Are you being shortchanged in your wages by your employer (CPI)?

Hi all,

Note sure if this is the appropriate forum category to be discussing this, so MOD, pls move it elsewhere if needed.

I am not a greedy person and believe in being paid what I deserve for what I am doing. Now, before we open up the whole argument regarding employees always thinking that they deserve more wages than they are on (and employers thinking you are already well-paid, etc)…Let me summarise my current employment:

  1. I joined this ASX Listed Property Developer in June 2011 on $1XX,XXX
  2. My role isn't reflective of what I do (site management versus office/seeking approvals)
  3. I got a lousy 6-mth CPI adjustment mid last year equating to $2,700
  4. I hold a tertiary degree and masters degree
  5. I have been in this field of work for 14 years - working with many high profile developers with exposure in 3 states and in Dubai.
  6. I got a bonus of $10k in 2012 in order for staff to stay on a particular project whilst it was being sold. I got a bonus of $3k a few months ago.
  7. No employee share schemes have been allocated to me.
  8. With the move of offices, no parking space is available to me and I have to get to work 7am everyday to find an all day parking spot.
  9. I have a novated lease car that I salary sacrifice to get me to various projects all over Melb

So in my almost 3 years tenure with this company, I got a $2700 salary increase. I also know that most staff in our head office have not got a pay rise for 2 years. On top of this, most of us are hit with the QLD flood levy a few years back, and the Superannuation contribution increase (since most are on salary packages and not base + super).

I just went to the ABS website and did a CPI calculation…It seems, based on CPI alone, I have been "shortchanged" $8k on the current salary and aggregate of around $20k since joining…Noting that CPI adjustments in Australia for employers are not mandatory.

What p@sses me off further is the company is on an expansion warpath and acquiring more projects (which I have capacity to take on if I am offered more money) and they are trying to hire someone with a senior title (who will do roughly the same sh@t but get paid 25% more). I feel under-utilised with what I can do….and it all started with my Job Title - which does not match what I do.

Now, you may all say…"go find another job if you are unhappy"…but my response is, I have moved around a lot in my past 14 years to gain as much exposure and experience as possible. But recruitment agencies and potential employers see this as a negative due to all the moving around. And the VIC job market is not so flash at the moment in my field. In summary, I think I will need to stay put for at least another 2 - 3 years to minimise the stigma associated with my moving around…

Another interesting note: My manager is just as frustrated as I am and I believe he is also underpaid. But I don't think he is worried about the money as he is in his 50s and just wants a job to get him by (he is well-off financially).

My question to you is:

  1. Any suggestions?
  2. Are you in a similar situation with your current job?

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • 2 possible answer.
    1. your boss is shit, leave it if you desire more!
    2. you are not that good enough to your boss. he hire someone with 25% more that do the same job? he won't be that silly, there should be something you missing to fit that title.

    I got >10% increase each year for my current job for 3 years. Yes, some of my colleague may only got 1-2%. My boss is good to identifying good workers and the bad one.

  • +8

    Have you actually asked for a pay rise? Present a case as to why you're worth more to the company than they are paying you, and see what you get.

    Depending on what the X's mean in your salary, I probably get half of what you do. Times are tough, so hours and therefore pay actually went down for me in the last year. Your "lousy" $2700 CPI adjustment in the last year and $13000 in bonuses in the last 3 years must really make you sad.

  • +1

    Just in case you didn't know, property hasn't been doing all that well over the last couple of years. If you look at the publicly listed REITs, you'll see that unlike the ASX200, property has nowhere near reached the highs it was at prior to the GFC.

    https://au.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SLF.AX&t=my&l=on&z=l&q=l…

    And now look at the ASX200.

    https://au.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EAXJO&t=my&l=on&z=l&q=…

    Clearly property hasn't been improving the way stocks have.

    Anyway, that's probably one of the reasons why your company doesn't have the funds to increase wages.

    Either way, being really honest with you, your salary is above $100,000. That's more than what most Australian people are making, even the more highly qualified ones.

  • +3

    Not to be negative but you neglect to mention how your performance is perceived. Why doesn't the business think you're a rock star? Why aren't you being given more responsibility? Why are they feeling the need to get someone with a swanky title and 25% higher salary than you in?

    There's two reasons I can see here… 1) your perceived performance is not aligned to your view of your capability.

    2) your company is fairly useless.

    If its 1 then all of your feelings of being 'shortchanged' are immaterial. Its a business not a charity. They are paying you what they think you're worth.

    If its 2 then either accept it or get a new job. I think you've already tried that and aren't able to get more $$$ elsewhere. So maybe your salary isn't as crappy as you feel it is.

    My recommendation is for you to try to reframe your atitude. You come across as a bit entitled. That's not how life works!

  • TL;DR but CPI crap. What you want is the wage index and if you are getting screwed when compared to CPI, you are getting royally screwed when it comes to wages.

  • "hit with the…Superannuation contribution increase (since most are on salary packages and not base + super"

    Wow!I didn't think an employer would dare try on that; I thought they got a tax drop to partially compensate.

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