“It seems that the superiors stuck a knife in my back.” the day they found out how much their colleagues earned;

Is your salary really the same as your open space neighbor?If statistics are to be believed, in 2024 women in the private sector unknowingly earn 4% less than their male counterparts. colleagues. Until the day they discover it, through trusts or by voicing a file that wasn’t meant for them… like Elisabeth Moreno, the former head of Lenovo and former minister for gender equality, will never forget these documents that the HR manager accidentally left behind. was in the copier. “I read them. And I fell off my chair,” he says regularly. Discovering, late in his career, how much less he earned than most of his colleagues at the same hierarchical level, caused the scales to fall from his eyes (painfully).

A sense of betrayal

The surprise came to Angel (1) during a drink with colleagues, one Saturday evening in 2021. He then worked for two years in a large production company (8 employees as an entertainer and 2 managers) and made sure that everyone in the team was paid on the same salary scale . At that time, his superiors saw him as a “Swiss army knife”. he was the only one who could work on image, sound and production at the same time. Active, he thinks. “That night, at the bar, a colleague of my age revealed in one sentence how much he was paid in an hour … And it was a cold shower,” he recalls The workload is double.” Anger rises, and Angel decides to find out from the other employees. It only takes a few discussions for her to understand that she is the lowest paid in the entire company. I felt manipulated, devalued and betrayed.”

“It’s a real trauma,” comments Insaf El Hasini, an expert in reparations negotiations and co-author of the book. Citizens’ money. (2). “Finding out you’re underpaid can feel like a real betrayal, comparable to a betrayal of love.” Ultimately, the implied fiduciary contract binds the employer to its employee; the latter gives his skills, energy and time to the company, which in return pays him at its true value. : In the world of work, money is also synonymous with recognition. Therefore, the following connection is not surprising. if you’re paid less than others, it means you’re less respected, valued, and somehow less “desirable.”

To stop accepting being paid less than you deserve, it’s important to know your true worth

Soraya Uraoui, Women’s Leadership Coach

Know your true worth

How to respond in such a situation. We detail the position of people who are better paid than you, to know the missions of each of them and understand whether they are adequate in terms of expertise and workload , act on this information. If the answer is yes, there are several steps you can follow.

The first is balance. “If you no longer want to pay yourself less than you deserve, it’s important to know your true worth,” says women’s leadership coach Soraya Urauy about the added value we have brought to the company over the past year.” Next, you need to find out how much your skills are worth in the labor market. Insaf El Hassini recommends using the “light beam” method here; To get a first idea, you can contact people around you or on LinkedIn who are in the same profession, in the same city, with the same experience and ask: how much are they paid; finally, we question the market players, for example by responding to various job offers, with the aim of being as clear as possible about the salary range in which we find ourselves.

Negotiation

All this information will be useful in the negotiation phase, which promises to be delicate. If Soraya Ouraoui invites you to agree without delay to review your salary based solely on your success and skills, and without using the wage inequality argument, Insaf El Hassini has a completely different opinion certainty, you should inform your manager before sending an email to HR stating what you discovered and asking for an explanation of this salary the gap”, advises the negotiations. It’s also a good idea to remember the law that says there should be equal pay for equal skills and positions, which also applies to people of the same gender… It’s entirely possible to have an employment lawyer or lawyer accompany you to ensure your message is delivered correctly. :

After this first trial comes the negotiation. If HR cannot explain the salary difference, then we are asked to compensate for the “mistake”. “Neutrality,” encourages Insaf El Hassin. A person’s vulnerability (aggression, anger, etc.) can be used as an argument against him by HR or a manager not to raise his salary. “It is better to calmly recall the facts and emphasize the inconsistency of the situation, but also its illegality,” the specialist insists. There is no need to discuss the validity of the request, we will prefer to focus the negotiations on temporality: when will we compensate for this inequality?

Broken trust

However, beware of the boomerang effect; “in many cases, even if the negotiations are successfully completed and the balance is restored, the employee may end up leaving his position,” warns Sara Zituni, founder of “PowHer your career” (3) . The coach meets women every day who can no longer stand being ignored within their organizations. “I was particularly struck by the case of one, let’s call her Justine (1), who had just joined a company by agreeing not to negotiate her salary because , they explained to him to match his predecessor’s salary. “says the coach.

A few weeks later, Justin meets the man by chance at a party. During the conversation, the latter reveals his salary…much higher than the amount that was announced to the young woman. Result? “My client chose to finish his probationary period directly because it was impossible for him to work in a team where people could lie to him like this.” Such an unpleasant revelation should soon become rarer. In 2026, the European directive will offer easy access to their organization the average salary for their position (if it has more than 100 employees).A situation that should clear the topic and feed after some clarifications confidence.

(1) Names have been changed.

(2) Citizen Tunes: Take control of your money at work and at homeBy Insaff El Hassini and Héloïse Bolle, published by Éditions Alisio, 256 pages, €19.90. Insaf El Hassini is also the founder of My True Value and the creator of the podcast of the same name.

(3) Sarah Zitouni is also the author of the book Powerful your career, how to succeed in professional life without losing your skin published by Hugo Image, 128 pages, €14.95.