Case study: A tale of two colleagues

Janey and Michael were two colleagues in a big organisation. They had been promoted within a month of each other, to the same level, to head up the same team, working jointly.

Over the two years after their promotion, Janey changed team twice, still working for the same manager. Each time, she negotiated a pay rise with her boss, on the grounds that she was taking on more responsibility.

Two years after their promotion, the organisation held a pay review, and announced that it was giving a pay rise to all the lowest-paid staff in Janey and Michael’s pay bracket. When Janey dropped into Michael’s office one day for a chat, he said to her,

“It will be nice to have that pay rise, won’t it?”

“What pay rise?” she asked.

“That pay rise for the lowest paid staff. They’ve sent me an email telling me that I’ll get it. Surely you will too? We were promoted at the same time.”

“No,” Janey said, cheerfully. “No email. I guess I’m not in the lowest-paid staff any more. I’ve negotiated myself two pay rises since then.”

Both found it astonishing how quickly Janey had moved herself through the pay bracket. Michael had known that Janey had negotiated pay rises, because she had mentioned it, but neither had realised just how much more than him she was now earning. Gaps can open up very fast.