Are You Getting Paid What You’re Worth?

October 28th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under • by admin

Most people believe that they are underpaid for the work that they do. Some go to the point of complaining to their coworkers, friends and family about it, but rarely ever take the time to consider whether they actually are being fairly compensated. Those who are legitimately under-paid for the work that they do often don’t take steps to get a better compensation package because they are afraid of making their boss angry or that they think they will be unsuccessful in their efforts. Fortunately there’s an easy way to check online whether or not what you’re making is comparative to others in similar positions to you.

There are two different websites which will tell you if you are making a fair wage compared to what others are making in your field and in your area. The sites, Payscale.com and Salary.com, are an excellent means to figure out if you are getting paid what you are worth. They will separate the data out into a number of different interesting statistics to give you a better idea of how much people in your field are actually making in your area. These numbers aren’t scientific, but offer a very good starting place to go from.

Both of these sites have paid salary reports that they are trying to sell, but there are free options on both sites which tell you more than enough information about what people are making in your area. Unless you’re a company looking to hire someone, buying those reports probably isn’t worth your money.

If you do find out that you’re underpaid, take some active steps to get a raise and be paid what you’re worth. Ask for a meeting with HR, perhaps after closing a major sale or successfully competing a big project and layout all of the value that you create for the company logically with data to back you. Be polite, professional and courteous, and quite often you can find yourself with a higher salary. This won’t always happen, in which case you have to evaluate whether or not you really are worth more than you’re paying you. Sometimes you’re not, and that’s okay. If you are being grossly underpaid, it might be time to start looking at other opportunities elsewhere.

Everyone wants to be fairly compensated for their work, but the only person that will make sure this happens is you. Ensure that you are getting paid what you are worth.