2 Monkeys were paid unequally

UnixGuy

I've been in a situation where I did the exact same work some of my colleagues did and yet they got paid like 2x times my salary. Nobody likes that, and yet we are expected to act "professionally" (which I did, btw), but we all know this is not how things are supposed to be and nobody will be happy in this situation.

See how monkeys respond

2 Monkeys Were Paid Unequally - YouTube

YuckTheFankees

Very interesting, thanks for the video.

NotHackingYou

Great video!

ChooseLife

Hillarious and vivid way to present the results of a research experiment

I originally watched this variation of the same talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-dMoK48QGL8
It has couple of extra interesting comments on fairness

bardsleyb

That was well worth a comment in this thread! What a great way to start off my day! Thanks for the video

Very true as well...

SteveO86

That's an interesting situation to be in. Oddly enough I am currently that situation, however my new colleague isn't quite 2x more than me, but over 10k more than I am for the same position/work.

CodeBlox

Jeez do you folks talk about pay at work or what! I never tell anyone how much I make at work simply because I don't want to find out that we are not equally paid one way or the other. It's all fine so long as I don't know lol.

Roguetadhg

I have seen where people talk about their pay. It's not good.

The supervisors will often neglect their duties because they figure "They get paid more than I do, they can figure it out."

familyguy

This video is so great, already showed it to at least 3 people.
It is sometimes strange how close funny things on the one hand are connected likewise to serious topics...

UnixGuy

CodeBlox wrote: »

Jeez do you folks talk about pay at work or what! I never tell anyone how much I make at work simply because I don't want to find out that we are not equally paid one way or the other. It's all fine so long as I don't know lol.

I never tell anyone my salary, and I don't talk about it. but few years ago, we came to know, and nobody likes that. But truth be told, the situation was more complicated than that, the guy was a big time BS'er and nobody liked him.

eansdad

Great video! We don't get the luxury of not knowing each others pay (civil service and union). We have people making $30k and others making $70k for the same work. Up until a few years ago it was even the same title. They finally added a senior title but only opened it once.

powerfool

I do not agree with equal pay at all. People should paid what they are worth and can negotiate. That being said, if you are performing the same tasks, I just cannot believe they are providing twice the value you are... if you all were within 10% of each other, I would think that is normal... if it is out of line, then someone is overpaid (not providing value) or the performance of the low end person is so bad that they should feel a bit of a privilege to have a job (not saying that is your case). So, I don't know how you rectify that with your current employer... I am inclined to believe that you won't be able to and that you will have to seek employment elsewhere... it appears obvious to me (based on what little input you have provided) that they don't respect you.

What are your thoughts after that? Do you think you could improve the situation by discussing it with them? Are you ready to look for a new job?

tpatt100

I never discuss pay at work. It's nearly impossible to keep people within a certain range of each other for the same work due to many different factors. Sometimes when you were hired make a big difference, if the economy was up or down when you were hired might have a big impact on how much more or less you will be making. Often times people can make more for the same work just for being there longer and the company wants to keep them around.

I messed up once a few years ago at an old job and left my year end review that contained the new year salary on the file server when I backed up my documents folder and switched computers. Moved the files back and forgot to delete the folder....

Well "nosy mcahole" went snooping around the file server (he was always looking to catch somebody for something) found my folder and went through it. Saw I was making significantly more than he was and complained to management and others at work in our area. What he didn't know was we were all hired at the start of the contract and pay was much higher to get the program started ASAP. After a year they became more selective and pay dropped because they hired us but needed us all to start in three weeks the year before.

So most of the people he was complaining to all made more than he did.

inscom.brigade

0ne monkey just has an attitude problem don’t Laugh at her,she is just more confuse than a girl having her fist period. (I Love cucumbers).
thinly sliced Japanese cucumbers wraped in thinly slices sashimi dipped in wasabi, is it better than Margaux Margaux?

coty24

Man this was sooo funny! Thanks for sharing!!

UnixGuy

powerfool wrote: »

..... That being said, if you are performing the same tasks, I just cannot believe they are providing twice the value you are... if you all were within 10% of each other, I would think that is normal.........
What are your thoughts after that? Do you think you could improve the situation by discussing it with them? Are you ready to look for a new job?

The situation is more complex, but I will explain. It happened that the guy who got twice the pay was a big time bullsh*ter. He cheated his way through the interview, came from overseas..etc..etc. He'd go to customers (we are a service provider), mess things up, talk for 1hour, then go back and one of us at the office has to go and clean up his mess. Now, the boss who hired him didn't want to look like an idiot so he didn't fire him. This is the story in brief.

I'm not one of those who cares if someone is more paid, trust me I'm happy for my colleagues to have good things, and I'm happy with my current pay, money is never (ever) my priority. I just wasn't happy with a guy who goes and bullsh*t customers then call us to clean up, it was messy and it made my life hard.


I understood where boss was coming from, but..fast forward few yrs and now I'm slightly more paid than that guy I maintained good relationship with my employer and my colleagues as well. That guy eventually learned, and he is doing better. Anyway, I quit my job last month , but I felt that I could relate to that monkey

UnixGuy

tpatt100 wrote: »

I never discuss pay at work....

+1 me neither. I avoid office gossip like a plague, and discussing salaries open doors to serious gossip and hard feelings. We had a guy who couldn't keep his mouth shut and was always saying how unfair the employer was to him. I don't like that, I'm here to do a job and have a good time (if possible).

QHalo

Discussing pay between employees can get you fired in some cases. No one is paid the same. At the end of the day, how much you get paid is directly related to how well you negotiate and show perceived value. Some people are just really good at bs'ing their way to a higher pay grade. Best to simply focus on yourself and worry less about others. Everything comes around eventually. If you're that upset, best to find another job and negotiate better.

nerdydad

Some of the people I work with came across a spreadsheet with everyone's pay, there was a little animosity as some were being paid more and clearly do not deserve it. But the animosity was also directed towards some that, while the job description is the same, are clearly the go to people when things start to go bad, and I feel those people deserve to make more, as they bring more to the table. As for those that don't deserve it, I look at it as they got lucky, but I believe the situation will "fix" itself.

SteveO86

CodeBlox wrote: »

Jeez do you folks talk about pay at work or what! I never tell anyone how much I make at work simply because I don't want to find out that we are not equally paid one way or the other. It's all fine so long as I don't know lol.

No I don't like talking about pay at work, but management was openly talking about it with me in the room....

Also some agencies, the pay scale is public record where anyone can see your pay. (IE: When I worked for a Sheriff's Office years ago)

lsud00d

SteveO86 wrote: »

Also some agencies, the pay scale is public record where anyone can see your pay. (IE: When I worked for a Sheriff's Office years ago)

When I worked at a public uni this was the case and the student paper did a story on everyone's pay and made it publicly available on the website

Was interesting to see in comparison where people were at. The majority of higher earners was due to time served, which is understandable.

MiikeB

There can be so many factors in this its really hard to say.

At my last job I was paid a good 50% more than my coworkers, all who had 3-4 years more IT experience than me. I never KNEW but I could tell because we would be sorting through resumes before interviewing and some cover letters would have salary requirements and the would say things like "Yea good luck with that" or "He must not know we aren't in DC" etc. All the while I was thinking wow those requirements are 30% lower than my salary.

Though they had more experience I brought to the table a few things that made me worth the money in my opinion and gave me the leverage to get the higher salary. First, I had more certifications, and in government contracting they can be required to meet a certain quota of people with x y and z certifications. Second, I already had experience working DoD networks and processes so my learning curve on the job was much lower.

So while we did do the same job, I provided value to the company and a lower training cost that my coworkers could not provide.

wycked67

I need to post something in here.

lsud00d

wycked67 wrote: »

I need to post something in here.

::check::

kevozz

Interesting. Every place i've worked, discussing ones salary was grounds for immediate dismissal.

the_hutch

In some organizations, talking about pay isn't necessary. For government jobs, there is a rank structure, so everybody just kinda knows who makes more and who makes less. This is true with civil service jobs on the GS pay-scale and military on the O/E (Officer/Enlisted) pay-scales. This can definitely cause some problems when you've got a GS-9 and a GS-11 working the same exact job. Tension created and no discussion required.

RobertKaucher

Here is an interesting twist:
How scientists taught monkeys the concept of money. Not long after, the first prostitute monkey appeared

This will likely be blocked as it contains a blocked word I am sure so here is a Bit.Ly

How scientists taught monkeys the concept of money. Not long after, the first prostitute monkey appeared

Edit:
Wow, I totally expected that to be censored.