Alyssa Powell/Insider
Try as we might to separate our sense of worth from our paycheck, money finds a way to remain emotional.
Insider's latest careers series, "Salary Journeys," showcases how employees across industries relate to their income — from the administrative assistant making $16.50 an hour who's "never been happier" to the software engineer making $183,000 who feels frustratingly underpaid.
"If I'm being honest, I've come to understand that while my salary is important to me, my worth is more than the money I make," said one lawyer who makes $154,000 a year. "I want to feel valued."
The goal of "Salary Journeys" isn't just to show how money makes us feel. It's also an attempt to create more transparency for job seekers who want to make sure they are paid a fair wage. One Glassdoor study found 70% of employees across seven countries said they believed salary transparency is good for employee satisfaction. An even more sizable portion, 72% of respondents, thought it was good for business.
Each salary journey, while anonymized, is an effort to provide a fuller picture of where opportunities lie and which career paths may intertwine in unexpected ways.
If you are interested in submitting your salary journey, please email salaryjourneys@insider.com. All submissions are kept confidential.
After an early stint as an ad executive in radio broadcasting, a 26-year-old Black man living in the South moved into telecommunications sales as an hourly employee.
He is the sole breadwinner for his family, so he was determined to achieve a managerial role within the first year. As it turned out, his dedication and willingness to take advantage of opportunities that came his way led to a promotion offer within the first six months, taking his income to $3,500 a month, plus an average of $3,500 a month in commission.
Growing up with two engineer parents and a strong understanding of finance, a 32-year-old white man living on the West Coast talked about feeling underpaid relative to his peers in Big Tech.
"I know I'm incredibly lucky and privileged," he said. "Still, given my field, when I apply for a job, I'm probably not going to settle for less than $220,000 a year, which is closer to what I believe other people in my position are making."
Feeling valued at work was never part of the equation for a 36-year-old white male lawyer, until he began making more and noticed it was coming with a cost.
His current job — in-house counsel for an environmental-markets company — has been a radical shift from his grueling prior roles. He described the culture and atmosphere as "life-changing."
"My boss treats me well," he said. "And my colleagues take an interest in me, getting to know my wife's name and asking about my kids' T-ball team."
COVID-19 was devastating for this 37-year-old white woman working in the Midwest. She was jobless for nine months and said she didn't receive unemployment for half that time.
Today, she works in a role that she loves and looks back at the experience as a learning opportunity.
"I know how to ask for a raise and adjust to a pay cut," she said. "And I've learned to look out for myself and keep an eye on potential opportunities."
Negotiations have never come easy to this Latina editor in the Southeast, and she fears it could be having a negative effect on her overall career trajectory.
As a result, the 27-year-old said she's never had a negotiation go well and has settled for what she's been offered.
"Working closely with my higher-ups has taught me how replaceable we are to them," she said. "I'm nervous that if I push too hard, I will be out of a job."
The 25-year salary journey of a white male pharma executive is one of slow and steady increases. Starting as a contractor 16 years ago, he worked his way up the ladder. Today, he makes $203,000 in salary plus bonus, and an additional $25,000 in stock options.
"I'm never going to be a millionaire," he said. "But I think I'm well-compensated and that I make a fair wage for the kind of work I do. At this point, I'd have to be offered an exorbitant amount of money to jump ship to a new company."
