Are you being paid what you're worth? - Randy Ray

Jason Szabo was ecstatic when he was appointed manager of information technology at an Ottawa high-tech firm in December -- until he discovered his salary was less than half of what his predecessor had been paid.

"I felt absolutely ripped off," Mr. Szabo says.

"I had no motivation to go to work. . . It had me thinking of leaving the company."

Many people can relate.

Discovering that you're earning less in salary or perks like stock options and country-club memberships than someone else with similar qualifications to do the same job can be a crushing blow -- as hard for some to digest as being laid off or fired, says human-resources consultant and business coach Bob Summerhurst, owner of Summerhurst Consulting in Ottawa.

"It can be an assault to the self-esteem," he says.

"You feel undervalued, and demotivation becomes the big challenge. . . . You find yourself saying, 'What's the point of me putting in the extra effort when I'm earning less than the person next to me?' "

Just as challenging, say the experts, is knowing whether you are being paid fairly.

"It can be tough to get at the truth about salaries," acknowledges Karl Aboud, head of the reward consulting practice at Hay Group Ltd., an international management consulting firm specializing in employee compensation and performance.

"You might hear at a cocktail party that someone is earning more or you might see a tax return on a colleague's desk, but what you see and hear is not always the full truth."

Wonder whether you're being paid what you're worth?

Other than trying to sneak a peek at a colleague's paycheque, there are ways to determine whether your compensation package accurately reflects your talents and contributions to your organization -- as well as strategies to put yourself where you feel you belong on the pay scale.

Before marching into your boss's office to demand a raise, try to ferret out accurate salary information for employees with similar credentials who work in your department or hold comparable jobs in your industry, Mr. Aboud suggests.

Start by directly asking your boss or human resources department.

"It's your right to know the salary range for your position," says Monika Morrow, regional managing principal in Eastern Canada for career-transition firm Right Management Consultants.

Many companies make general salary information available to their employees, either in company publications or on internal corporate websites, says Sandra Bernier, HR director at casualty and property insurer Lombard Canada in Toronto.

At her company, she adds, she will discuss rates of pay with employees for a job opening for which they would be qualified to apply .

If your company won't cough up information, it pays to know your way around the Web.

Salary data, usually for free, is available at career-management portals such as monster.ca, salary.com, payscale.com and hotjobs.ca, where on-line tools dig out pay ranges for thousands of jobs in most major Canadian cities.

Other sites may also contain salary information.

Mr. Szabo, for instance, determined what he should be earning by surfing to a Statistics Canada website that contained a wealth of information about high-tech salaries.

Companies, themselves, may list pay scales along with job openings they advertise on their own websites.

If you're a professional, chances are that the association that represents your profession assembles salary information based on annual surveys of members and companies.

The information is available for free or a small fee on the Internet or in hard copy.

Most of the 11 provincial and territorial affiliates of the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada, for instance, track salary information.

It's available on request to members and the public free of charge, says communications director Taylore Ashlie, whose organization represents 62,000 students and certified general accountants.

The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) produces an annual salary report, which breaks down base salaries into six levels of experience in six different sectors, says Hanan Jibry, the society's executive director.

It's available for a fee to both members and the public.

Be forewarned, however, that some association information is outdated. The material in the OSPE reports, for instance, represented data current as of June 1, 2004; the CGA-Ontario information was based on an October, 2004, survey.

If it's perks that irk, network with others in your industry to find out standards and whether your overall package meets them, Ms. Morrow suggests.

There is also plenty of information about executive compensation disclosed in materials put out by public companies, suggests Graham Dodd, Vancouver-based national practice director for the human capital group with HR consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

"Executives can therefore do their own comparisons," he says.

"The trend is for more and more disclosure so, over coming years, this information will cover all aspects of compensation for the most senior executives."

Still, there's more to winning a raise than finding out that you're paid less than someone else, Mr. Aboud says.

Before asking for more money, he urges employees to research their company's compensation philosophy.

It's tied to variables ranging from experience to skills and, more and more, to proof of performance.

"Many companies link performance to pay and pay a higher performer more than a weaker performer," he says.

"Many measure a person based on the skills required to do the job, along with behaviour demonstrated on the job, how they work as part of a team and the actual results they accomplish."

Other reasons can also account for salary discrepancies.

They range from someone else being hired in better or more competitive times to a higher-paid colleague having joined the company through a merger and bringing a previous employer's paycheque to the position, Ms. Morrow adds.

Does your research have you convinced that you should be earning more?

Then it's time to take action, the pros say.

Develop a fact-based "business case" to convince the higher-ups of why you are deserving of more money, Mr. Dodd suggests.

He advises employees to point out to their boss their range of strengths, from qualifications to accomplishments to solid contributions they have made to the company's bottom line.

"For all of these reasons, tell them you think you are worth more money -- organizations will pay for enhanced productivity," Mr. Dodd says.

A good time to bring up your pay is during a performance or annual review, when money has been budgeted for raises and your boss has an up-to-date assessment of your work.

That's when you can not only ask about your own paycheque but about the range and decision-making criteria in the company, Ms. Morrow suggests.

But don't be afraid to drop hints earlier and keep your boss apprised of any and all accomplishments that might earn a financial reward come raise review time, HR experts say.

Timing also counts; it's better to ask for more money when times for your company are good or raises seem to be common.

Major management consulting firms are predicting that next year will see average base-rate salary increases ranging from 3.3 to 3.5 per cent.

Mr. Szabo followed many of these strategies to bolster his case for more money.

Aside from asking his predecessor directly what he made and scanning the Web for further salary information, he made repeated requests to his supervisor and HR department for raises, during which he reinforced how well-trained he was for the job, yet doing the same work as his predecessor for a much smaller annual stipend.

For a long time, he was regularly rebuffed. If that happens to you, too, don't stomp away in a huff, Mr. Dodd says.

Instead, seek out constructive advice from your boss on what you would need to do to get a raise, and work out a plan to act on the advice.

In the end, Mr. Szabo won out. In July, the company gave him a hefty raise. It still left him more than $20,000 behind his predecessor's paycheque, but he wasn't irked because the former boss had 10 years more experience in the high-tech field.

If you can't win your case for higher pay, it may be time to move to another company, Mr. Aboud says. If so, make sure your parting is amicable, he advises.

Burning a bridge is never to your advantage, he says, because finding a new job with a higher salary may hinge on a positive reference from a former employer.

Mr. Szabo, who left his employer about a month after getting his raise to co-found Emos Systems, an Ottawa-based IT outsourcing and consulting firm, agrees.

"I didn't yell and scream and make a big deal of it. I did what I was supposed to do: sucked it up for a while and was persistent in making it known that I was frustrated about being underpaid. It worked for me."

How to win a raise

Trying to squeeze a raise out of your boss? Here are expert tips:

Make your approach during a performance or annual review, when raise money has often been budgeted and your boss has an assessment of your work.

Don't be afraid to drop hints in the months leading up to your pitch to get the boss thinking about more money for you.

Present facts that show others with similar qualifications are earning more. Ask why you are being paid less.

State your case clearly and succinctly in a one-page document that outlines your qualifications and accomplishments during the past year, such as awards you've won and large contracts you landed.

If you have a higher-paying job offer from another company , let your boss know. But don't hold your company hostage by threatening to quit if you are denied a raise.

If your résumé doesn't measure up , offer to enroll in courses, volunteer for projects or take other measures that will enhance it.

Seek a raise when times are good, not when the company is struggling.

Have a backup plan if you are turned down. Ask for constructive advice on why your raise was denied and what you can do to earn one in the future.