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I work at a company that under pays me by 30% of the industry average according to Glass Door and Stack Overflow salaries. I used my skills and years of experience to find this. I even checked by reducing my number of skills and industry experience and they show I'm underpaid by 25% based on location.

The company has policies in place for review cycles that could bring promotions and raises. They also have additional required side projects to complete to meet the promotion criteria. We are required to do at least two of these projects a year and it's supposed to be on our own free time, not in the office during work hours.

I'm finishing up the second project and if I were to guess the time it has taken I would say about two pay checks worth of my personal time has gone into these projects. It has taken two and half to three months of my personal time to get these done which includes putting off other things of personal interest.

My concern is even if I received a promotion or raise I doubt it will be significantly higher. I heard that other people who started just three years ago are only making 10% more than me, which puts them still 30%+ lower than the average. That's assuming those are three more years of experience and could get better pay somewhere else.

Me and others have tried talking to Compensation and Benefits managers about this and they kind of ignored the staightforward question and asked what we thought about medical and 401k. Which we all feel is good, but doesn't justify the pay discrepancy. We also told them we could find the same medical and 401k at other companies. Some people can't even use the 401k or medical because of bills they have to pay. If they lowered their paycheck to get these benefits then they wouldn't be able to cover bills.

Is there a good way to talk to management about this? If they offer a raise that is lower than I would like is there anything I can do?

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  • "They also have additional required side projects to complete to meet the promotion criteria. We are required to do at least two of these projects a year and it's supposed to be on our own free time, not in the office during work hours." Is this a project that the company owns or ends up owning? Big red flag right there
    – HorusKol
    Oct 1, 2018 at 1:54
  • "The company has policies in place for review cycles that could bring promotions and raises. They also have additional required side projects to complete to meet the promotion criteria. We are required to do at least two of these projects a year and it's supposed to be on our own free time, not in the office during work hours." What the hell? I would recommend you start looking for a new job if you are at a company who expects you to work for free.
    – iammax
    Oct 1, 2018 at 4:05
  • 2
    How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid?
    – Bernhard Barker
    Oct 1, 2018 at 5:08
  • If you're feeling underpaid and overworked, and you had no success talking to management about it thus far, the best solution is probably just to find another job.
    – Bernhard Barker
    Oct 1, 2018 at 5:09
  • Put on hold as a duplicate of the general "I'm underpaid" question. Advice on negotiating your compensation can be found there while for this particular question the only answer we can probably give is "find a job that pays you what you're worth because this one won't".
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Oct 1, 2018 at 8:13

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Me and others have tried talking to Compensation and Benefits managers about this and they kind of ignored the staightforward question

This indicates that they already understand how their compensation compares to your industry averages.

Is there a good way to talk to management about this? If they offer a raise that is lower than I would like is there anything I can do?

You can certainly talk to management, indicate why you feel you are underpaid, and indicate why you should be worth more to the company. In general, the value you specifically provide to the company is a far more powerful argument than whatever you might find in Glassdoor or Stack Overflow surveys.

It's unlikely that management isn't aware that they are paying less than what you feel is the industry average. Pay scales are something most employers take very seriously. They typically gather a lot of industry data on a regular basis, think long and hard about it, and decide if they want to pay more than average, average, or less than average.

Still, perhaps they will be surprised.

If they offer less than you would like, you can accept it, or you can find a new job that will pay you more and leave.

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