#SalaryInformation #CompanyInfoLeak #SalaryNegotiation #RaiseDiscussion
Hey there! So, you accidentally stumbled upon some sensitive information about your colleagues’ salaries, huh? 🤭 Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. But what do you do now that you have this knowledge in your hands? Let’s dive into some advice on how to handle this situation in a professional and strategic manner:
Should I Approach My Boss About a Raise?
– It’s natural to feel a bit disheartened upon realizing that you’re the lowest paid among your peers, despite your long tenure and great performance. However, before jumping into a conversation with your boss about a raise, consider these points:
– Assess your overall performance: Have you been consistently exceeding expectations, taking on additional responsibilities, and positively impacting the company’s bottom line?
– Research industry standards: Look into what the standard salary range is for your position and experience level in your industry. This can help you make a more compelling case for a raise.
– Timing is key: Choose a strategic moment to discuss a potential raise with your boss. Consider factors like the company’s financial health, recent successes, and your own achievements.
– Prepare your talking points: Be ready to articulate why you believe you deserve a higher salary, using concrete examples of your contributions to the company and how you have exceeded expectations.
Are There Potential Risks in Using This Information?
– While having access to salary information can be empowering, it’s important to tread carefully to avoid any potential backlash. Here are some risks to consider:
– Breach of confidentiality: Remember that salary information is typically considered confidential and sharing it without authorization could lead to serious consequences.
– Damage to relationships: Approaching your boss about a raise solely based on salary comparisons with your colleagues could create tension within the team and affect your working relationships.
– Limited perspective: Salary is just one piece of the employment puzzle. Consider factors like benefits, job satisfaction, growth opportunities, and company culture when evaluating your overall compensation package.
What Should I Do Next?
– Here are some steps you can take to navigate this situation effectively:
– Seek guidance: Consider discussing your findings with a trusted mentor, colleague, or HR professional to get a different perspective on how to proceed.
– Request a private meeting: If you decide to talk to your boss about a raise, request a private meeting to discuss your concerns openly and professionally.
– Focus on your value: Emphasize your contributions, achievements, and the unique skills you bring to the table rather than comparing yourself to your colleagues.
– Stay open to feedback: Be prepared for your boss to ask questions or offer feedback on your performance and readiness for a raise. Use this as an opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue.
Remember, every situation is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to handling salary information disclosures. Ultimately, the key is to be proactive, professional, and strategic in your decision-making. Good luck! 🌟
For more advice on navigating workplace challenges, career development, and professional growth, be sure to check out our website for valuable resources and insights. Happy navigating! 👩💼🚀 #CareerGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment #WorkplaceChallenges #SalaryTransparency
Download nothing. Print nothing. Forward nothing. Say nothing.
If you are in a private company, whoever sent that to you is very likely going to get fired. Do not share that information at all, not in negotiations or with anyone.
The minute you share your knowledge of it, you can suffer the same fate as anyone else who shared it.
Say nothing. You know they have the ability to give you more money. That’s enough for you to have confidence in negotiations.
Never reveal why or how you know that to anyone.
I also accidentally received the salary rates for all the employees at my company – in the midst of advocating for a higher wage based on merit. The data corroborated what I saw on the surface with more limited knowledge – women of color were underpaid across the board in comparison to their white counterparts. The data in my case, which was over an 8 year period, showed that the pay inequity was stable, long-term, and pervasive. This was at an organization that heralded themselves as committed to DEI principles.
There are other variables that can determine pay differentials. What is looked at under the Equal Pay Act is whether employees are paid equal pay for similar work when viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions. If you are a different gender, age, race or fall into another protected category than the other employees of your same title, you may have a claim under this act. If you are not, while you may not have a legal claim or legal right to higher pay, the question should still be asked as to why you are the lowest paid of all your comparators. You should be provided an explanation, and granted the opportunity to meet the qualifying criteria for higher pay. That’s just what’s right.
Pay equity has always been an issue, and as another poster indicated, it is increasingly significant and relevant with pay transparency laws and the progression of society. Employees have the right to know what their comparators make, and employers have an obligation at the minimum to operate by the guidelines of the Equal Pay Act.
In my case, I was denied a pay increase despite being longer tenured, having comparable education and experience, doing more difficult/complex work, and bringing in over 3x the revenue to the business as my comparator. I asked again, and was denied again. I filed a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, then retained a private attorney and resigned. After 1 year, I received a settlement that was over 15x what I initially requested in retroactive pay. The organization also absorbed substantial legal and HR consultant expenses, and ended up revamping their policies and restructuring their organizational chart, and increasing salaries of the remaining hardworking employees in ways that addressed the inequity.
I would notify the employer that the data was sent to me, and ask for a pay increase to the level of those you assess as fair comparators. Again as another poster said, you have done nothing wrong. If the employer hasn’t assessed pay equity themselves, this can help guide them. If they deny you and provide a bogus reason, you can assess whether you want to continue working at a company that doesn’t prioritize equity or ethics.
Time to move on!!!
My VP once sent me a comp letter for a newly hirer in my exact role on another city by mistake. I let him know I received the wrong letter and ask for that salary. I got it, was actually asked what I wanted and was fine with the same, it was over 10% raise. That was about 5 years ago and still at the company. I’d ask to be brought up to the others pay if I was you.
Several aspects go into what someone is paid in salary; tenure is just one of the many criteria. Education, tenure, how many people they already have employed doing that job (are you one of the newer hires?), is the company actively recruiting you away from another employer or are you an internal candidate? Believe it or not internal candidates often get offered less than someone recruited outside of the company. Recommendations from a previous employer and references also play an important role in figuring up a salary. Sometimes employers are very impressed with a candidate, they did extremely well in the interview process but maybe a previous employer didn’t give them a glowing reference or their references weren’t quite up to snuff. So, instead of offering 100k, they might offer 90k on a position that ranges from 80k to 110k. Also, the candidate’s skills and experience factor in and so does the cost of living in the region.
So, just because you saw this file, doesn’t mean you need to go in there armed to the teeth demanding a raise. You might be the lowest paid amongst your peer group, even with the longest tenure. But ask yourself this, how has your performance been compared to theirs? What is your education like compared to theirs? Were you an internal hire or an external, then what were they? I would wait till it was review time, and get my review then when they brought up the raise I would look at the amount and question why if you have a stellar review, you are the lowest-paid employee. Ask them what you can do to bring that up and how can you bring that up. Put the ball in their court.
But, they are going to want to know where you got the information. It all boils down to, how are you going to present it. Are you going to rat out the person who sent it as a mistake? Or, are you going to address it in such a way that they don’t know?
Honestly, don’t tell anyone you saw it. Not the person responsible for the breach, not HR, not your boss. The company could assume it was malfeasance on your part — like you went somewhere you weren’t supposed to, hacked something, etc. The only upside is that someone tells you “thanks” and you feel good about yourself for a few minutes.
Save a copy though, somewhere that’s password protected and not controlled by your employer. You never know when you’ll need it.
Just move on, and start searching for a new job you’ll receive a way better hike than your current company, and also, when you’ll be mail your resignation there are chances that they try to you retrieve(I forget what is the official word )you can demand of you don’t want to change your company as I received this much hike can you match it. But do remember to inform HR about this information you received, this can go against you, coz sometimes there are sensitive informations.
Just find a new job and leave. Your minimum to change jobs is 10% higher than the highest number you saw. You will get a good offer.
In the exit interview, tell them you were recruited, that you hadn’t been looking, but now you know how underpaid you were.
Depending on what you do for work this is incredibly common and you will never beat it if you work there. No amount of hard work or demanding a raise will work. Jumping to another job historically has the highest chance to get you a higher wage.
Start looking, but don’t quit yet, quit when you find a higher paying job
Yeah this is why I will never aplogize for job hopping. My last job I started off making more than the person who trained me and she’d been there for years.
I would compare to the job range and how long you have been there. Every job has a low/mid/high point. If you are there 4+ years I would expect to be at at least the midpoint for the role. Your employer should disclose your Comp Ratio just for asking.
“long tenure”
That’s the reason right there at many companies.
Time to move on.
This happened to one of my husbands co-workers (though it was less accidental and more someone did it intentionally to stir shit on their way out). This co-worker found out he makes 1/2 the salary of the rest of his team. It was 2 years ago they haven’t given him more than the standard raise and he hasn’t stopped complaining, but also doesn’t get another job.
You can’t use the info. Privacy violation.
Take a photo of the open file on your monitor for reference, then notify and delete.
The people in this thread who say that what other people make is not relevant information are insane.
Should people be paid according to their contributions? Yes. Are they? Not perfectly.
Companies pay different people in the same position different rates all the time. And a lot of the time it’s for dumb reasons: Person A negotiated harder than Person B; Person C has been here for 7 years and got only modest raises whereas Person D joined recently during a hot hiring market.
You didn’t steal this info – it was sent to you. You did nothing wrong. Companies live in fear of this being shared further. This gives you power.
Yes, report the error to HR. Since they know you know, if the discrepancy isn’t resolved immediately, I don’t think it would hurt to set up a brief meeting with HR to say, “as you know, I received all the salary information and I couldn’t help notice that Jane is paid $10k more for the same job. Pay equity is very important to me and funding this out was deeply upsetting. When can I expect an adjustment?”
This lets HR contain the incident, which helps them. They messed up big time, and they know it, so they should want to make you happy before the situation blows up and it gets even worse. Your manager doesn’t even have to know at this point. But if HR doesn’t act fast, go to your manager with the same script.
Pay equity is an increasingly big deal. More and more salary transparency laws are coming into place. And Gen Z is really open about sharing salary info. HR knows this. You absolutely have the upper hand in this, as well as the moral high ground.
If they get mad at you asking to be paid the same wage for the same job, then they’re a terrible company and you should leave. And drop a bomb on your way out by sharing lots is useful info (verbally) with your favorite colleagues.
I say you apply elsewhere, if they valued you they would have given you a raise.
I put my notice at my job and they offered me a raise promotion and additional support. I had been asking for additional support for years and they claimed it wasn’t feasible but all of a sudden when I decided to leave it became feasible 🤦🏻♀️.
All I can think of is that scene in one of the Dark Knight movies where the weasel accountant guy finds something he wasn’t supposed to and tries to blackmail BWayne. That conversation never works out the way you fantasize in your head that it will. There are many reasons for different pay rates. You’re not privy to any of those details. You’re just seeing amounts on a spreadsheet. Delete the file and never bring it up. If you want a raise, bring your accomplishments, education, and experience to the table, and ask like a normal person.
HR and Compensation person here…. While this scenario is the stuff of nightmares in my field, it does happen. You have the knowledge to do with it as you please, but proceed with caution. HR will assume you read everything on it once they are notified, even if the question is not ask explicitly. If they are a good company, they will plan to address the inequity you discovered about yourself because they know you now know. The clock will start ticking on who moves first….
Most importantly, you need to notify HR immediately of the file received in error. Failure to do so will raise serious concerns about your integrity at the company. Also, that pay file likely contains other sensitive employee data. Unless your job involves using this type of data and you have been cleared to use it, this info leak increases risk of crimes against employees (stealing bank info or as numbers for example) with you mixed in the middle of it. You also don’t know if anyone else received this file in error. Your disclosure to HR will set off work for them and IT to assess all consequences of that file landing in the wrong inbox.
That information is largely useless unless your raise request has some leverage. If you’re not prepared to walk away they have little incentive to pay you more, regardless of what your peers make.
I would not share the fact you have this info, but would use this knowledge to know that you deserve better compensation. Apparently your company does not have a fair and equitable compensation policy.
My spouse received a file from his CIO; one of the tabs had the salaries of he and all his peers. He notified her of the data breach (its personal data), and she asked him to delete, embarrassed by her misstep.
We viewed the situation as evidence that he was underpaid, which made him feel confident about asking for more when negotiating for his next job, which he did. It motivated him to leave faster. We felt it would be a cheap move by him to use the doc leak sort of as blackmail for cash; lots of factors play into how raises and salaries accumulate.
Theres no right or wrong absolute here; this is just how we interpreted the situation.
I was an intern once that received a master file copy of everyone’s salary. I knew better not to share that information freely but that knowledge was used to gauge the quality of my companies practices and to assess my future roles and tenure at the company and outside of it.
I suggest you handle your compensation conversation with discreet tact or be prepared to face the consequences for being bold.
Before you do literally ANYTHING ELSE, you need to report this to your information security department.
I saw coworkers fired because they received information from a bad actor and did nothing with it. You can’t negotiate a raise without a job. Cover yourself first.
How did you receive it?
Honestly I’d delete but discuss your value with your boss and start looking elsewhere.
I received the pay file by mistake at a job 24 years ago. HR person was horrified.
I negotiated raises for me and my team. I was the lowest paid Director in the company, and one of the few women.
You received the file by accident. Did you have to actively open or scan through it to find the salary data you are contemplating using?
If so, brining up your knowledge could backfire.
Even though it goes against every instinct, what you are supposed to do when you receive a file not meant for you is to alert whoever sent it of the error and delete it without viewing the contents.
From a practical standpoint (not HR advice ), if you looked you should never reveal having done so unless there is a tracking system that would expose you. Survival 101.
You should not bring up this information in your negotiations; it won’t help your case, and could backfire in a big way. However, you have this knowledge now, and that does give you a bit of an advantage in any negotiations, as you know what your employer is willing to pay others in similar roles; you can use that to come up with your own numbers in such a negotiation. It doesn’t mean you’ll be successful at such a negotiation, obviously; that will depend on many factors outside of your control, but at least you’ll know that the amount you’re asking for is reasonable and realistic based on what they’re paying others, so if they’re still not willing to budge, you’ll know it’s time to look elsewhere to get paid what you’re actually worth.
> Should I use this information to start a discussion with my boss about a raise?
No.
If you want to have a discussion about compensation, talk about how you’re adding value to the company. Demonstrate what you’ve done that’s increased the company’s bottom line. Show what credentials or qualifications you have that aren’t redundant in your department. Make the case that you’re worth more based on what you bring, what you do, what you add.
Look for a new position in the company, or a new employer, but don’t try to argue that because someone who isn’t you is being paid differently than you’re being paid, you should get more.
>Are there ways that having this info could potentially backfire?
Yes! It’s confidential information that none of those persons consented to have disclosed.
The smartest, safest course of action is to contact the source of where you got this file, who created it and who shared it with you, and let them know that there is unsecured, confidential information about compensation that needs to be redacted or removed.
This happened to one of my friends. She went to the company with the information. She said this was sent to me inadvertently. She requested a higher salary. They said no. She ended up looking for a new job and was hired at double her previous salary. She never would have left originally.
Have you notified the sender of their error?
I’m still stuck on the “accidental” release of this information. Someone above your pay grade should know about this, but you should not leverage the information for your personal gain.
> Are there ways that having this info could potentially backfire?
Yes, using confidential company information to your advantage is a good way to get fired. What’s next, are you gonna trade stocks when you accidentally receive financial information?
What others are making should never be part of the discussion when asking for a raise. Make the case why you are worth more than you are currently being paid. The information should give you a rough idea what to ask for.
You can try to negotiate what you think you are worth based on what you contribute, but disclosing that you received that information likely won’t help you. Titles don’t mean much in practice.
Isn’t this what shut down SmileDirect club? Someone released the salaries and everyone resigned.
It’s a known fact long tenure doesn’t equal high pay. You could try to negotiate with what you found but be prepared to back up what YOU do for the company.