Almost every working person sometimes has this question in his mind that if he is doing the same amount of work as the people working with him, then why is his salary less than them? Many times people hesitate in asking this question, and sometimes even after getting the answer, the whole picture is not clear. One such story is that of Kriti Rohilla, a software engineer from Hyderabad, who shared an experience of her career with which thousands of professionals are able to relate.
Kriti told on LinkedIn that when she was working at Goldman Sachs for about three years, she directly asked her manager why she was getting less salary than some of her colleagues despite performing equal responsibilities. This conversation was not easy for him. He wrote that during that time he had to stop his tears. However, he clarified that it was not because he was afraid of his manager.
spoke directly to the manager
On the contrary, she respected him a lot and perhaps this was the reason why this conversation became emotional for her. He explained this feeling with a very simple example. According to him, it was like asking back money lent from a very close friend. It is true, but it is not easy to say.
When he asked his manager the reason for the difference in salary, the answer he got was completely logical. The manager explained that his salary was based on the package on which he joined the company. At that time, Kriti had just completed her studies from a tier-3 college and had less than a year’s experience. Therefore, his starting salary was decided accordingly. Whatever salary increase occurred later, it was based on the same initial salary. Kriti told that the interesting thing was that in terms of work, the same expectations were kept from them as were kept from the employees coming from prestigious institutions like IIT. The responsibilities were almost the same, but due to the different starting packages, the salary difference also persisted over time.
everything changed suddenly
He also admitted that when he joined the company, he did not have any offer from any other company. In such a situation, he did not have any strong basis to negotiate on salary. This was the reason why he could not get a better package at that time. After that meeting, Kriti started looking for other jobs without discussing it much with anyone. After continuously applying for about three months, he got a better salary offer from another company. After this he decided to resign from Goldman Sachs.
The interesting turn came when within about a week of his resignation the company’s HR team contacted him. To stop him, the company offered him the same salary that he was getting from the new company. This was the moment when Kriti understood a big truth of the corporate world. She wrote that at that time she realized that her managers were not being unfair to her. He was taking decisions only within the scope of his role and as per the interest of the company and the available rules. His aim was not to underestimate any employee, but to work within the company’s salary structure.
According to Kriti, just working hard is not enough in the corporate world. Many times you must have a strong alternative or a better offer to prove your value. He said that companies often seriously consider increasing the salary only when the employee has a solid offer from elsewhere.
He also wrote in his post that this does not mean that people sitting in companies are harsh or insensitive. In fact, every manager is also answering to some senior officer or the other. There are budget, policies and many types of limitations behind every decision. Therefore, sometimes despite personal desire, it is not possible to make changes immediately. This post of Kriti went viral on social media in no time. A large number of people shared their stories.
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