I've been in my industry for over a decade. I started out doing web design and front end development, happened to be quite good at both, and progressed through the ranks. In recent years, I've enjoyed managing a team of designers for a large publishing company. I really enjoy my role – I don't do much of the “work”, but I have the skills to do it at least as well as anyone in my team, and I actively mentor and guide them. After a slew of shitty bosses, it's nice to be a good boss and know that people are looked after – I let my team take sick time holiday time, any appointments or day to day life stuff that they need to deal with are no problem, no questions asked, and I don't report any of it to upper management.
In my current place, I wasn't aware of the salaries of people within my team until recently. I haven't been there long and the information wasn't provided to me up front. I discovered that while I am on a good salary at around $85k (but still lower than industry average for my position), there are people on my team who have been with the company for a decade who are on less than half of that.
It goes without saying I will be pushing for them to have their pay increased. I already have, in fact. But it makes me feel guilty for how much I'm paid relative to them. The thing is I live in a major city and have children, so that money doesn't go far – we live in a small apartment with not enough space etc. The real issue is that people are seriously underpaid.
Honestly I don't have much of a point here, but if there's any advice I can give, it's this:
ALWAYS ask for more money, every single year, and if you are able, move jobs every few years for a significant increase. Companies are not your friends and they will not pay you more voluntarily.