What to Do if You Find Out Your Co-Worker Makes More

I just read this WSJ article on what to do if you learn your co-worker makes more than you. This scenario is especially likely as pay transparency laws come into play. Five excellent points the article makes:

1. Get as many data points as you can. “The more you know, the stronger your negotiating position is.” Ask former colleagues, mentors, and industry peers with this formula: mention you are about to negotiate for more money and you are “thinking of asking for …here, toss out a number that feels a bit on the high side. Then say, ‘What do you think?’” That way you are not putting anyone on the spot and often the person will just tell you what they are making. Ask recruiters too since we “can tell you what candidates for similar roles are being offered.”
2. When you ask your boss for more money, lay out metrics of your performance. The article says not to “mention that you heard Sally or Jim makes more than you” but “[i]nstead, outline your past performance—’I hit all my targets last quarter’—and your future vision—’I’m on track for the same strong performance this year.’” I agree that I would start with metrics, but you may need to indicate your comp is below others despite your strong performance. This I 100% agree with: “Note that you were surprised to find that the market rate for your role is 25% more than what you are currently making.” And close with “Can you talk to me about how we can help close that gap?”
3. Avoid being labeled difficult by raising the issue you are making “substantially” less, e.g., “at least 15% or if multiple members of your team are outearning you, leaving you the clear outlier.”
4. Increase the odds of success by keeping your request short. “[D]istill your case into one captivating sentence that your manager can sell to higher-level bosses, who are almost certainly the ones making the final call.”
5. Include data in your short request. Sample language: “I’m the top performer on a team of six, and I make 20% less than everyone else.” Also, an employee who successfully negotiated a pay raise “attributes her success to being direct, emotionless and armed with data,” in her case a spreadsheet of comp data of other execs in her industry, which “gave [her] a voice.”