Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
A lot of people feel they are not being paid what they're worth. Most often, they are not. It has nothing to do with how hard the work is. In the end, you can answer this question easily: "How much do they pay me? And how much do they make off my work each month?". What you make for your employer must be more than salary/wage, vacation, benefits, overhead, etc. If you are really underpaid, then it is time to ask for a raise. And since your effort is worth so much more they will give it to you, otherwise your employer loses. If they don't agree, it will be easy to get a different job, since others will appreciate you working for them.
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How much does my employer make off my work each month? Not such an easy question to answer, even if my employer was selling anything. Assume my employer sells widgets-but I don't produce widgets, I produce programs that management uses for quality control, marketing campaigns, labor analysis, etc. So let's say my employer makes millions each month selling widgets-how much to they make from my work? Not to mention that I don't do my work in isolation. Often (as now) I'm working on a program that somebody else wrote originally. So now, how much do they make from my work?
In real life it's not often that you can measure the value of your work, other than in terms of what people are willing to pay you for it. In other words, if you don't think you're being paid what you're worth then you can ask your employer for a raise or you can try to find another job. Most often, these days at least, you'll find out that you're already being paid at least what you're worth. (An old joke: Employer: "We'll pay you what you're worth" Applicant: "Sorry, I can't live on that little")
In one sense you're right though, most people don't think they're being paid what they're worth. I attribute that to the efforts put in during childhood to "raise the child's self-esteem". The goal is good, but they end up making the child think (s)he's special-and it often comes as a severe shock when they discover that others don't think so. Some people never get over the feeling that they're missing out because they don't have the 'special' life they think they were promised. Sorry, but you're unique-just like everybody else.