Am I underpaid?

The layoff exposed some interesting trends in the pay structure. Most folks got a 5% raise to come on board. All the same, I am currently roughly $20k behind a colleague who got laid off. Did he get laid off because he got paid too much? Maybe.

Where do you guys look for REPUTABLE income comparisons?

I have been to salary.com, I have been to glassdoor, and perhaps a few others.

I know I'm $4.00 under the average armed officer who is at a site that doesn't compare to the work load, stress level, or how imperative it is that we guard what we do. Not too uncommon.

I know my father lost his job because they could pay inexperienced people more and it wouldn't cause a huge difference in customer satisfaction.

20k seems to be a huge difference and probably was he reason he was laid off.

There is a strong connection between guards, so we know way more than we should about each other and other sites.

If you asked for more and said you'd leave if you didn't get it, would you get it? Would you leave? If you left could you easily find a job that paid more? In some industries you trade security for money. Yes, the guy who jumps jobs gets paid more, but he's also the one that gets sent home when it's time. My experience may not be in the same field as you, but it's what I've seen.

My friend got fired because the owner simply told the GM "fire whoever makes the most money around here". Even worse the owner passed my buddy on the way out the door and asked him how his day was going! No clue.

So yes, being well paid may make you a target when things get tough.

I thought I was underpaid for a while, until I realized my benefits at my company are pretty good compared to what some of my friends where getting in similar positions at different companies in the same area.

most people could leave their current position, and were they to be rehired at the same level, the market would demand a 6 to 10 percent pay increase, also my company mantains if you quit today, it would cost them 150% of you pay and benefits to replace you..........so they focus on rentention.

RossD wrote: I thought I was underpaid for a while, until I realized my benefits at my company are pretty good compared to what some of my friends where getting in similar positions at different companies in the same area.

Between my benefits and cost of living, it would require about 5-10k more to relocate to a different company.

Easiest way is to talk to recruiters and see what companies are offering for someone with your level of experience.

One of the software engineers here at work, with a Masters degree, was making less than I was (as a tech writer with a Bachelors degree) until he turned in his resignation.

After he was upset from a few things and started looking he was shocked how much he was underpaid. I believe they ended up throwing something like $25k more per year to get him to stay.

wrote: if you quit today, it would cost them 150% of you pay and benefits to replace you..........so they focus on rentention.

My company (I'm a contractor) doesn't fire you. You get sent back to the office. (Right now they are paying for 2, soon to be 3 overtime slots. The client decided it is time for him to approve the next guards. Good decision.)

If you get sent back to the office, you won't know where you are working tomorrow, nor what time it will be. That's why I just stay here and do my job. I'm the best at it, and that puts me in a good spot not to be "sent back to the office."

I have already see to it that I will be a pain in the ass to replace. Dick move, but I never said I wasn't one.

Compared to the national average, pay in the Greenville area is kind of low. That said, the cost of living isn't very much, either. Did your friend get brought in to this location from the west coast or up north? Those guys usually keep their higher salaries when they transfer from another plant.

As far as your question, I don't know where to get accurate pay comparisons. I have just asked trusted co-workers. I have rarely asked because most peoples panties get all bunched up when they talk about money. I don't know why. I'm neither proud or embarrassed by how much I make. I'm not going to go posting it on the 'net, but if a co-worker asked me, I'd tell them.
In my current job I had a feeling I was underpaid by a few percent. A few percent ain't enough to whine about. Then I was offered a job for more, lots more. They matched the offer. That was almost a 20% increase. I had NO IDEA I was that underpaid. Had I only asked..... Doesn't matter, it all turned out ok, but that the only way to really find out.

Everyone is underpaid. :-)

The cynical take on it is, employers will pay you just enough so you don't leave. And employees will work just hard enough so they don't get fired.

The reality is though often the new hire salaries go up a lot faster than the current employees' raises. That's pretty common in engineering especially. Which is why job jumping, in moderation, can be beneficial to the bottom line.

mazdeuce wrote: If you asked for more and said you'd leave if you didn't get it, would you get it? Would you leave? If you left could you easily find a job that paid more? In some industries you trade security for money. Yes, the guy who jumps jobs gets paid more, but he's also the one that gets sent home when it's time. My experience may not be in the same field as you, but it's what I've seen.

I left a stable job where I was underpaid relative to what I brought to the table as far as skill, knowledge and passion go. I was hired by a larger company, quickly rose to a little over $8 per hour beyond my previous wage and then when the mining industry slowed down about a year later, I was one of 275+ hourly employees who were laid off. So I definitely agree with the above statement, "In some industries you trade security for money.".

I felt like Icarus upon being paid off. So foolish for letting my reach outstrip my grasp.

But, on the other hand, a $20K salary gap in pay with a colleague would be a tough pill to swallow. That's one of the things that lead to up to me leaving the original company.

For now, if I were in your situation, I would keep my head down and keep on keeping on. You may be underpaid, your colleague may have been over paid, but I'll bet you're making more than he or she is now. Then again I don't have your knowledge, skills and education. As an engineer you have a lot more options and mobility than I do and with the current shortage of experienced engineers I would think a company would do quite a bit to keep you happy.

I don't have a 6 car garage stacked with an Elise, a C7, a CTS V wagon and an FFR Cobra, so yes, I'm underpaid.

MRP for my position seems to be about $16k over what i make now. Cost of living is lower here, so probably $10k underpaid.

Unfortunately, the market for my specific job isn't real wide open locally, so here i stay.

Klayfish wrote: I don't have a 6 car garage stacked with an Elise, a C7, a CTS V wagon and an FFR Cobra, so yes, I'm underpaid.

You're still 2 bays short. Probably need a diesel excursion and an Apache pickup.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: The reality is though often the new hire salaries go up a lot faster than the current employees' raises. That's pretty common in engineering especially. Which is why job jumping, in moderation, can be beneficial to the bottom line.

Same in software engineering.

I am actually a Compensation Analyst for a living. I spend my days at work looking at national and regional labor markets to see what is happening with different professions. The basic question I answer is where do we need to pay people so they are not leaving in droves because of pay, but not giving the company away either.

To answer the OP original question, Salary.com correlates reasonably closely to the to the data sources I use, at least for general job titles Mechanical or Electrical Engineer.

If you are going to look market data, make sure you are looking at numbers for your region. I could write several more paragraphs about how to evaluate where your pay is relative to market and your peers, but I don't have time right now. I'll see if I can post more this evening after work.

I'll echo rotard and throw the "cost of living" thing into the mix. If I were to go back to work for the man, about the best I could hope for right now is the median household income. Right on the button. That said, housing and property taxes are downright retarded cheap where we live. Mrs. Poop and I occasionally watch those stupid "house hunters" shows and whatever on HGTV. I'm shocked that there are people our age shopping for 3 br/2 bath houses on less than an acre for $800,000, when we just passed up on 75 acres for $150k...and a house down the street from the shop for $40k.

Glassdoor seems about right, but the only way to actually know if you are underpaid is to get an offer from another company. I go by the interview 1-2 times a year rule. It's the only way to truly know your worth.

I just yanked a 40-50% bump with latest move. Completely unexpected but hard to pass up.

I have been in that boat. Company I worked at for 10 years was paying me a good 20k a year less than everyone else. Everytime I asked for a raise, I would get a song and dance and finally just left.

I can now make in 15 hours what took me a week at the old job

I make less now than I did at my last 'good' position in Charleston, I make a LOT more than the last place I was working down there but my expenses are much lower up here and best of all my stress levels are way down. I'm not going to go chasing the dollar above all any more, down that road lies madness. berkeley that.

But- being on commission means I can make my own raises too.

Can you train a monkey to do your job in less than a month? If so, whatever you make above minimum wage is too much.

Can your job be outsourced to India? You are being paid too much.

Does somebody with some of your skills want your job, and would he be happy to make less than you earn? You are being paid too much.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Can you train a monkey to do your job in less than a month? If so, whatever you make above minimum wage is too much. Can your job be outsourced to India? You are being paid too much. Does somebody with some of your skills want your job, and would he be happy to make less than you earn? You are being paid too much.

THIS.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Can you train a monkey to do your job in less than a month? If so, whatever you make above minimum wage is too much.

No

Streetwiseguy wrote: Can your job be outsourced to India? You are being paid too much.

No

Streetwiseguy wrote: Does somebody with some of your skills want your job, and would he be happy to make less than you earn? You are being paid too much.

Yes.. but can't be done. One of the benefits to the Union Call system.. we -all- make the same rate