You don't get what you're worth, you get what you negotiate.
If an employee feels taken advantage of, then I'm afraid they're going to go through life with a victim mentality, and probably aren't a rockstar to begin with.
If an employee feels taken advantage of, then I'm afraid they're going to go through life with a victim mentality, and probably aren't a rockstar to begin with.
Say I have $10 to pay you. I ask you what you'd like. You say $7. I offer you $7. You agree.
Where is the disrespect?
If I wanted to buy some good will, I could offer you $8, and you'd be happy because I paid you more than you asked.
In this scenario, I gave you the upper hand by allowing you to tell me what you'd like.
I could have "anchored" the discussion by making an offer, or telling you the salary range for the position.
Now you would feel disrespected if you found out that I actually could have paid you $10, but instead only offered $7 or $8. However you got what you wanted, so being upset is irrational.
In all likelihood, you were upset because you would rather be given the $10, instead of having to negotiate.
People get upset because they feel uncomfortable about negotiating, and mix emotions and feelings when doing so. It's not an emotional affair. Negotiation is about leverage, and with some practice, you can get good at it.
For negotiating salary, you should do one of two things:
1. Figure out exactly what you want to be happy. Ignoring if you're asking for too little. Ask for that figure. It helps if you can justify the reasoning.
or
2. Figure out what you are worth, and ask for that. Again, it helps if you can justify this with facts.
If the company does not make you an offer that matches, and instead counter offers, then you should weigh their reasoning or just politely tell them no, and find someone else that will.
Some of that discomfort is justified, as negotiation and other methods of hidden pricing can lock in discrimination.
Ian Ayers found this effect when examining negotiations leading to car sales, leading to widespread racial and gender discrimination. Negotiation discrepancies were found to account for 10-15% of a gendered salary gap observed in Portugal by Card, Cardoso, and Kline. A survey of the lit on gender discrimination in employment is provided in Linda Babcock's "Women Don't Ask." (I feel like I've seen HUD research on negotiation effects for housing, but can't track it down.)
Not saying it's not a skill people should learn to deal with the realities out there, but it can be a pretty insidious activity too, even when none of the participants think they're doing anything wrong.
That's why I try not to approach salary negotiating with people I'm going to hire in an adversarial manner.
My goal is to get them to join the team, and to pay them a salary they can feel proud of, and allow them to focus on doing great work for the company.
But, I also have the very real constraint that I only have so much money to spend.
There is a clear display on lack of honesty here. And such people don't deserve any loyalty at all. If a company can't be honest with its own people they will definitely cheat their customers.
>>so being upset is irrational.
Right, if some doesn't know they are being cheated. Cheating is now perfectly justified. In fact if they discover later what happened its wrong on their part to be refuse to be cheated further.
In the hypothetical scenario I outlined, was there a lack of honesty?
There is an imbalance of information, certainly, but I don't think that information should be disclosed.
>>> Right, if some doesn't know they are being cheated. Cheating is now perfectly justified. In fact if they discover later what happened its wrong on their part to be refuse to be cheated further.
Along the same lines, where is the cheating occurring?
Please note this negotiation attitude is unacceptable on job. They demand a more human requirement, called 'loyalty'.
>>where is the cheating occurring?
I am not sure how else would you term that.
However, "market rate" isn't just a flat value you get when punching in a formula, and is subjective.
Also, I think you've read more into what I wrote.
I didn't mention what was fair pay. I just said I had $10 to pay someone, and asked what they wanted, and offered them just that.
Why did you assume that $7 was not market? Why did you assume that the individual was ignorant when asking for $7? Why did you assume the individual was entitled to the full $10, perhaps they performed only okay during the interview, but showed signs of promise?
The point I'd like to illustrate is that if you're paid an amount that makes you happy, or that you are okay with because you had some control over it (i.e. negotiating), it seems childish to accuse the system of cheating, or being unfair if you later find out there was money "left on the table."
In life, no one is going to watch out for your best interests. I don't believe in screwing people over, "cheating" them if you will, but I also don't believe in overpaying either.
At some point, for most individuals, the utility value of additional money diminishes.
Hopefully you will get to a point where making an extra $10k in salary isn't the deciding factor in joining a company.
How is this about not telling the truth?
Do you walk around telling everyone everything?
If an employee asks for less then market price for their skills, I pay them market price. If I paid them less, I'd be taking advantage. Fuck that.
This is besides the point of what I outlined. "Fair" is not a concept that applies to the real world. Nothing is "fair." Instead, and what I think you're saying is that you want people to act in good faith--this I agree with.
If someone doesn't know their own value, I shouldn't take advantage of them.
You've assumed that was the case in my scenario--note that I never mentioned market rate.
I also shouldn't use information imbalance, or other forms of negotiating tactics to unfairly gain an advantage on someone.
All this, I agree with. However, if I ask you "what is your salary requirements" and you make a reasonable request, and I meet that, I don't see how you can feel cheated if you could have got more money.
That includes fairness.
Determining that worth isn't an exact science.
I also believe that after a certain point, money has less appeal to people--that is, people are no longer motivated by the money.
By asking someone what they want, I'd like them to tell me what it is they need to be happy, so I can offer it to them.
The following video makes some pretty good points along that line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
Say I have $10 to pay you. I ask you what you'd like. You say $7. I offer you $7. You agree. Where is the disrespect? [..] Now you would feel disrespected if you found out that I actually could have paid you $10, but instead only offered $7 or $8*
At this point, there is no disrespect, That's good. And I wouldn't feel disrespected if I found out your budget could have been higher.
However, if I asked for $5 and you paid me $5 and I was happy, and the person next to me in the same role asked for $7 and you paid it, then they asked for a pay rise to $8 and you paid it ... and then I found out, I would start feeling annoyed.
You suggest "figuring out exactly what you want to be happy" - what if that is not a number of dollars, but a sense that everything is fair and considerate throughout the company?
I work for you, fighting problems on your behalf, for your profit. I want to do that with my employer and coworkers solidly supporting me, not having my employer provide the bare minimum of support unless pushed.
Would you want an employee that was doing the bare minimum, literally only doing what you ask and nothing more, replying "sorry, can't help, not in the contract" to every customer request no matter how easy or how happy it would make them?
Why would you want to be an employer doing effectively that to your employees? Why think all you need to do is point out that it's fair because they're rubbish at negotiating, and then expect them to be happy with that?
The cynic in me thinks that's self selecting.