I’ve mentioned that many years ago after getting promoted, I found myself earning less than my peers in the same role. I don’t blame the company for this—they were very explicit upon my acceptance of my first job at the organization exactly how salary increases worked, and the limits that were in place. It was always my decision to stay despite knowing that my peers, who had been external candidates, were compensated more than me. I could have stayed annoyed, but that wouldn’t get me very far. Sometimes things are not fair. For me, the experience was worth it at every step.

After a rough calculation that I’ve done for this post (I swear I’m not harboring feels of resentment ;-)), my peers had each earned $30,000 more than me over the 4 years in which we held the same jobs. Now, you could say that not all things were equal—maybe my peers had more experience, or this or that—but in the end, the reasons for my bottom of the range salaries were not about my experience, or this or that, they were about the last salary I had and the policy to limit pay increases.

I decided to try to be a catalyst for change in my company. After being offered a promotion and a salary that was more than 20% lower than industry standards and what had been offered to external candidates for the same role, I tried very hard not to be insulted. The offer was based on the salary increase policy and was a 20% raise from my current salary. But I wouldn’t be doing 20% more work in this new role, I would be doing an entirely different job valued in the industry at an entirely different rate. 

I explained to leadership that their policy encouraged me to resign and apply as an external candidate in order to get paid an industry accepted wage. What did that accomplish? Two more rounds of negotiations that ultimately yielded me getting offered the industry wage. Sure, I probably pissed some people off in the process. I felt assured that the job offer wouldn’t be taken away. At some point they would simply say that I could take or leave the salary they were offering. Although I ended up getting what I wanted, the policy didn’t change. Instead, I was offered an exception to the rule, and that was probably based on my negotiations skills, and not on their interest in amending the policy. I can only hope that overtime, and with more employees negotiating for fair promotion policies, the policy will eventually catch up. I don’t think rules are meant to be broken. But I do think that ineffective rules should be addressed by respectfully articulating the problems they create. What do you think?