Salary Negotiation: How to Spot Signs You Are Being Undercut

Discussing about salary is a sensitive topic to bring up for most people. A negotiation about salary is a private matter, depending on what job you have. This makes it “easy for people to be underpaid, as nobody will really know what you earn apart from the employer and employee” (Ryan, Forbes). Some jobs might not have enough money to really compensate workers and the work they have done.

While at other times, the company might not realize how much work employees have so as to make a higher deserved pay. Situations like these are often difficult to address to employers, as it may be construed in a negative way. While every company has a different way to really justify how much employees earn, there are common signs of being underpaid that can be seen by employees in general. Here are 5 major signs of being underpaid:

1) Increase in responsibility, but not in salary.

This can be considered as an obvious sign of being underpaid. It is always important for employees to keep an overview on the responsibilities they have in their workplace. If employees were to take new and different roles, but not get a chance to discuss in a possibility of a salary increase, then there is obviously a problem. To add to that, if in any case an employee were to have an “upgrade” in the job title but still have no sign of a salary increase, it is also a problem.

2) Higher salary in similar departments or compared to similar colleagues.

People often avoid talking about salary openly as it is again, a private matter. However, networking may be a way around this issue. Though often it is something people tend to avoid, comparing salary income is a common thing amongst some people (depending on the relationship). There are often cases where employees see colleagues with similar responsibilities and even educational background that have a higher income.

3) Area of specialty is not in high demand.

In some cases certain type of jobs may decrease in demand depending on where one works. While other jobs are in such high demand that a large salary would be needed to fill those demands, which results in a lower need for those areas that do not have such a significant demand. When the job function is not in high demand, it is easier to underpay an employee.

4) Employer becomes evasive when the topic of career comes up.

Employees may find it difficult when talking to an employer when it comes to one’s career. When an employee finds it rather difficult to even set up a meeting to talk about it, it may be because the employer is avoiding the possibility of a talk about salary. It is something “you (as an employee) should not be willing to sweep under the rug for so long, even if your boss is” (Taylor, Business Insider).

5) Having the mind-set of just being “happy to be employed”.

When employees have gone into the mind-set of “just being happy to have a job”, most managers can see this. This then limits the chances of having more responsibilities that could have led to a higher salary. Once managers can see that an employee is already satisfied where they are, they might have the thought of leaving it at that. That being said, staying motivated and showing a positive attitude at work may just change this. Most managers will not “go out of their way to make you an absurdly happy employee, if you’re already a happy employee” (Taylor, Business Insider).


Once these signs have been noticed, an employee must first understand the situation and grasp where the company stands on the reasons regarding the given salary. As explained above, there are two common situations where a company might offer a particularly lower salary when compared to others. Though talking about salary is often an avoidable aspect in an employee’s workplace, there are times where it is needed.

Brodie Bavidge

Sources
http://www.businessinsider.co.id

http://www.businessinsider.com

http://www.gig.com

http://www.forbes.com