When I graduated college, I applied for a job as manager of a tutoring center. I didn’t get the job, but did get offered a position as a tutor there. A friend of mine at the time (a manager in the center I worked in during college) saw my disappointment and pointed out something- the managers have a full-time job, but because they are salaried, actually earn less per hour than us worker bees.
True, the job is only part-time. But everyone that works there does something else- those that aren’t using the extra time for grad school are in other ventures. Right now, I would say that by working as a substitute teacher (which pays by the day, not by the hour) I probably earn more than my boss, with WAY less pressure, more flexibility, and more variety.
Does it matter that I make as much/more than my boss? Absolutely not. But it certainly makes me glad I don’t have to work their job!
As a manager, I would often have contractors working under me that were paid better. When this was for the short term it seemed fine, but when they got long term consulting work that was essentially what I was doing, I wasn’t too pleased by the disparity in pay.
It’s not very common, but more companies are realizing that in some areas, automatically paying more for managers doesn’t make sense. If the only way to get a pay raise beyond a certain point is to become management, then you’re going to see all of your talented and experienced personnel turn into managers at some point (or leave to go elsewhere when they can’t get/won’t take a management position), which may leave you with a serious lack of actual people to do the work. If the work is highly specialized then this can be a real problem.
At a large financial company I used to work for, this was a huge problem, so they were beginning to institute a “two track” program for advancement. The idea was that you could continue to advance through the pay scale on either a management or (in our case) technical track. This meant that (in theory) the decision as to whether you should “go management” wasn’t based on pay, but more on whether it was something you really wanted to do. Under this scheme, it would not be uncommon for a veteran programmer or engineer to make significantly more than his manager, if the manager was relatively new to the company.
In practice, I don’t believe it actually worked very well. In the end the only way to get a bigger slice of the pie was to join the pie cutters.
I have a full time job and a part time job. Working at my (professional, office setting) full time job, I probably make equal to or a bit more than the manager of the store where I work part time.
So, yeah, I kinda sorta maybe make a bit more than my boss.
Many salaried positions offer stability that those contractors will never have. In addition, toss in not having to pay workmens comp, bennies, HR overhead, etc for these folks and plenty of them may actually cost the company less overall.
I had this scenario for a while. Always gave me a little giggle watching the managers flail impotently for a way to threaten me if I didn’t play nice with the rest of the minimum wage lackeys. Even more fun, I was doing a specialized job I had done before and was asked to come back.
My wife had someone working under her who was making a higher salary than she was. She was able to get a larger raise during her performance appraisal by mentioning that fact to her boss.
They still pay plenty of HR overhead, plus office space, supplies, computers, etc. But mainly, the comparison for whether or not to be displeased by the disparity is what’s in it for me. Being manager I know all the numbers.
When I managed, I had several people working for me that made more than I did. Not uncommon in technical fields where you have an in demand skill set. I had others who were convinced I made a lot more than I did.
I don’t think I make more than this manager (partly a location discrepency, she’s in a different and more expensive part of the country), but I know I made more than my last one.
Brainiac4 makes more than his boss - and most of his bosses peers apparently.
All these positions are salaried.
Its common to believe your boss makes a lot more than you do. Its common for that not to be the case.
It’s possible, although I don’t know how much my boss makes. That’s because I am paid by the US government and my boss is paid by the Bulgarian government and guess which one has more money?
