I received an accidental mail with all salaries for everyone in the company

[u/ekampp]

Hey, first time posting here. Hope this post will be ok.

This is problematic in regards to personal information discretion, but my issue is:

I realized I'm being significantly underpaid in comparison to others who do the same work as me.

I feel frustrated and upset about that fact. Not sure how to approach from here.

How would you approach the situation?

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EDIT 1: Thanks for all the answers. There are many good ones in-between!

There are also a few that clearly want to see the world burn 😅

I had never expected this many replies, so please don't hold it against me for not answering each one of you.

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RESULT:

First off. Again, thank you to all of you, who pitched in with your personal experiences, hardships, concerns, and advice. I have read through most of all ~2000 of them 😅

I have chosen to simply delete and bury the faulty email, and I will add a bit about being careful to not forward email-chains in our security newsletter this month instead. This way it will benefit everyone in the company to be wary of forwarding email-chains. The WHOLE chain will be forwarded.

I had a sit-down with the boss-man, and he agreed to give me a raise, and a promotion.

[u/calabazadelamuerte]

It would be improper to discuss specifics for anyone who works for me, even anonymously on the internet. But I can give you an example in the context of fictional employees.

Let’s say that Alan and Jeff both work in IT. Their technical skill is the same and they both have a reputation for stellar work. Time with the company is the same. The job is not client facing.

Alan is friendly to everyone and is happy to help a client understand a complex repair issue if the client support team needs assistance. Alan is convinced that engaging with clients and helping them understand what they are paying for is crucial to success. His coworkers feel encouraged and inspired by the way he performs his job and interacts with the team.

Jeff does not like to be interrupted when working on a repair, and is often rude or short with coworkers when it happens. He wants client support to be able to explain to the client why their servers are down so that he can concentrate on getting it fixed.

During annual reviews, Alan has excellent results. Clients report a higher level of satisfaction when Alan works on a project for them. They understand what was done and why. Several clients have referred others to the company based on their satisfaction with the work Alan has completed for them. The referrals result in two new contracts for Alan’s company. His is given a 6% merit increase for going above expectations and helping the company stay profitable.

Jeff is also recognized for the technical work he does. He is consistent and efficient at performing the duties of his role. But his reputation for being difficult to work with means that his manager has to be strategic with the clients that Jeff is assigned to. Jeff is awarded a 3% merit increase.

Add similar results for 2-3 years and you end up with a large pay difference for the same role. Both people in the example met the requirements of their job description.

When you remove HR nightmares like nepotism or sexism, most disparities in pay stem from the difference between the people who do their job and those who go above and beyond what is asked for their job consistently. A person who takes on more will tend to get paid more. The difficult part is the employee making less may not know all the extras their peer/peers are doing to justify higher pay unless they ask.

[u/tomster2300 → u/calabazadelamuerte]

Thanks for the explanation, and your phrasing makes sense now that you've broken it down.

FYI, I wasn't asking for specifics on your personal employees. I just didn't understand the point you were making there due to your specific phrasing.

[u/calabazadelamuerte → u/tomster2300]

No worries! I forget that “HR Speak” can be super frustrating when you aren’t used to it.

Most companies are very specific in the language they want used and avoided. You are never supposed to outright say that someone is doing a terrible job or making awful decisions because it tends to shut them down. Which makes it impossible to have a productive conversation. Instead you use the term opportunity* and give suggestions on how to avoid or overcome the issue in the future.

Example: “Karen, for the past month you’ve had an opportunity with closing payroll on time. What can I do to help? Is there a different shift we could put you on to make it easier?”

*Unless it is a repetitive issue the person refuses to address, or involves theft. But then you are talking termination or prosecution.

[u/eedna → u/calabazadelamuerte]

So Alan gets paid more because he does client supports job as well as his own? if its not a client facing job then jeff should not be penalized for expecting other people to do their jobs.

[u/calabazadelamuerte → u/eedna]

Jeff wasn’t penalized. He got what would amount to the standardized increase for his role. Alan is doing more than is technically required and got a higher than standard increase, even though their title is still the same.