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Recently, I was hired in a stable and internationally-based company that has wonderful opportunities. Actually, I had a decent freelance job when they emailed me about the opportunity. I was not searching for a new job, it so happened that they found my credential via LinkedIn.

To make the long story short, I applied for the job, got interviewed, and after two weeks got hired. At first I was hesitant to accept the job offer since they offered a base salary, a reasonable offer based on our country's standard of living, but since my current salary as a freelancer is higher, I tried to renegotiate the offer, asking almost twice the based salary they offered, (let's say from 57k to 90k). I expected they would turn it down and that was my way of turning down the offer, but luckily they granted my wish. Well, as I mention, the company's very stable and globally multi-awarded, so paying high salary is not an issue for them.

Now here's the thing, I accidentally saw the salaries of their current employers with same position as me (I am a software developer), and I am curious what will happen if they found out we have big discrepancy in terms of salary? Their salaries are base salary but still a reasonable as per our countrie's standard of living.

I feel nervous, and the treatment by my co-employee may change if they found out that I draw more salary compared to theirs.

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I accidentally saw the salaries of their current employers with same position as me.

I'm curious as to how this "accident" happened.

I am curious what will happen if they found out we have big discrepancy in terms of salary?

Your salary is none of their business and theirs is none of yours. Keep it to yourself. If they discover what your salary is then that's an issue they need to take up with management. It has nothing to do with you.

Everyone negotiates their own compensation package. You negotiated a better package for yourself then they did. That's their issue to resolve, not yours.

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  • A staff from HR/Payroll Dept accidentally emailed me the wrong payroll statement(bank receipts), and asked me to delete it immediately
    – ira
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 14:40
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    I feel like the "keep it to yourself" line only benefits employers. What is to lose by telling others that they may be underpaid?
    – Jay
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 15:09
  • @Jay usually a contractual clause. Plus if the others raise it as an issue and the company tells them “no. If you don’t like it, there’s the door...”, then the others will make it OPs fault. S/he will treated with envy and resentment and all the petty unpleasantness that brings.
    – Justin
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 15:26
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    @Jay the point is that what someone makes is nobody else's business. It's up to each individual to negotiate their own compensation package.
    – joeqwerty
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 16:00
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    But to effectively negotiate fair compensation, you need to know what others are making (assuming you're following the market paradigm...). Wouldn't it be a better world if compensation WAS completely transparent?
    – Bwmat
    Commented Jun 29, 2019 at 21:43
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Let the quality of your work speak to justify your pay

You get paid for the value you bring to the organization, and if your negotiations were in line with the budget set aside for the position by the organization. I am a software developer myself and trust me when it comes to negotiations, I have seen folks seriously undervalue themselves. Also, it's pretty common in the industry for software developers to have skewed pay-scale for the same role/position.

I feel nervous, and the treatment by my co-employee may change if they found out that I draw more salary compared to theirs.

You need not worry about the treatment by other employees, as you are paid for the value/experience you are bringing to the table (which others might be lacking, proved by the fact that the company was willing to shell out extra to hire your).

Being a successful freelancer software developers speaks volumes about your skills (you have handled client on your own, can single handedly manage and deliver projects, skilled/confident in your tech stack, basically a plethora of skills apart from writing code). All these skills are definitely a value add for a software developer, especially when compared with software developers that has only ever worked in a team setting.

You never know how the other employees were/are performing? Maybe the organization is looking for a good talent which they are currently lacking? And based on how you described your hiring situation, they found your skills pretty valuable.

Just focus on your work and give your best without worrying about these things.

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what will happen if they found out we have big discrepancy in terms of salary?

They better do not find out then. You focus on your work and let the company worry about pay differences.

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