I have been working for a small business in a technical field since graduating from college about 4 years ago.
The business I work for is small, I was their first employee, and am currently one of four. Over the holidays and start of the new year I began chatting with colleagues from other, larger businesses in the industry about salary, since I don’t have a peer group to discuss this with at my workplace.
Ultimately, I discovered I am getting paid significantly less than my peer group, by around $15,000-20,000, and I do not get paid overtime like they do. Initially I was taken aback, and tried to rationalize that the circumstances are different since the company I work for is so small.
After many long chats with family and friends, I know my work experience and time is valuable and I deserve to be compensated as such. So last week I pulled my boss (the owner of the business) aside and said I wanted to open a dialogue about my salary. I was met with exasperated sighs and statements like “well this just sucks for me”, “I knew it was only a matter of time” and “I assume you’ve been interviewing with other companies”
When I explained I was making significantly less money compared to my peers I was immediately told “We can’t afford to pay you another $10,000” and “I already had to cut my pay, to hire X” Later in the conversation this was changed to we can’t afford to pay you another $20,000.
I then shifted the conversation to overtime pay, and was met with “well you don’t work much overtime” like duh… I try to avoid it as much as possible since I do not get compensated for that time. But even so, there are times where I simply have to work overtime, and I do.
What I really didn’t want from this conversation was for it to feel like an ultimatum, but it ended with me being told I had to give them a number of what it would take for me to stay. I like my boss, I enjoy working for the company and helping grow the business, I just want a competitive wage that reflects my value to our operations and my experience. But what i got out of it was they KNEW they were underpaying me, and have been absolutely fine doing so, and we just waiting for me to wake up and realize I was worth more.
I’ve seen our invoices, I know my billing rate, I know my time utilization stats and how 90%+ of my time is spent on billable work, I know the business’s monthly and yearly revenue, and I know they can afford to pay me a wage that is competitive with the market standards, they just have been choosing not to.
I am now in negotiations with the person who handles all of the contracts, as my boss felt to emotional to negotiate with me, and SURPRISE I’m now submitting applications and taking interviews with other companies.
As much as it “sucks” for the business, it sucks to be an underpaid employee. Especially with small businesses, it’s easy to feel like you are friends with your employer, but you are not and they will take advantage of you.