Your direct reports should never make more than you (in non-commission role). How can you be the boss of someone who is defacto more valuable then you (even as they lack the responsibility you bare). Yes, you would be underpaid in your current roll if the candidate was being offered market value and you should not search for validation on your position but a new job entirely
Why couldn't you be the boss of someone more valuable than yourself? They're more valuable in their role - that doesn't mean they'd be better/more valuable than you in your role, of management.
For example, it would make perfect sense if a dean made less than one of their Nobel-prize winning professors. Or a coach that makes less than their olympic athletes.
Say you get hired to a company and someone who has worked there longer, under you, has equity awards. Lots of them. Should you be paid more? Should they be paid less? Should we fire them? Or are you only referring to base salary? What if they are a critical person with great ability to push the product forward, and you are just a simple line manager? There are so many holes in your thinking.
Generally, a manager is a force-multiplier and should get compensated for making everyone better. This generally means that managers get paid more, and directors more, and c-suite even more. This is just a generality though. It falls apart all over the place.
How can you be the boss of someone who is defacto more valuable then you (even as they lack the responsibility you bare)
Easily? Your role as a manager is to enable your direct reports to do their best work. That is orthogonal to pay differentials. I've seen business founders work on teams under a manager. Strange power differential there! And the pay difference was insane - the founder _owns_ the business and can be worth millions. But it works. It is the same reason why a younger person can manage an older person, or someone less skilled in programming can manage a programmer.
In some European countries, it's quite common for senior developers to be contractors, while managers to be full time employees. The contractors tend to make more than the people who manage them.
Also, in many professional sports, coaches make less than the members of the team they coach.
Comments
Your direct reports should never make more than you (in non-commission role). How can you be the boss of someone who is defacto more valuable then you (even as they lack the responsibility you bare). Yes, you would be underpaid in your current roll if the candidate was being offered market value and you should not search for validation on your position but a new job entirely
Why couldn't you be the boss of someone more valuable than yourself? They're more valuable in their role - that doesn't mean they'd be better/more valuable than you in your role, of management.
For example, it would make perfect sense if a dean made less than one of their Nobel-prize winning professors. Or a coach that makes less than their olympic athletes.
Disagree. At $bigtech sometimes senior managers will manage principal scientists, who can make millions but only want to be ICs.
- pilots on some airlines make more than the CEO. - traders routinely make millions more (admittedly on commissions) than the bank's CEO.
i'm sure there are other examples.. Stating "Your direct reports should never make more than you" as fact seems a little overreaching :)
Say you get hired to a company and someone who has worked there longer, under you, has equity awards. Lots of them. Should you be paid more? Should they be paid less? Should we fire them? Or are you only referring to base salary? What if they are a critical person with great ability to push the product forward, and you are just a simple line manager? There are so many holes in your thinking.
Generally, a manager is a force-multiplier and should get compensated for making everyone better. This generally means that managers get paid more, and directors more, and c-suite even more. This is just a generality though. It falls apart all over the place.
Easily? Your role as a manager is to enable your direct reports to do their best work. That is orthogonal to pay differentials. I've seen business founders work on teams under a manager. Strange power differential there! And the pay difference was insane - the founder _owns_ the business and can be worth millions. But it works. It is the same reason why a younger person can manage an older person, or someone less skilled in programming can manage a programmer.
In some European countries, it's quite common for senior developers to be contractors, while managers to be full time employees. The contractors tend to make more than the people who manage them.
Also, in many professional sports, coaches make less than the members of the team they coach.