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Your wokeness is strong. Let's flip the roles, how about if you were in their shoes making $50k more than a new guy that's only been with the firm for less than 2 years. How do you feel? I happen to laugh at all of you making only $50k more with 10+ years of experience.
You're confusing 10+ years of experience within the industry with 10+ years of experience within a company. OP said he had more experience within the industry.
That said, years of experience is often not a good way of evaluating current ability. Is it 10 years of experience or 1 year of experience 10 times? Quality of experience can be much more important than length of experience.
In some industries, like software development, much of your experience from 10 years ago is irrelevant and obsolete.
The OP has revealed that this is nursing -- I believe all three people are RNs. If so, that is unusual, as most hospitals or health care organizations have defined ranges for specific degrees. Nonetheless, I am always surprised in the variation in earnings between MDs -- some in smaller practices seem to do much better than others at large organizations. A general practice doctor can make anywhere somewhere from 250k up to 600k depending on the specifics.
But the OP is describing a phenomenon all at the same workplace.
We had a merger a few years ago, and as departments merged, people from the low COL company (rural town about 70 miles away from the home office, which is in a large metropolitan downtown) were surprised to find that their salaries were often half of their colleagues. Just as this started to bubble, we shut down for COVID. Many people from the rural company have left since then.
I think more and more of this will shakeout now that a lot of professionals can "work from anywhere."
The OP has revealed that this is nursing -- I believe all three people are RNs. If so, that is unusual, as most hospitals or health care organizations have defined ranges for specific degrees. Nonetheless, I am always surprised in the variation in earnings between MDs -- some in smaller practices seem to do much better than others at large organizations. A general practice doctor can make anywhere somewhere from 250k up to 600k depending on the specifics.
But the OP is describing a phenomenon all at the same workplace.
We had a merger a few years ago, and as departments merged, people from the low COL company (rural town about 70 miles away from the home office, which is in a large metropolitan downtown) were surprised to find that their salaries were often half of their colleagues. Just as this started to bubble, we shut down for COVID. Many people from the rural company have left since then.
I think more and more of this will shakeout now that a lot of professionals can "work from anywhere."
Great points! I am in a high COL area. I am in a very niche field and I am the only one who actually worked in this field prior to working at my current company. I must have started when the market was considered low and my coworkers were brought in at a much higher wage. i will never match them based on years at the company. The raises are too low and there is no room for advancement.
We are a small clinical team in a large company, only ones who are nurses. The clinical team is very high performing and my coworkers are brilliant. We are not understood as far as workload. Our positions are not being filled and I see new FTEs in other departments after being told that we didn’t get approval to replace a departing clinical person. Team is half the size now. Being in management before, I know these FTEs were moved around to other areas. I would not stay now- even with a substantial raise.
I don't understand the problem that is perfectly normal. When a position has a set salary range, most people start near the bottom of that range and get a raise every year, either based on the cost of living, or based o performance. I would always expect someone there for 10 years to be making far more than someone there only 2 years, regardless of previous experience. I would not expect you to ever catch up with them until they retire, because if you all get a 5% raise every year they will always maintain their higher pay. The only way for a newer employee to pass up their peers with longer seniority is to be promoted above them. Among my staff I have one person that I hired 6 years ago making $84,000, and a new one starting in October making $53,000.
Now if your company does not have fixed salary ranges and can give anyone whatever amount they want, it becomes a matter of negotiation when hired, and asking for an increase after proving your value to the company over the first couple of years.
Generally, I agree with you. I will list one exception to the bolded above that I am aware of. I work in an in-house legal department. When they are looking to hire new attorneys (who are usually coming from the law firm world, where they make significantly more), they have to be offered an ever-increasing salary to entice them to come work in-house. The attorneys who have been here for a long time started out at a lower amount and have only had incremental raises due to performance, etc. So the new attorneys coming on board are usually making more.
I don't understand the problem that is perfectly normal. When a position has a set salary range, most people start near the bottom of that range and get a raise every year, either based on the cost of living, or based o performance. I would always expect someone there for 10 years to be making far more than someone there only 2 years, regardless of previous experience. I would not expect you to ever catch up with them until they retire, because if you all get a 5% raise every year they will always maintain their higher pay. The only way for a newer employee to pass up their peers with longer seniority is to be promoted above them. Among my staff I have one person that I hired 6 years ago making $84,000, and a new one starting in October making $53,000.
Now if your company does not have fixed salary ranges and can give anyone whatever amount they want, it becomes a matter of negotiation when hired, and asking for an increase after proving your value to the company over the first couple of years.
I did not mean I would ever catch up to them. I meant I would never catch up based on years of service. If I get an exceeds every year with a top raise of 2.5 percent, i would be at the company for 19 years to match what they earned being employed 10 years.
I agree that is not a good extreme either. My husbands job is like this. New hires match long term employees.
If I could match year for year based on time at job, that seems reasonable. To find out employees started out higher 8 years before me just has me shaking my head.
New hires got MORE than the longterm employees. In one case a manager had to take it to HR to try to her direct report more money as her pay was so low. In another, the hired someone at 10% MORE than her salary as a manager. It's disgusting.
If you are that unhappy about the salary, just leave. Seriously. Because you are going to be upset every day about it.
Great points! I am in a high COL area. I am in a very niche field and I am the only one who actually worked in this field prior to working at my current company. I must have started when the market was considered low and my coworkers were brought in at a much higher wage. i will never match them based on years at the company. The raises are too low and there is no room for advancement.
We are a small clinical team in a large company, only ones who are nurses. The clinical team is very high performing and my coworkers are brilliant. We are not understood as far as workload. Our positions are not being filled and I see new FTEs in other departments after being told that we didn’t get approval to replace a departing clinical person. Team is half the size now. Being in management before, I know these FTEs were moved around to other areas. I would not stay now- even with a substantial raise.
As I mentioned before, you can try to renegotiate since you have more of a work load with taking on someone else's work. I would be as ticked off as you, especially with getting a lot more work at way less pay.
The medical field in some states have been hit very hard, especially because some will not vaccinate. There are hospitals shutting down a whole unit because they do not have the employees to run it. One shut down their maternity floor.
Depending on what your field is, you shouldn't have a hard time to find another, higher paying job.
How is it looking since you had already decided to leave?
What is the purpose of the OP in posting this here since he is leaving the company anyway and has not deemed it worthwhile to even approach the subject of his displeasure regarding work load or salary with anyone of authority at his employer? If one was actually seeking a solution to even a generic problem that would be the first step.
What is the purpose of the OP in posting this here since he is leaving the company anyway and has not deemed it worthwhile to even approach the subject of his displeasure regarding work load or salary with anyone of authority at his employer? If one was actually seeking a solution to even a generic problem that would be the first step.
I received some helpful insight from the group and I want to avoid this in the future.This wide gap is a completely new concept to me. I have observed salary gaps while in management. However, these made sense. A new grad versus a very experienced nurse would see about a 30 percent difference. A new grad however could advance from an RN 1 to RN 2 and get a small raise to make the gap 15 percent. An experienced new hire with 10 years of experience would see about a 10-15 percent difference from someone who had similar experience but had been with the company 5 or more years longer. Not the 58 percent difference I am seeing currently even though I had a unique skilll set coming in.
We did do occasional market adjustments to ensure everyone was paid fairly. This really came into play for new grads from 2006-2008. They ended up getting raises to bring them in line with new grads who started when there was more demand. This averaged about 10 percent, nowhere close to the gap I am seeing now.
I now understand how important it is to research the market and ensure my starting rate is comparable. I will also be sure to explore work life balance with these roles. There was no way to forecast this team was dropping in half prior to coming on board. Starting salary is especially important at companies who do not offer opportunities to advance.
As I mentioned before, you can try to renegotiate since you have more of a work load with taking on someone else's work. I would be as ticked off as you, especially with getting a lot more work at way less pay.
The medical field in some states have been hit very hard, especially because some will not vaccinate. There are hospitals shutting down a whole unit because they do not have the employees to run it. One shut down their maternity floor.
Depending on what your field is, you shouldn't have a hard time to find another, higher paying job.
How is it looking since you had already decided to leave?
This is a great time to get hired at a new company. I speak with many hospitals currently and they are all losing staff to travel nursing. I have friends now making more than MDs traveling the country as nurses. I also travel about 50 percent in my current role (was 75-80 percent before COVID) and have seen how chaotic it is now in hospitals.
I have been away from the bedside for four years (did some per down work in my old state). So I am not looking to get back in the bedside. I still am looking at a career that helps patients from a different perspective.
Started putting in applications about 10 days ago. I have had 3 interviews and 1 video prescreening call. All pay more than my current salary. One job I decided I would not be passionate about and withdrew my candidacy. The other 2 I am moving forward for the next round of interviews. Main goal is to ensure I am passionate about what I do. It’s not fair to a company to start working for them just because I hate my current job (a first for me). I also want to ensure the culture does not encourage 60 hour weeks as a norm.
I will miss my peers. It is not their fault the salary gap is so wide. I may not miss the one who dumped this huge lifetime project on me quite as much! Although when I leave he will probably need to take it back. It is not a project for someone new to the role. Usually need at least 5 years of experience. I was able to take it on in 18 months due to my unique previous experience in the field.
Thanks for your support and advice!
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