the upper income for the position, on every job I ever held. Even in the Navy which I joined to beat the draft right after Korean War started (my draft notice was in post office box, at time I joined the Navy. After I got out of schools after boot camp, I was always in a supervisor position. The last 2 plus years, I was the Air Terminal Chief in full charge of the Air Terminal, in charge of all passengers and cargo. I was only an E4 doing the job of an E7, with my section leaders working under me being E5 and E6 both out ranking me till I was discharged at the end of my 4 year enlistment. I did not get E7 pay, but got E7 privileges. Even as I was on every other day 24 hour duty, as soon as flights went out, I could go home to my wife, as soon as the flights were all out for the da. On week end days if we had no flights to handle, I would go in for morning muster to check what was going on, and then go home till the next morning. I got flight skins (half of full pay) every month, flying over to Hawaii one evening, with a bunk so I could sleep for the trip as soon as the passengers were settled watching the orderlies (flight attendants) to see they were performing right, and had to get up the next morning to see they handled breakfast for the passengers in the morning. Spend the day in Honolulu where my wife and I lived when I was assigned to Hawaii for a few months, getting things for my wife, and flew back the same way that night. It was called a Route Check on the orderlies. I was making more total money, than the others on the job, with one exception the Chief in charge of the other section, even those the four section leaders that ranked me.
I am using that as an example. There will always be people that may make more money than you do. As the example showed I was worth more to the Navy as I was better at the job than anyone else, and the Navy saw that I got more privileges and pay, even if they could not just give me the rate and the additional pay. I was shipped back from Hawaii when the former chief was retiring, and I was determined to be the best qualified in the Pacific Fleet to take on the job as Air Terminal Chief even if I was not a chief.
And you are not going to be told when and why you are going to be making less money than the others in the department. It is not that everyone is equal in ability, and are equal in job performance. They simply are not. They are not all going to be equal and all the best suited for future promotion. If there is a lay off of 1 person vs. another, one is going to be chosen to be retained based on a lot of factors. One of the two just does not measure up as well as the other. All these are taken into consideration when it is decided how much to pay one person, vs. another.
Too many people put in no effort to do better, and they do not deserve any more money. If you want more money, then start being a star in the department, and the employer will consider you for more money.
Yes we all do the same job. I've been with the company longer but I think they've been doing this particular type of work longer than I have. At least one of them has.
I'm not going to ask. I just have to push it out of my mind.
Did you negotiate your starting salary? Have you ever negotiate your raise? If you answer no to either of these questions, then that's most likely the answer why you are paid less.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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My latest hire started 2 weeks ago at $25.50/hour and makes about half of what I do as a manager, but my director makes almost double what I do. Some of my other employees that have been there a lot longer than me despite being about 11 levels lower are within $20k of my pay. Everyone knows the salary ranges for everyone else or at least can find it easily since it's published in our intranet site. What they don't know is where a person started within that range, or what annual raises they have gotten.
Yes we all do the same job. I've been with the company longer but I think they've been doing this particular type of work longer than I have. At least one of them has.
I'm not going to ask. I just have to push it out of my mind.
You may all do the same job, but do you do it as well? Is the productivity of each the same? Is the error rate the same? Is the utilization of resources the same? Do you all work the same shifts?
Many more things affect wages than simply a job title.
OP, your co-workers likely negotiated for higher pay when they started, and/or asked for raises. Your starting pay is what you negotiate for, and you get the raises you ask for. Look for a new job if you want a new job, but if you're not willing to negotiate for a higher starting salary, or ask for raises, then the company won't offer you more money just because you silently think you deserve it. Why would they? The more they pay you, the less they have for themselves. You have to ask for it, not wait around for it.
I used to have a job where I earned more than the other people with my same title and job responsibilities - we were all women, all aged within a couple years of one another, all had Bachelor Degrees and similar years of experience. One had worked there about six months longer than me, and the other worked there for two months less than me, and I earned about 5 grand more than them. That's because during my interview, when the boss and I talked about salary, I told him I wouldn't be able to accept less than $xx,xxx (it wasn't worth it to leave my other job unless I was offered a certain amount). He thanked me for coming to the interview, then called me less than five minutes later to say I had gotten the job at the amount I had given him. The other two women took the amount the company offered them without negotiating, which is why they got paid less.
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