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Long story short, I'm completely sure that my current salary is around 25% higher than what people with similar experience and skills would get in other companies in my area. At the same time I discovered that my coworkers' pay is on average much higher than mine.

I personally believe the reason behind this discrepancy is that when I joined I came from a different country and was not really knowledgeable about what I could have asked the company so I didn't negotiate hard enough during my interview process.

I was hoping that the situation could be rectified or at least improved during the first round of pay rises, but this took place just a few days ago and nothing significant came out of it. I tried to mention the issue to my manager but I basically shrugged it off by saying that he's not informed about the salary of other people and doesn't have much influence when it comes to pay rises.

Obviously changing job here would not help much, but this situation is leaving me with a very bitter taste in my mouth.

What else can I try?

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    "What can I do?" Be happy you make more than the average worker in your field?
    – nvoigt ♦
    Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 14:31
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    Presumably your manager already knows that your coworkers are paid more than you so why would you think bringing it up to him would make him raise your salary? You have to go to him with some sort of value proposition or reason why you should be paid more. It's not about what's fair but what's cost-effective.
    – AffableAmbler
    Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 14:47

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but this situation is leaving me with a very bitter taste in my mouth.

That's entirely a personal issue. No one is ripping you off, you agreed to what you're making. Also your information regarding what your colleagues make might not be correct, but even if it is, that is no reason for bitterness.

You need to deal with this. Bitterness leads to frustration which can turn into all sorts of nastiness which isn't good for you career or mental health.

What else can I try?

Focus on advancing yourself in terms of proving your worth, instead of what your colleagues are making.

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  • Chastising the OP and telling them to be happy is inherently pointless. Negotiating wages between employees, specifically leveraging their lack of knowledge on how the company pays internally (and apparently much higher than industry) is inherently ripping them off, even if they are still being higher than somewhere else. The OP is worth more to them...but they got them for cheaper withholding information from them.
    – DrMrstheMonarch
    Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 11:26
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    @morbo I don't agree, but feel free to make an answer and I'll read your viewpoint with interest.
    – Kilisi
    Commented Apr 10, 2020 at 11:48
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You have two options - either start interviewing elsewhere and see if you can negotiate a better salary, or increase your value to the company by learning and using new skills and leverage this to negotiate a higher salary. You'll find that the latter option will also assist you in the first.

Have you tried asking your bosses what they would like to see from you in order to get a higher salary?

Never forget that comparison is a thief of joy. The fact that your colleagues may be better paid than you is irrelevant if you can't get a better-paid job elsewhere. If you can't get a job with better pay and conditions with your current skills and experience then you are in the best job available to you.

It could be that you've plateaued in your current role and might need to move into a different career path in order to meet your salary expectations.

A compromise that might suit both you and management could be to try negotiating more paid time off rather than salary.

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