Some background. I currently work in an emergency Department at a hospital. Recently I applied and have been hired in a different department. Then came to the realization that my new salary seems way under what I feel it should be. The following is a conversation with HR from last week to present.
TL;DR: asked for more money and was told no.
ME: Hello HR drone
I have been thinking more on the amount offered for the position and have come to the conclusion that the offer is severely undercompensated. The position that I have accepted is highly specialized. Only ONE other person has this role. I know that my counterpart has many years of experience in the radiology department, as well as a lengthy tenure within [Hospital Name]. Therefore, I don't expect our compensation to be matched, but with the new salary adjustments coming up in the following year, this gap will increase further, meaning I estimate my pay being $10-$15 less for the same role, which I feel to be unacceptable.
Thank you for your time,
OP
*HR drone calls me. I do not answer.
HR Drone: Hi OP,
Thank you for your email. If you’d like to discuss this further, please feel free to give me a call at your convenience.
HR
ME: I would prefer to have an email conversation so as to remain transparent, open, and honest with our communication.
Respectfully
OP
HR Drone: OP,
RN rates of pay at [Hospital Name] are calculated based off of years of experience as an RN, education level and the job code/salary range for the position that the candidate is applying to. The position in Radiology is at a lower salary range because there are no evening, night or weekend hours required for this position.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Thank you,
HR
ME:
Thank you for your candor. I understand the position being a lower salary due to the schedule. I have two concerns.
The first being, as mentioned above, that the role is specialized in that only myself and one other person do it. Therefore, I feel compensation should reflect that in the sense that if two people and only two people do a role, their compensation should be fair between the two. I do not believe that is the case with the current offer.
My second concern is that this disparity will only be exacerbated in the coming years with percent raises. Currently the amount is $35.49. Given the prospect of a 6% raise. that brings it to $37.61. For reference, My current base pay (without weekend/shift differentials) is $39.75. A 6% raise of that number becomes $42.13. Meaning it will take 3 years to get back to what I can be at in 3 months. Longer given the fact that a 6% annual raise may not occur every year.
I'm not looking to be top of the scale. I only request that the scale be balanced in regards to the job description and specialization of it.
I would even settle on a 2.01$ increase. this would bring the pay to 37.50 and would essentially nullify the 6% raise coming up as it would bring me to my current $39.75 base pay, closing the gap in wage discrepancy while also maintaining this closure through the years.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Respectfully,
OP
HR Drone: OP,
Thank you for your message. I am having my Senior Recruiter take a look at this to see if there is anyway we could negotiate your rate of pay with Department of Nursing leadership.
I will follow up with you as soon as I can.
Thank you,
HR
ME: Thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
OP
weekend goes by
HR Drone: Hi OP,
My Senior Recruiter discussed this with Department of Nursing leadership and at this time they have requested that we maintain the rate of pay that was originally offered to you as this follows our pay practice guidelines and helps maintain the internal pay equity within the Department.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
HR
ME: Thank you for looking into it and taking the time. Could I please get the pay breakdown the hospital uses for years of experience and years of employment?
Thanks,
OP
*HR Drone calls me. I do not answer.
HR Drone: OP,
tried calling you to discuss how the pay practice works and how we calculate rates of pay. There really aren’t any documents that I can provide to you.
Please feel free to give me a call if you’d like to discuss further.
Thank you,
HR
ME (several hours later):
Once again, I prefer to email for reasons mentioned previously.
I’m sure [Hospital Name] has a spreadsheet that shows an increase from base pay for years of experience and years of service. For example. Next year I will have 5 years of experience in an official ‘RN’ role. Usually the 5 year mark is one of the milestones for a change in compensation.
To be frank. I am also disappointed in how this request was handled. It does not feel like honest, fair, and transparent communication; which was made a priority right away. Honestly it feels like I am buying a car and the salesperson went in back to “talk to the manager”. Except the manager was never talked to. Whether that is truly what happened or not is irrelevant. I’m merely voicing my concern on the matter.
Furthermore, there is a discrepancy here by saying there ‘aren’t any documents’, yet my request was denied due to ‘pay practice guidelines’.
I am requesting how raises are handled for time in service (working at hospital) and years of experience working as an RN. As previously communicated, one of my concerns is in regards to the disparity between staff compensation that will inevitably occur with annual raises in the future. I would like some form of reassurance that this gap will be closed through the years. That is why I am requesting information on the pay scale as mentioned above.
Respectfully,
OP
That's it! Pretty anticlimactic. Thanks for reading. I gave it a try. I'll update later.