Lower Hiring Salaries for Experienced Workers?

Are you an experienced person looking for work?  Do you think you’re going to get paid less now than you did before you were unemployed?

It depends.

Despite “these troubling economic times” (anyone else tired of hearing that?) it’s pretty much business as usual.  If the job you’re considering is basically the same as the one you left, you’ll probably find the salary is similar to what you were paid in your previous position. 

You may even find a higher salary is being offered.  How is this possible?   Some companies will use a portion of the savings from the salaries of positions that were eliminated, (e.g. less experienced/lower on the totem pole/lower paid or non-performer salaries) when hiring to secure the right people for the positions they consider critical to their success. 

You can expect to be offered lower pay, however, if you’re changing careers or are taking a position with less responsibility than you had in your previous position. But you already knew that, right? 

But be prepared: there are companies who will, during economic times like these, pay a new hire with all the appropriate skills/experience/education to be paid at market below the market rate, even if their compensation philosophy is to pay at market. 

Now, a message for those of you managing the pay programs.  If your company is considering paying below market, here are some things you might want to keep in mind:

• be in legal compliance with all appropriate regulations
• have a valid justifiable reason to pay below market
• be consistent (don’t hire X below and Y at or above market, if they’re being hired for the same position with equivalent skills/experience/education)
• ensure the position/new hire isn’t kept at a sub-market level for an unreasonable amount of time
• have a game plan for when these salaries will be moved to market
• have the budget for these increases approved prior to hiring

In the end, it’s hard to say whether paying below market is right or wrong -- there are  reasons that qualify for right and reasons that qualify for wrong. The important thing is to understand the situation as either employer or employee and ensure you’re working against a plan either way.

Please use the comment section to let us know your thoughts. 

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