‘Why am I paid less?’ Fresh grad turns to the internet after discovering pay gap
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SINGAPORE: A fresh graduate recently turned to social media for advice after discovering that a colleague who joined the workforce just two months earlier was earning S$400 more than him. Frustrated, he wanted to know how he could request the same pay without raising any suspicions.
In an anonymous post on the r/askSingapore forum, he explained that although both of them are relatively new and perform similar tasks, their starting salaries were different.
During one of their conversations, his colleague told him that he started on S$3,500 during probation, went up to S$3,700 afterwards, and later secured another raise to S$3,900. He, on the other hand, began at S$3,300 during probation and was set to move up only to S$3,500.
The employee added that he felt he deserved at least the same salary, given that he often assists his colleague with various tasks. “I often spend time vetting my colleague’s emails and documents and correcting his atrocious grammar upon his request. This is why I think I should be earning at least as much as they,” he wrote.
With his probation ending soon, he was considering asking for a raise to S$3,900, although he worried that requesting S$400 above his agreed post-probation pay might be seen as excessive.
Seeking advice, he asked the Reddit community, “As I’m new to the workforce, I’m not sure how to navigate such a request. I don’t think I should let my manager know that my colleague and I have discussed our salaries, but how do I then justify coming up with S$3.9k? How do I ask for the same pay as my colleague without revealing that I know how much they make?”
“Back it up with actual reasons why you deserve a pay raise.”
In the discussion thread, a few Singaporean users weighed in with some solid tips on how to ask for a pay raise without raising suspicion.
One user said, “Don’t use the same amount as your colleague. HR will get suspicious that you know. Can you try asking for $4K and justify it with your performance review and FCH? All the best.”
Another commented, “You can ask for a pay raise, but ‘my colleague is making more than me’ is a poor reason for it. Make sure to back it up with actual reasons why you deserve a pay raise. The company doesn’t have to give one to you for the sake of fairness. Life’s plenty unfair, which is why there’s a large income gap between the rich and the poor.”
A third added, “Reach out to your manager. Ask for feedback. Tell them you did some market research and understand that the industry benchmark is $xxx. Tell him/her that you are hoping to review your current salary and what milestones you should hit. Salary is never about experience, market rate. It’s all about the value your company/manager sees in you.”
In other news, a woman took to social media to vent about her neighbour, who she says has been burning strong, perfumed incense multiple times a day right outside their HDB flat.
In her post on the r/askSingapore subreddit, she explained that the neighbour had set up an altar just outside the door and would light incense sticks as often as “two to three times daily,” usually during “breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
Read more: Resident frustrated as neighbour burns perfumed incense outside HDB flat multiple times a day