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I accidentally got paid my Indian colleague's salary as well as mine a few months back. Rather awkwardly, I discovered that despite being more junior than him,

I accidentally got paid my Indian colleague's salary as well as mine a few months back. Rather awkwardly, I discovered that despite being more junior than him, I actually got paid more. Obviously I'm not complaining, because I want to earn as much as possible, but it does seem a bit unfair. On one hand, I guess I'm better at negotiating a higher salary (mine's not that much higher, maybe 5-10%), but at the same time, it seems unfair that he does the same work and gets paid less. How would discussing my salary with him benefit me (in a purely capitalistic sense)?

yen223 8y ago
If your employers were savvy, they might realize they could replace you with more senior staff at a lower cost (never mind their nationality). You can make your job a little bit more secure by encouraging your colleague to demand more pay.
inasring 8y ago
you could be the equivalent of your indian collegue to somebody else
gempir 8y ago
Not sure if you are in the tech industry or something close to it. But I've rarely seen someone getting the salery that they deserve. Mostly it's based on seniority and experience. Even if you do the exact same tasks and maybe sometimes even faster maybe sometimes slower. The salery will not reflect that at all.
dancek 8y ago
Your colleague would be very grateful to you. If you don't know the value of grateful people, you're not much of a capitalist.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  > If you don't know the value of grateful people, you're not much of a capitalist. Rule of Acquisition no. 1 says: "Once you have their money, you never give it back". But if you did, the next best thing is suggested by Rule 111: "Treat people in your debt like family... exploit them".
  - dancek 8y ago
    Maybe you just saw a nice opportunity to make a reference. But if you also downvoted me, maybe you missed both my pun (a capitalist should be able to assess the value of everything) and my point.
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      Only the former. I did not downvote you. Hence the penultimate rule in the HN guidelines - "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading." You have no way of knowing who downvoted you, or why, unless they step forward.
tooltalk 8y ago
If he's a smart individual, knowing the market rate for his current skillset would help him prepare better for next annual review so he could ask for better raise. If he's a bitter, negative one, he would resent you and hate everyone at work.

yen223 8y ago

If your employers were savvy, they might realize they could replace you with more senior staff at a lower cost (never mind their nationality). You can make your job a little bit more secure by encouraging your colleague to demand more pay.

inasring 8y ago

you could be the equivalent of your indian collegue to somebody else

gempir 8y ago

Not sure if you are in the tech industry or something close to it. But I've rarely seen someone getting the salery that they deserve. Mostly it's based on seniority and experience. Even if you do the exact same tasks and maybe sometimes even faster maybe sometimes slower. The salery will not reflect that at all.

dancek 8y ago

Your colleague would be very grateful to you. If you don't know the value of grateful people, you're not much of a capitalist.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
> If you don't know the value of grateful people, you're not much of a capitalist. Rule of Acquisition no. 1 says: "Once you have their money, you never give it back". But if you did, the next best thing is suggested by Rule 111: "Treat people in your debt like family... exploit them".
- dancek 8y ago
  Maybe you just saw a nice opportunity to make a reference. But if you also downvoted me, maybe you missed both my pun (a capitalist should be able to assess the value of everything) and my point.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Only the former. I did not downvote you. Hence the penultimate rule in the HN guidelines - "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading." You have no way of knowing who downvoted you, or why, unless they step forward.

tooltalk 8y ago

If he's a smart individual, knowing the market rate for his current skillset would help him prepare better for next annual review so he could ask for better raise. If he's a bitter, negative one, he would resent you and hate everyone at work.