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"Growing the pie" means making the company more successful, and if you have any equity in it, then it's likely to make you more money long term than arguing for

"Growing the pie" means making the company more successful, and if you have any equity in it, then it's likely to make you more money long term than arguing for more cash. Also, if you happen to be at a good company with honest and responsible management, then your compensation will be accurately adjusted based on your business value. So, doing good useful work will optimize your own pay as well as benefit everyone else. If you're at a crappy company with crappy managers, then yeah maybe you just need to play politics until you're paid enough to justify not quitting. If you have the means to move on from a job you don't like, though, you should probably work toward fixing that regardless of the compensation.

HWR_14 5y ago
> if you have any equity in it, then it's likely to make you more money long term than arguing for more cash. It depends on how much equity. If you have a greater percentage of ownership than you do of total salary, that makes sense. (Unless it's publicly traded, because then you can buy more stock with the more money.) But that seems unlikely most of the time. So, yes, it's better for founders or major shareholders. I don't follow that asking for more money is "playing politics"
- sgtnoodle 5y ago
  Equity is a long term investment which ideally compounds exponentially over time (even if it only matches inflation) in a way that you, as an active participant, can positively or negatively influence. Salary is steady income that linearly accumulates (and loses value over time unless invested), so it's kind of apples to oranges. Undervaluing a modest amount of equity when you're young can lead to a large missed opportunity cost decades later. It's certainly hard work with an element of luck to get equity in a company that takes off like a rocket, but that's why high-risk high-reward is a saying. If your compensation doesn't accurately reflect your merit to the company, then it instead reflects arbitrary social power dynamics. If you stick around somewhere that you believe is taking advantage of you, and try to up your pay through leverage or non-merit based arguments, then that definitely seems like politics to me. Just asking for money if you think you deserve it isn't inherently politics, though. If you're genuinely being underpaid and think the company is dropping the ball but acting in good faith, then having an honest conversation with your manager is healthy, and should result in the situation being resolved favorably.

HWR_14 5y ago

> if you have any equity in it, then it's likely to make you more money long term than arguing for more cash. It depends on how much equity. If you have a greater percentage of ownership than you do of total salary, that makes sense. (Unless it's publicly traded, because then you can buy more stock with the more money.) But that seems unlikely most of the time. So, yes, it's better for founders or major shareholders. I don't follow that asking for more money is "playing politics"

sgtnoodle 5y ago
Equity is a long term investment which ideally compounds exponentially over time (even if it only matches inflation) in a way that you, as an active participant, can positively or negatively influence. Salary is steady income that linearly accumulates (and loses value over time unless invested), so it's kind of apples to oranges. Undervaluing a modest amount of equity when you're young can lead to a large missed opportunity cost decades later. It's certainly hard work with an element of luck to get equity in a company that takes off like a rocket, but that's why high-risk high-reward is a saying. If your compensation doesn't accurately reflect your merit to the company, then it instead reflects arbitrary social power dynamics. If you stick around somewhere that you believe is taking advantage of you, and try to up your pay through leverage or non-merit based arguments, then that definitely seems like politics to me. Just asking for money if you think you deserve it isn't inherently politics, though. If you're genuinely being underpaid and think the company is dropping the ball but acting in good faith, then having an honest conversation with your manager is healthy, and should result in the situation being resolved favorably.