I’ve been with my company for more than nine years. In that time, I’ve been promoted twice and have received two additional market salary adjustments, both of which I had to ask for and received within one day of asking – clearly overdo. I’ve always been a little underpaid (I’m a woman in her early 30s – shocker), but I’ve recognized there were other benefits to my job that made up for that gap. However, I just learned that our new hire, who is my peer, is making about 30% more than me. We actually have several new hires (all my peers/same job), so I imagine they’re all making around that much. I know the job market is crazy right now – but 30% more for the same role? What is that shit? I cant even believe our HR department allows such a large discrepancy for the same job. What’s really irritating is that I just asked for a salary adjustment in October. If I didn’t ask for that and get it, this new woman would be making almost 45% more than me.
I’m torn over what to do. Do I tell my boss I found out about her (much higher) salary and ask him to match it, despite the fact that I just got a salary bump in the fall? Do I find a new job?
For more context, I love my company, team and role. Leaving isn’t my preference. I report directly to our CMO who has become a dear friend of mine. I get a ton of exposure to our executive leadership (something I know would be hard to get at another job) and have built really great relationships with some of our leaders; so much so that our president, COO and a couple of board members sent me baby gifts when my first baby was born. I’ve been labeled a “high performer” every single year at my annual review and have always received the largest bonus possible. I work my ass off and am constantly relied on to help with things well outside my job – particularly when we have staffing holes (which is most of the time due to high turnover). In the fall when I made my salary adjustment request, my boss said he would work on a growth path for me since I’ve basically hit a wall/there isn’t an open role above mine. That was six months ago, and I still haven’t heard anything else about it since. I assume/hope he’ll update me on it when I get back to work in April (currently on maternity leave).
All this to say, I feel l’ve got a rewarding job at a good company, but DAMN… 30% is a lot to be underpaid. Any advice?