On Careers

Learning that a co-worker earns more than you do can be infuriating, particularly if you’re doing roughly the same work at roughly the same level.

Here are five reasons that might explain the disparity:

1. You co-worker negotiated better than you did when she was hired.

There’s a lot of variation in whether and how people negotiate salary when they get a job offer. Some people accept on the spot, others push for a little more, and others push for a lot more. And some of them get it. Your co-worker’s salary might be higher than yours simply because she asked for more. (Unfortunately, asking for more now probably won’t close the gap; it’s never as easy to negotiate after you’ve accepted the job.)

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