Underpayment is simply receiving less than you give or are worth despite your services to a company. It is real, and there are a lot of people in this position today who don’t know it. So we’ll take a look at some of the signs of underpayment.
YOU NEVER GET A RAISE
Working etiquette says that a staff deserves to be given a pay raise at least, every other year in appreciation of their input and service over the months. Sadly, a lot of companies do not do this for their staff, but hold on to this benefit. It’s a very glaring sign of underpayment.
INCREASED WORKLOAD WITHOUT CORRESPONDING RAISE
When you get far more than you used to do added to your list of duties as a company staff without a corresponding increment in pay, it’s a very glaring sign you’re being underpaid. It’s of course either the company is short on cash or they’re just taking advantage of you.
YOUR FRIENDS IN THE SAME LINE OF WORK ENJOY INCREMENTS, YOU DON’T
When you have a chat with your friends in other firms, you discover, sadly, that although you are in the same line of work and possibly with the same educational qualifications & years of experience; they earn far better than you do from your basic salary—a clear indication that you’re being underpaid and apparently being taken advantage of by your boss.
YOUR SERVICES ARE IN GREAT DEMAND, BUT NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT
You notice your boss asking for your help at every little instance, yet, he never adds even a dime to your pay to show appreciation for your services. Instead, all you get is ‘thank you’, and perhaps some accolades. I think that’s not enough.
YOUR BOSS/COMPANY MAKES A LOT OF MONEY, BUT STAFF STILL SUFFER
Although it is a more arduous task of determining the generated revenue/income of a private firm compared to a public one, subsequent office discussions and random sightings of the company’s account records and budget should give you a pretty good idea. One condition for giving salary raises is a substantial growth in the company’s revenue. If you’re not getting any, something isn’t right.
PROMOTION WITHOUT A RAISE
It’s improper for one to be elevated from one position to another without a corresponding increase in their pay. If you’ve been uplifted from a previous position to a much higher one, and your pay doesn’t change, you should probably consider your options.
YOU NEVER GET ANY LEAVE ALLOWANCES
This is another sign of underpayment. According to work etiquette, a staff is entitled to an annual leave, and some pay to go along with it. If you’ve been working for an organization, and you’ve never gotten one, you may be getting underpaid.
Finally, I’ll add that sometimes companies don’t add money to staff salaries because they don’t have enough in their revenue or something has gone wrong with their finances. Other times, it’s just plain wickedness on their part. Either ways, if you have a gut feeling deep inside you are not getting as much as you deserve from your company, you may not be doing any wrong to follow your instincts.