Level-setting your salary
Do this if you’re underpaid
Do you sense that you’re being underpaid? Ask HR to research it for you. When you bring it up, tell them that you value working for a company that values transparency, and that you would like to be treated equally as well. You’re not asking for a “raise.” You’re asking to “level-set” your salary.
If HR comes back equivocating and you learn nothing, you have some choices to make. There’s usually an office taboo around asking your colleagues about their salary. Some workplaces may even have an explicit rule against it. The truth is, you’re allowed by law to talk about your salary with your coworkers. (You can talk about your own, or ask a colleague directly about their own, but you can’t ask someone about a third party’s.) Now, there may be reasons why you don’t want to go there – first and foremost you probably don’t want to get in trouble. But silence around the issue can also protect a culture of inequality. Consider how you would feel if you got a 5K raise and then found out your colleague was making 30K more.
Note: if your workplace is equivocating about your salary, this is also information you can use to weigh your choices.
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