> I believe they are over paid for where we live. This is the line I have a bit of trouble with. You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. Outline this in asking for compensation adjustment, or begin to look elsewhere. If you can't find a role making more, just try not to let what others make bother you. At the end o…
> You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. This. The company is probably generating oodles of profit. Any profit whatsoever represents the labour of employees for which they haven’t been paid. These employees have generated value through their labour that the company has realized, and the company has decided to stea…
Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
41–50 of 58 posts
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#42> I believe they are over paid for where we live. This is the line I have a bit of trouble with. You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. Outline this in asking for compensation adjustment, or begin to look elsewhere. If you can't find a role making more, just try not to let what others make bother you. At the end o…
> You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. This. The company is probably generating oodles of profit. Any profit whatsoever represents the labour of employees for which they haven’t been paid. These employees have generated value through their labour that the company has realized, and the company has decided to stea…
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#43Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#44There is no salary system that is fair. If you want to be compensated relative to value produced you have to own your business.
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. This. The company is probably generating oodles of profit. Any profit whatsoever represents the labour of employees for which they haven’t been paid. These employees have generated value through their labour that the company has realized, and the company has decided to stea…
The dehumanization in your message really detracts from your argument.
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#46> I believe they are over paid for where we live. This is the line I have a bit of trouble with. You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. Outline this in asking for compensation adjustment, or begin to look elsewhere. If you can't find a role making more, just try not to let what others make bother you. At the end o…
Departments have a budget. If someone else is unfairly getting paid more, it definitely means that you will be getting paid less.
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#47> I believe they are over paid for where we live. This is the line I have a bit of trouble with. You shouldn't try to bring others down to feel better about making more, you should see what they're being paid and realize you are worth more. Outline this in asking for compensation adjustment, or begin to look elsewhere. If you can't find a role making more, just try not to let what others make bother you. At the end o…
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#48If above does not result in any relieve in your work load (eg. new tasks are added to your to do list by your boss, etc) then take the chute.
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#49The main leverage you have is your future value, not your present value.
The company selects managers who are adept at extracting value from you. The manager's only incentive to pay you fairly now is if they want you in the future. But if you could replace the manager, or if a mentee could replace you, you have negative future value.
Indeed, the manager may have hired you as a low-paid but senior person to demonstrate their negotiating skills to their superiors. Such a manager could find such a senior person by looking for someone with something to overlook, like a recent abrupt departure -- or someone who didn't value their abilities.
You can go pretty far down this rabbit hole of strategic thinking. You could respond by extracting value from your junior members, stealing their ideas or code. Or making them look bad with koan directions or pythian prophecies that turn out to be precient no matter how things turn out.
I hope these suggestions turn your stomach, but I have observed that's what happens when people give up on the idea of "fairness" as other commenters suggest.
Resentment and power differences are but one source of conflict: culture, thinking- and working-styles, external personal and company forces -- all make it hard to relate to others as humans.
Perhaps the best approach is to assume you'll not be treated fairly and there are no alternatives. Your choice then is to suffer or make the best of it, with what you have. Befriend your juniors and your managers, and with every interaction make it as productive and enriching as possible, convincing them that you have their best interests at heart, and that you're taking care of yourself. Embrace the Job's rock tumbler.
i.e., even if you can discipline relations by voice or exit, treat exit as the lazy escape. In so doing, you might find your voice, and the next step will not be a graceful exit but a celebrated entrance.
Re: Ask HN: Would anyone find this system fair?
#50There is no salary system that is fair. If you want to be compensated relative to value produced you have to own your business.
This is an interesting statement. Why do you think that people that own their own business are compensated fairly and relative to value?