Replacement being paid at higher wage

[AbigailLouise0691]

Hello, 

I just need abit of advice to put my mind at ease. 

6 weeks ago I handed my notice in at my current employment as I had been offered a new, higher paying job. The week prior I had my appraisal and was told by my manager and director that I had preformed amazingly last year and they could not fault my work. 

Inline with my appraisal I was given a 5% pay rise(£18,000 - £18,900), this also fell in line with the support staff being given a 5% taking them up to almost 18,000 (all office staff were given a minimum of 5% to keep us above support staff) 

I yesterday found out my job was advertised at £19,000 - £24,000 dependent on experience. I read over what they had posted and NOTHING on the job spec is different to what I had been doing, in fact I was doing more in my job role, my job role was advertised as 2 separate roles yet when I started they combined them into one. 

They have just employed a male to replace me who has no prior experience doing what my job role requires, he is coming in on £22,000. I sat in on the interview with him so I know what he has done prior he is currently studying for a qualification that would benefit him in the future should the job role expand but looking at what is advertised, what I done and what he is being paid I feel like I have been massively kicked in the teeth. 

When I handed my notice in I told my director that I had been offered £22,000 and I need the money. He replied with £22,000 is a really good offer, good luck, I was then later told by my manager that she had tried to negotiate my wage and he said it wasn't worth it for my job role.

Am I being completely unreasonable to feel slightly annoyed by this? I feel I wasted 2 years being under paid by almost £4,000. 

 

 

 

[sangie5952]

You appear to have been paid the wage that you agreed to work for over the past two years. You have therefore not been underpaid. Everything else is irrelevant, as is the gender of the candidate successfully appointed to succeed you. 

Whether it is reasonable to be annoyed is really a judgement call. If they weren't prepared to pay you £22k to keep you, but were prepared to pay more to get your successor, possibly your managers comments about performance had more to do with diplomacy than reality. Or maybe they just realised that you were in fact underpaid and they couldn't replace you at that salary. But we will never know. There little point in letting it get to you. You  are moving on and that was your choice.

[ericsbrother]

good luck in your new job, forget about this and be happy with what you are about to receive.

If you see the position advertised again in 6 months time then there is nothing to stop you applying and asking for a salary that is more than your current one.

you didnt waste 2 years and you werent underpaid. If you worked in a properly evaluated and graded structure you could point to the benchmarks and say that this is the  correct band or point but your employer appears to have rather poorly defined boundaries and you appeared to be paid in line with thers doing the same from what you say. Now if the employer cant get people to work for them at the anticipated salary then they have to do something to attract the right candidates. I'm sorry to say they often wont pay more for someone already on the payroll, even if they can show they are doing the work of the higher paid  roles it is damned difficult to progress.

Get a bit more experience elsewhere and they may very well want to reemploy you in a more senior position and that will no doubt get tongues wagging again