In which jobs is it fairly common for employees to make more than their bosses?

[Lord_Mondegreen]

I once worked for a small IT company (around 20 people). The owner was also the CEO (no surprise there). For over a year the company struggled and the owner stopped paying himself, while the rest of us continued to receive our salary. There was virtually no profit that year either (but tellingly, no loss) and that tiny amount was reinvested in the company, so he genuinely didn’t earn anything.

Thankfully the company turned around, and he later made tens of millions from a friendly takeover.

Of course it’s an extreme example, but for at least one year everyone was better paid than the CEO. Speaking of which, famously some CEOs work for an annual salary of $1, but I wouldn’t count them because they generally receive stock and/or cash bonuses in the nosebleed range.

[kiz]

In retail it’s not unusual for a tenured FT employee to make more than his/her direct supervisor.

[scr4]

@Duckster

Not federal government.

Unless you count contractors working for the federal government, who often make more than the civil servants who are managing the project.

[ftg]

In academia, within a department, it sometimes happens that a senior prof might have a higher salary than the department chair.

(That’s right, I said “senior” deal with it.)

[Saintly_Loser]

@Hey_Hey_Paula

I’m a legal secretary. At my current firm, about 9 or 10 years ago, I was assigned to a junior associate with the directive to “whip her into shape.” This turned out to be a task bigger than Hercules and the Agean Stables, but I did my best. At one point, the office manager let it slip that I was being paid more than the associate. As a senior secretary, I was worth more to the firm than her, which is really sad, as I am overhead and she was, theoretically, bringing in revenue. She was eventually encouraged to leave the firm to “pursue other interests”

This is possible, at some firms. It wouldn’t be possible at a big law firm (Cravath, Simpson Thacher, etc.) where starting salaries for associates are at or over $160,000 (plus bonus!).

But at smaller firm (median starting salaries for lawyers are now at around $60,000, I think, and would have been lower 9 or 10 years ago), it’s entirely possible. Secretaries in major cities at big law firms routinely have salaries over (sometimes well over) $60K, and they get overtime. Lawyers don’t.

So there’s a sweet spot in there somewhere where a good, experienced secretary could make more than a junior associate who isn’t doing so well.

[lorene]

@Mona_Lisa_Simpson

Almost everywhere a Registered Nurse makes more than her direct line supervisor, (used to be Head Nurse, now can be called Nurse Manager, Team Lead, Care Coordinator or some other thing, personally I don’t like it when my boss doesn’t have “Nurse” in the title.) At least here in Canada, Nurses in most hospitals are unionized, and when you add in shift differential, overtime, statuatory holiday pay, etc we out earn our 830-430 supervisors, who are generally on salary, or if on hourly they still do not get things like “double time and a half” for working Christmas. On the other hand, they don’t have kids waiting to open presents until Mommy gets home.
I wasn’t even at the top of my wage grid, but when I left working in a hospital for management in a company (90% paperwork, a very small but critcal part involved me being a nurse) I took over a 20% pay cut. Teaching nursing similarly pays only a percentage of the wages.

This is what I was coming in to say. Where I work, nurses are unionized and are guaranteed a certain number of step increases each year. We have quite a few nurses who have worked here for 20+ years and are right around $65/hour. Even before overtime and shift differential, a person can make over 80 grand working 2 12-hour shifts per week. (And at 20 hours they get benefits).

I know our nurses work really hard. They’re on the front lines with an extremely challenging population every day (safety net hospital). But on the face of it, thinking about someone making that kind of money, usually with just a 2-year degree, makes it difficult to convince others that they don’t have it easy.

[Urbanredneck]

@chiroptera

I’m a painting contractor. Sometimes shit happens, and the people who work for me make more than me (ie, their regular hourly wage) while I take it in the teeth on a job. IME, this is not uncommon in the trades.

Same thing with mechanics. Say your an auto shop owner. Your income is based on the net profits of the business and depending upon various factors, might not be much. While you mechanics are guaranteed a particular wage.

I know of one guy who owns a ag business and his people make more than him because he has to pay those kinds of wages for the caliber of diesel and hydraulic system mechanics he needs.

[depocali]

@Duckster

Not federal government.

Not quite true. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation and its CEO Bill Johnson made about $3.8 million last year. Granted the TVA is a unique case, but many of its executives make more money than the president.
So this unique entity is owned by the federal government, its board members appointed by the president, its workers cant strike and are not covered by the Civil Service laws, but is still part of the federal government, oh and it’s not subject to anti-trust or environmental constraints.