I have asked the question many times over my life. Without understanding why leads to great frustration.
I have heard others say it too.
“Why is the company’s pay crap”. The most direct and honest answer to this question which I first heard from Jim Rohn is: “No...This is what they pay you” and I couldn’t agree more.
If there is at least one person in the company getting paid more than you, then this is what they pay you, it’s not the company’s pay structure.
For me, the best way in an action sense on how I have solved this problem is as follows:
bringing the best attitude to the workplace day after day
giving it 100%
thinking about creating value all the time
taking the time to plan well and do the work that creates value
asking the question: why am I on the payroll
If I could sum it up in one word it would be “ATTITUDE”. I have not always had it though. Maturing and having a strong female in my life is certainly key.
For me it used to be that working longer was the answer to getting recognised, valued, promoted and paid more. I found this way is not always the right approach because at a point you start spinning your wheels. Ask five people how many hours a week you work to see what answers they give you. Unless you are in a very small company, not many people will notice these efforts. They are more likely to notice the results or pay attention to the good work you are producing.
I got into the habit of working super fast to get things done, feeling like I was being productive but in reality I was not taking enough time to evaluate and think about what I was doing. Nowadays, I have benefited much more from taking time to read and learn and improve my skills for the workplace (making a dollar) and outside the workplace (keeping and growing a dollar). This has allowed me to get paid more money, hold on to it and invest that money.
Here is Earl Nightingale explanation of the law of compensation. I don’t think it could be said better if we want to understand why we get what we get.
The law of compensation is based on the following. The amount of money you receive is going to be in direct ratio to:
The need for what you do
Your ability to do it and
The difficulty there will be in replacing you
Here is a link to Brian Tracy for a good explanation
https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/the-law-of-compensation/
Here are a few tidbits I have heard from Jim Rohn in the past about getting paid more
We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace
It takes time to bring value to the marketplace
Income does not far exceed personal development
Work harder on yourself than you do on your job
What do you think is key to getting paid more in the workplace? I have deliberately left out adding additional qualifications but that may be relevant in cases. Keen to hear your thoughts.