My wife has a regional manager position watching over several branch managers and their staff.

She has access to salaries and has been promoting the branch managers/giving them raises as this is the time of year.

Apparently, several managers make more than her in base salary… so it's like Jan making less money than Michael Scott… without all the sexual tension.

Armed with this information, my wife said she will demand a meeting with her boss (VP) for salary negotiation.

This ever happen to anyone? How did it turn out?

Carlo4 said:

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My wife has a regional manager position watching over several branch managers and their staff.

She has access to salaries and has been promoting the branch managers/giving them raises as this is the time of year.

Apparently, several managers make more than her in base salary… so it's like Jan making less money than Michael Scott… without all the sexual tension.

Armed with this information, my wife said she will demand a meeting with her boss (VP) for salary negotiation.

This ever happen to anyone? How did it turn out?

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Hi boss,

I'd like to demoted to the branch manager position with less responsibility so I can make more money.

Thanks!
Undervalued.

Her boss should be aware and he should fix it immediately. I'm surprised HR has let that stand.

Otherwise she should ask to be a branch manager.

Yeah, when I've had issues like this in the past, we gave the person at lower salary a pay raise to bring them to a level above their subordinates prior to the changeover.

Obviously it's too late for that now, but she should bring it up with her manager and know what number she's looking to get going in to the conversation.

I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

Carlo4 said:

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My wife has a regional manager position watching over several branch managers and their staff.

She has access to salaries and has been promoting the branch managers/giving them raises as this is the time of year.

Apparently, several managers make more than her in base salary… so it's like Jan making less money than Michael Scott… without all the sexual tension.

Armed with this information, my wife said she will demand a meeting with her boss (VP) for salary negotiation.

This ever happen to anyone? How did it turn out?

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Are we adding base salary as a qualifier to indicate your wife may have a heretofore previously undiscussed total comp package with a higher upside or are you just saying net net she makes less than her subordinates?

Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

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The access her role has is part of more authority and responsibility of being a higher pay grade.

AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

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The access her role has is part of more authority and responsibility of being a higher pay grade.

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Yes. And ??? Having access to confidential information due to your role doesn't come with the right to use it for leverage if you see something you don't like. That's a one way ticket to being reprimanded or even worse being fired.

Additionally, pay grades often overlap. maybe a branch manager negotiated harder and is at top of band vs his wife?

I'm just saying to be careful and really think about how to play it. As soon as she mentions using that confidential information as leverage…it's super risky

Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

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Its not like his wife was gossiping with coworkers and that's how she found out about the pay. She is the one responsible for giving out raises and delivering the news. Obviously she is going to know how much her direct employees are making.

I think its fine for the OP's wife to discuss this with her supervisor in a professional manner, most employee's would bring something like this up.

Astroag said:

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AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

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The access her role has is part of more authority and responsibility of being a higher pay grade.

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Yes. And ??? Having access to confidential information due to your role doesn't come with the right to use it for leverage if you see something you don't like. That's a one way ticket to being reprimanded or even worse being fired.

Additionally, pay grades often overlap. maybe a branch manager negotiated harder and is at top of band vs his wife?

I'm just saying to be careful and really think about how to play it. As soon as she mentions using that confidential information as leverage…it's super risky

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If a company is telling her she should be paid less for a high position than her subordinates, the reason doesn't matter.

AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

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The access her role has is part of more authority and responsibility of being a higher pay grade.

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Yes. And ??? Having access to confidential information due to your role doesn't come with the right to use it for leverage if you see something you don't like. That's a one way ticket to being reprimanded or even worse being fired.

Additionally, pay grades often overlap. maybe a branch manager negotiated harder and is at top of band vs his wife?

I'm just saying to be careful and really think about how to play it. As soon as she mentions using that confidential information as leverage…it's super risky

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If a company is telling her she should be paid less for a high position than her subordinates, the reason doesn't matter.

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That's not what the company is telling her

Eg

Branch mgr - 150 to 225
Regional mgr - 185 to 265

One negotiated to be at top of range and one didn't…

Astroag said:

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ea1060 said:

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Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

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Its not like his wife was gossiping with coworkers and that's how she found out about the pay. She is the one responsible for giving out raises and delivering the news. Obviously she is going to know how much her direct employees are making.

I think its fine for the OP's wife to discuss this with her supervisor in a professional manner, most employee's would bring something like this up.

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If an employee told her, it would be more acceptable bc they disclosed the information. Again I'm not saying she should or shouldn't…I'm saying be careful. Access to that kind of information comes with responsibility and using it to leverage your salary could go sideways.

I would approach it from wanting a raise (without reference to others salaries) and where she falls the range for her role (asking hr about it). Use that knowledge as a way to decide how much to press but Def don't mention it during the discussion.

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Its completely normal for a supervisor to know what their direct reports make. If one of my direct reports were making more than me, it would be a very easy conversation for me to have with my manager. In fact, Im going to guess the OP's wife's boss probably isn't even aware thats going on.

Astroag said:

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AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

---

The access her role has is part of more authority and responsibility of being a higher pay grade.

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Yes. And ??? Having access to confidential information due to your role doesn't come with the right to use it for leverage if you see something you don't like. That's a one way ticket to being reprimanded or even worse being fired.

Additionally, pay grades often overlap. maybe a branch manager negotiated harder and is at top of band vs his wife?

I'm just saying to be careful and really think about how to play it. As soon as she mentions using that confidential information as leverage…it's super risky

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If a company is telling her she should be paid less for a high position than her subordinates, the reason doesn't matter.

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That's not what the company is telling her

Eg

Branch mgr - 150 to 225
Regional mgr - 185 to 265

One negotiated to be at top of range and one didn't…

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The why are you saying she shouldn't negotiate for the highest point in the range?

Ask for more but you can't use others pay as justification.

Also, it is not that uncommon for people to make more than their manager.

oldarmy76 said:

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Ask for more but you can't use others pay as justification.

Also, it is not that uncommon for people to make more than their manager.

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Ding ding ding

AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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AgLA06 said:

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Astroag said:

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I'd caution your wife to be careful. She only learned of that information as part of the access her role has (assuming it's not publicly disclosed as part of a pay transparency policy)…right or wrong, using it to try and strong arm her boss may not work out well.

---

The access her role has is part of more authority and responsibility of being a higher pay grade.

---

Yes. And ??? Having access to confidential information due to your role doesn't come with the right to use it for leverage if you see something you don't like. That's a one way ticket to being reprimanded or even worse being fired.

Additionally, pay grades often overlap. maybe a branch manager negotiated harder and is at top of band vs his wife?

I'm just saying to be careful and really think about how to play it. As soon as she mentions using that confidential information as leverage…it's super risky

---

If a company is telling her she should be paid less for a high position than her subordinates, the reason doesn't matter.

---

That's not what the company is telling her

Eg

Branch mgr - 150 to 225
Regional mgr - 185 to 265

One negotiated to be at top of range and one didn't…

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The why are you saying she shouldn't negotiate for the highest point in the range?

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Negotiating your comp comes when taking a job or a promotion…not when you learn of confidential information and realize someone got more…

oldarmy76 said:

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Ask for more but you can't use others pay as justification.

Also, it is not that uncommon for people to make more than their manager.

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yes, you can use that as justification and earning more than your boss normally only holds true in highly specialized fields or fields largely based on commission.

Once you get into senior management, the question is normally how much of a multiple you have above your direct reports. Director for example should make 2X their directs in total comp. VP should make 2X what a director makes, and so on.

Tell her to yell "GeNdEr EqUaLiTy!" throughout the office. Instant pay raise and promotion.

$30,000 Millionaire said:

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Her boss should be aware and he should fix it immediately. I'm surprised HR has let that stand.

Otherwise she should ask to be a branch manager.

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As soon as she brings it up, they will give it to her. If not, she needs to pull out the gender discrimination card... If most of the branch managers are males. Good luck.

oldarmy76 said:

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Ask for more but you can't use others pay as justification.

Also, it is not that uncommon for people to make more than their manager.

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This. Many of us made more than our managers back when I worked in corporate America. To be fair, management didn't do a whole hell of a lot when it came work or productivity so it kind of made sense. Agree with above….she needs to negotiate with what she brings to the table and why she is worth more, and not "because people under me make more". That's poor form and I'd be concerned that they would just cycle her out and find another person for the role that does more to justify the pay with a result of some sort.

There are millions of instances where stagnation sets up this situation. In fact, at our company, this happened around the 5-7 year mark where new hires were started at higher rates, and then actively sought raises. Sometimes, they would be at such a salary that the company had to change their title. So, a Technician II might be making more than a project lead or team lead….so they just kicked them up to that role to make it work out. Lol.

Guys, OP's wife is managing a regional bank not a collection of highly technical engineers who keep the lights on but don't want to talk to other people.

While on first blush, your wife is probably underpaid, I would try to find out how the rest of the company above her roughly structures comp.

Sounds like your wife is in the lowest level of executive bands where comp starts to focus on bonus performance metrics instead of mostly salary, but her bonus percentages aren't high enough to offset the lack of focus on salary.

Upper management might see her role as purposefully getting comped squeezed to 'encourage' high performers to fix long standing problems and use that to shoot for the next level. Works until your future talent pipeline quits and goes somewhere else to get the raise they deserve.

Never use someone else's salaries in negotiations.

You show them your value in the marketplace. If after that they don't think you are that valuable start looking.

Update. She is putting in her notice on Tuesday to stay at home with the family. They aren't budging to help on any salary increase and they are reorganizing her region to basically keep screwing her over with excessive work. She also lost three branch manager that have their last days in mid August… so yeah.

Thanks for the advice. We are not the best negotiators so appreciate the information.

I, for one, am thankful she's gone. Completely unnecessary stress on her and our family.

I'd argue y'all are fine negotiators. Y'all had your family in a situation where she could walk away from the job. Plus, they might change their tune when she actually turns in her notice.

Carlo4 said:

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Update. She is putting in her notice on Tuesday to stay at home with the family. They aren't budging to help on any salary increase and they are reorganizing her region to basically keep screwing her over with excessive work. She also lost three branch manager that have their last days in mid August… so yeah.

Thanks for the advice. We are not the best negotiators so appreciate the information.

I, for one, am thankful she's gone. Completely unnecessary stress on her and our family.

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The crazy thing is the company will probably be forced to hire someone externally for more money than they were paying your wife, when they could have just given her a raise to stay.