Negotiating better pay…

Does anyone have any experience with this while still in your current role…

I’m an associate at a BB (non-IB, front Office), and am realizing I am being shaded on TC…

My bonus was ~75k less than a colleague on the same team as me who I was being told I was doing better than/ was ahead of (although he has ~3yoe more than me)

I also ended up getting the same TC as 2 new hires that joined us in the summer (who I also trained) with no experience… but because they joined when the job posting had a salary range, they’re both on the top end getting $25k more salary than me.

When I heard my pay package this year, I told my boss I was very disappointed and if there was wiggle room, to which he said the bank uses formulas for these things and there’s nothing he can do…

How should I have a conversation with him to ensure I don’t get f*cked next year? Without saying that I know exactly what my colleagues are getting (he told them to keep confidential, and they all asked me not to tell him that I know).

7 Comments
 

Absolutely brutal. I’d tell him “I know people that have less experience / perform lower are getting paid more — and without a substantial raise I am going to quit”. If boss asks you to back up your claims, just say you are opting to protect names of people who’s salary you know, but double down that it is not an empty promise.

 
Most Helpful

I haven't worked at a BB before but that strategy seems somewhat risky if you aren't actually willing to quit if your boss can't or won't increase your pay afterwards. I guess it's not easy to guess the likelihood of success but how easily replaceable you are and how much your boss likes you/actually has flexibility in awarding comp are likely to be major determinants of your success. For better or worse some firms prefer giving most employees smallish increases in TC every year instead of awarding bonuses/TC in a zero based budget way even if this leads to higher attrition from underpaid high performers.

 

The only way to ensure you don’t get fed is to get a higher offer from another bank or the buy-side. Saying “pay me more or I quit” is terrible advice. Saying “here’s where another place is willing to pay me, I’d like to stay here but you need to pay me more or I’ll have to take this other offer.” Is a lot more compelling and makes you a lot less enemies.

It doesn’t matter what your coworkers get paid because it sounds like you are at different experience levels and some were guaranteed a certain comp - that’s life.

If you can’t get a higher offer from another place….then you probably didn’t get as f
ed as you think you did.

 

Your boss does not see the value in your work and that is a terrible spot to be in. If they will not budge on TC then you need to be looking else where for a place that will pay you more. If they do not value your work you have very little negotiating power. Like others have suggested, if you can not find a place that will pay you more maybe the TC isnt that low. Im assuming your trading/sales at a bank and with flow books they almost always assume your replaceable and the value from the book is due to the bank and not yourself unless you have years and years of experience so negotiating TC is going to be tougher.

 

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