You feel demoralized, insulted by yournot-such-a-great friendemployer, and resentful of your coworker.
Before you protest, heres how to handle the situation professionally.
Stay calm and do these things.
As frustrating as it is, there might be fair reasons why your coworker earns more than you.
While there is always the chance that this is related to gender, it may also reflect market forces.
As a result, companies may need to offer high starting salaries to attract new hires.
So before jumping to conclusions, take stock of the situation.
Well talk about discrimination and pay inequalityanother possible reason for salary differencesin the last section below.
Keep the focus on your performance instead of comparisons between you and others.
If you work at a company where salary sharing is taboo, this might not help your case.
Approach your raise request like you would in other situations where you feel like you deserve more.
If not, read on.
It doesnt help that most companies have a do not share policy when it comes to salaries.
Transparent salaries alsomake us more satisfied with our jobs.
Illustration remixed fromoriginals byCreatarka(Shutterstock).
