How to address pay discrepancy during active compensation discussions?
I'm a Senior 2 Engineer who received 'Exceeding Expectations' followed by 'Defining New Standards' in my last two review cycles, demonstrating consistent Staff-level performance.
About a month ago, I initiated compensation discussions with my manager, who has escalated this to the CTO. Today, I learned through informal channels about another team member's who got promoted to Senior 2 compensation being higher than mine.
- How do you professionally handle compensation discussions when you've discovered pay discrepancies through informal channels? Is it appropriate to bring this up with management? I wonder what to do because the conversation about a raise started about a month ago before I knew about my other colleague new salary.
- What's the best way to balance showing I'm serious about needing an adjustment without overplaying my hand, given I don't have another offer yet?
- For those who've been in management: how do you prefer engineers approach these conversations, especially when they've already expressed they might leave if compensation isn't adjusted?
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Discussion
(2 comments)- 214 days agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Wow, Defining New Standards is top-notch aura, nice job 🎊
I talk about negotiating your current salary here, but to share some specific advice:
- I would not bring up your knowledge of the coworker's compensation. Hearsay won't give you credibility here, and it sounds like you don't know their exact compensation (not just salary, but also equity + bonus).
- Instead, I'd ask the question "can you share the general compensation benchmarks for this rating and this trajectory of performance?"
- 1
14 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroDang, seems like you're crushing it, nice job! As a heads up, senior -> staff is an extremely lagging promotion, usually 1 year minimum. If your performance review cycles are 1 year each, then I do think you definitely deserve a promotion. If they're 6 months, then I can understand leadership wanting to wait (at Meta, Senior "Exceeds Expectations" was still a ways off from Staff).
How do you professionally handle compensation discussions when you've discovered pay discrepancies through informal channels? Is it appropriate to bring this up with management?
The unfortunate thing is that it's super awkward to bring this up as a visceral reaction from leadership will often be "Oh, you're just jealous". I think you can weave it in casually as a "Hey, I just found out X makes Y more than me" if:
- Compensation discussions are already happening
- The delta is very large, at least 10%, ideally 15%+. If it's like a $5k difference, it's really not a big deal, at least in the US. Even a $25k difference isn't that big in the US for Senior 2 at a FAANG-level company like Instacart or something
- You and your manager have a great relationship
If those criteria aren't met, things can get awkward fast. If you sort of insinuate that you may leave and then you don't, you may get labeled as a flight risk. From there, everyone will start treating you negatively as they think you might be out the door tomorrow.
