Higher wage for newly hired employee?
Asked by snowchickmn
My hubby, a Maintenance Tech in this big company for 10 years recently found out the newly hired employee (Maint Tech) is earning $4 higher than he's per hour salary. My hubby had Two year degree in Mechanic, had boiler license and Maintenance Tech at the Army Reserve for 15 years. The newly hired guy dont have degree, dont have boiler license, not much experience in Maint Tech but was trained at the Air Force as aircraft mechanic for 6 years. Now my hubby is training this new guy, this newly hired employee dont even know how to operate and fix a simple machine and my hubby told that this new guy will going to get a raise in a few months. My husband brought this up to he's supervisor but then he was told to go directly to HR. He went to HR dept and talked to the HR Manager about this things but then the HR did not deny it, they are hiring new Maint Tech because they cant find anybody and that is the market price today. My husband didnt like it, and he said that he will leave the company as soon as he find a different job. Is the HR lady is right for hiring new people for a higher wage than old employees? My husband has been a good worker for this company and always get a recognition, but then they didnt want to give him a raise. I need an advice about this, my husband lost his motivation at work and wanted to find a different job, the situation really bothers him, training a new guy that is earning more than what he makes. What advice should I tell him to make him feel better? Is quiting and finding a new job is the solution to this? Any advice or idea is highly appreciated. Thanks.

Best Answer:
Ouch. That must be rough. Besides threatening to quit or asking for a raise, I suggest your husband search for a new job while keeping this one until he finds the new job and is satisfied with it. That company sounds really desperate, so if they're willing to go that far for a newly hired employee, they might be willing to compromise some benefits and such to your husband so that he doesn't leave. So those are your two things to work on, in my opinion. The first is looking for a new job. Don't necessarily take it right away, as you wanna research on your own how much you'll enjoy the job. If the job is even worth than your current one, why bother? The second is to try and use quitting as a threat to the company. They might be inclined to give him, if not a raise/promotion, some other sort of benefits. If you find a better, higher-paying job, you can always tell that to your company. Say like, "I just got a job offer at such-and-such, and they're paying ___ more than you guys. Do you wanna try and top that or should I take that job instead?" It really puts the weight on their shoulders, as you're completely free to leave and get more money if they don't act quickly. Hope this helps!

This is called reverse pay compression and it happens it times of tight labor markets for specialized jobs. It is perfectly legal. This is real common in engineering (my brother is an petro chemical engineer and it happens a lot. He actually had one guy quit and come back after the 6month waiting period making 12000 more than when he left.) It might be worth it to him to start shopping around for a new job because chances are if his company is doing it, other companies in the area are. It might stink to start over again, but the pay raise may make it well worth it.
Answered by thenarcolepticone