I have reason to believe that my very competent coworker is being severely underpaid - any tactful way to tell a boss?

Question

I am located in United States. I have a coworker who is senior to me (in that, if my title is "Blah", his title is literally "Senior Blah").

This morning he made a comment about job postings for a junior position on a competitor's website. He essentially said:

Ugh, looks like they're paying juniors MORE than we make as 2nd-level workers! Look, they're offering between $X and $Y for starting salary!

Where $X and $Y are $10k below/above what I am currently making (placing me squarely in the middle of the competitor's offering). I think I can infer from this that:

1. My coworker is making less than this range.
2. He is possibly unhappy with his salary (why else is he browsing job postings?)
3. I am being paid relatively well.

This realization has made me feel both lucky, a bit guilty, and also worried that we might lose this guy. In my perception, he is really smart, presents himself well, and I have a great deal of respect for him professionally. I really hope that he does not leave us, because I think he does a great job, and I learn from him routinely.

Is there any tactful way to broach such a topic with my manager, to the effect of "Hey, we need to do something to retain this guy who is apparently being severely underpaid?" I think it is a potential red flag that this guy is even browsing external job postings at all. I can think of no way to do this that doesn't somehow imply that we're inappropriately comparing salary info (we weren't - I think this was just an honest comment from my coworker, not an attempt to divulge his or seek my own salary info). (I know that sharing our salary info isn't really illegal in any case, however doing so would be frowned upon, and really is an inaccurate picture of what happened anyway.) Of course I also don't want to raise any red flags that maybe I'M being overpaid.

EDIT: It has been mentioned that this is a possible duplicate of another question. However I think a significant difference with my question is that the person in question is a coworker, and not myself. Although the other question may have useful info as well, I believe that the fact that this is another person adds a layer of nuance. E.g. I believe that sitting down with my boss and saying "Look, I think I am being undervalued and here is why" is substantially different than "Look, I think that Frank is being undervalued and here is why," at least in terms of how one would approach it. There is also the added quirk that I myself am also apparently being paid quite well comparatively.

Answer 1

Don't approach the boss, approach your colleague himself.

You should tell him something along the lines of, "You know that if the competitor pays X you could probably ask for a similar/higher figure. I think you should talk to the boss about this".

Salary is a supply/demand thing; your boss wants to pay as little as possible, but will be ready to pay as much as your coworker is worth (i.e. how much would an equal replacement cost). Without your coworker expressing his dissatisfaction from this situation, he is unlikely to be offered a raise.

Answer 2

It is a sad but true thing that the longer you work for a company, the farther you get from what the market is paying. Market rates are generally only paid to new hires. Annual pay raises rarely keep up.

If you want to keep your salary at market rates, you have to either move on every two years or so or negotiate for yourself. It is your coworker's choice which he wants to do. There may be (and likely are) many other reasons besides pay as to why he is looking. If knew he was underpaid that much he would not have expressed surprise at the market rate. It is none of your business.

Just stay out of the whole thing.

Answer 3

Stay out of it. Your salary is between you and your employer. Your coworker's salary is between him and his employer.

If being underpaid bothers the coworker enough, he will raise his concerns with his boss. He is an adult and doesn't need anyone else to do his salary negotiations for him.

Never let go of an opportunity to mind your own business.

Answer 4

You should be aware that a very specific set of behaviors are legally protected by the NLRB, even if you are not in a union. Discussing pay is protected, especially if it is a part of collective bargaining.

In short, you are legally protected from retaliation from discussing YOUR salary. You can, while on your break or in a non-work area, tell others "I make $x per year with a $y annual bonus and receive z weeks paid vacation." and your employer can only grit their teeth. Furthermore, if they do discipline you, even if they don't say it's due to you discussing your salary, you have legal means to make yourself whole.

You could speak with your co-worker after hours and tell him that you make $x. Additionally, you AND your co-worker can go into your bosses' office and discuss making pay more fair across your organization or work unit. If you are collectively bargaining for better pay, you are protected even if you are not in a union. If you go to your boss and go to bat for your co-worker as an individual, there is a reasonable chance that your boss will be quite miffed, and they would be able to dismiss you without fear of retaliation, if they cared enough.

Finally, keep in mind that in a few years, you might be at this company, underpaid. If you push for more fair compensation policies now, it may help you personally long term.

Answer 5

In some countries, salaries are based on diplomas. If your coworker has not the same diploma as you, it is possible that the gap between yours salaries is 10k or more.

For example if you have a master degree and he has bachelor degree, you will have a better starter salary plus after some years of work the gap will only get wider even if your corworker is higly skilled.

If you both have the same diploma, maybe you are better than him to negociate a better salary.

Anyway, remember than you just presumed about his salary. I know some people who constantly said they are underpaid while they are not.

Don't be too emotional about this, because nothing good can happen if you speak to your boss or your coworker, you will be held responsible for starting the salary debate, and in the worst case, your coworker leave the company, and you are fired because your boss doesn't appreciate what you did.

Be careful on what you do next, this kind of topic can escalate quickly.

Answer 6

If I find myself in a conversation that is dealing with salary or someone feeling underpaid I like to ask a rhetorical question to the individual or those involved in the discussion:

Do you know how much you are worth?

If people do not know how much they are worth, then how are they even supposed to negotiate for a proper salary? I will not answer this for them. If they want to know, they need to do their own research and reflect on how skilled they actually are. If they know it or eventually figure it out and start to complain or grouch that they are underpaid, I then will give one last followup rhetorical question:

So what are you going to do about it?

If they look confused, I will point out some possible actions like negotiating for a better salary or looking for another job. It is far better to let the person decide on what action they want to take or if they want to take no action than for you doing it for them.

Two last notes

It is possible that a person could be in a state that they are being overpaid and do not realize how good they have it. As such I have used the first rhetorical question as a double edge sword to encourage them to actually think what they are worth and not end up in place where they are too expensive to be hired if they ever try to find a new job.

Lastly, in your case it is a little late to ask this rhetorical question since the conversation is over, but it likely this will come up again since the problem has not been dealt with, at which point you can ask this then.

Answer 7

Lots of great answers on here, I agree with Laetus you should approach him first and suggest he asks for a raise. Do not mention your salary.

All I felt needed to be added is:

Do not tell management that he has been looking at job postings!

This will break his trust in you and management will lose trust in him. If he really wants to broach the subject let him do it his way.

Answer 8

Invite him out for beers and just talk about it. Keep it casual and don't be nervous. Imagine if the tables were turned, you would definitely want to learn information that effects not only your career and job satisfaction, but your quality of life and sense of self-worth. How you found out about his salary isn't as big of a deal as his labor being severely undervalued. Don't be embarrassed to tell him your own responsibilities at work and what you make. The taboo around salary in the United States hurts everyone.

Answer 9

Salary does not depend just on market value, it depends on much more things. Two employers can have the same knowledge, but one can better sell himself, as in appear more senior and request more money, while the other one maybe to shy to do something like that and will go with whatever is acceptable.

Another thing is how is someone active. I got a higher raise than my collegue, who knows as much as I do, but I'm the type of guy that gives suggestions and does things out of my comfort zone, while the other collegue just sits and works.

Answer 10

If you're not above your colleague in the hierarchy (which you say you're not), it's not advisable to directly and explicitly mention this to management - rather let your colleague take action himself, like Laetus recommends.

However, you might make it easier for your colleague to ask for a raise and get it if you amplify your colleague's good reputation in the company. Mention his positive influence on the company when you talk with management about your work. You can mention things like:

I was really grateful that Bob brought me up to speed on widgetmaking, his efficient introduction really saved us all a lot of time and effort and I could start working straight away.

or

I really like the new buildserver Bob has set up - that saves us a lot of trouble because...

or

I really admired how Bob kept his cool in the meeting with [difficult customer] and made sure that in the end we got some workable tasks out of it.

If Bob then has his salary negotiation and tries to argue that he brings value to the company, management has heard "Bob brings value to the company" before and may assign it more credibility.

Answer 11

In "Up the Organization" Bob Townsend had a solution for the essential, severely underpaid employee in a 'Theory X' organization:

'Quit, reapply for your own job, and under "salary requirements" put what you think you're worth. If the hiring manager has any sense at all, and you've correctly assessed the situation, they'll have little real choice except to rehire you for near what you're worth.'

Of course, most organizations are badly run, and they'll probably decide it's less insulting to the manager to fire your coworker than to fix the situation. The real answer is to look around for a better paying job in an organization that's not so badly run...and leave.

Answer 12

From experience I concluded years ago: Sharing ones pay with colleagues, even if they're your friends can have bad repercussions and sour the climate at work, therefore should be avoided.

Your colleague might become resentful towards you simply because you earn more than he, especially if he is longer with the company / has seniority / more experience. He also may get mad at the employer and flat out tell them about your conversation, demanding to get paid more than you. If your employer doesn't mind that you revealed your wage, working with your colleague may become unbearable if he doesn't get more money and keeps a negative attitude towards you or your work and you might decide to leave or further damage work environment by complaining to your employer.

Depending on how your employer sees things this whole thing could also result in you getting a pay cut or even being laid off (if they're careful after a certain amount of time has passed, so that it seems unrelated).

If he quits because of this, you might have irreparably damaged your relationship with your employer.

If they pay him more, your employer might become more critical about his and your performance and / or more distant.

Wage negotiations are always between the employer and the employee or their representatives and are a direct reflection of each parties' negotiation skills, the employees professional expertise and how hard the employer wants / needs said employee as well as the employees dependence on getting / keeping the job. The market values of you and your colleague were also very different at the time either of you got hired. He also might have started there before gaining senior experience and simply didn't get or ask for a raise since.

It is unlikely that an employer will gladly pay more money than they obviously paid him for years before you "stuck your nose in there".

As was said already, if you'd like for your colleague to get paid better you might nudge him in conversation towards the point he made that juniors get more than he and maybe he should get into some negotiations with your employer.

Talking to your employer on your colleagues behalf might irritate your employer and / or feel like breach of trust to your colleague, since he might assume your conversation was in confidence.