How to tell if you're earning less than you're worth

These 3 steps can help you figure out if your salary matches your work.
Ideally, you like your job and take pleasure in the work you do.

But let's be honest: You're not doing it simply for the thrill of a day's work. You're also doing it for the paycheck.

Is that paycheck enough to compensate you for your daily grind? It pays off to periodically assess how your salary stacks up. Whether you're sticking in your current job or looking around for your next one, you want to make sure you're getting what you're worth.

These tips can help put you on the right track to understanding how you are compensated.

Dig into the data
Use salary-research sites such as Salary.com and PayScale to find information about the range of incomes earned by people in your position or one you’re considering, suggests Silver Springs, Maryland-based career coach Cheryl Palmer.

Sites like these are a good place to start to learn about how factors such as your level in the organization, your location, and your employer’s size can affect your pay.

Professional associations can also be a source for pay and benefits benchmarking information. For example, the Medical Group Management Association publishes periodic reports about physician compensation. And in certain situations, including some government jobs and those under collective bargaining agreements, salaries are public information.

Factor in the value of benefits
Salary isn’t the only compensation consideration—the benefits package you receive should also figure into the equation.

“In some cases, a generous benefits package can balance out a lower salary,” Palmer says. “After all, benefits are worth money.”

Some online resources, such as Salary.com, offer calculators to help you estimate the value of your benefits, says Katie Donovan, founder of Equal Pay Negotiations in Medford, Massachusetts.

You can use this information to make estimates about what your employer is paying in health care as well. If you are covered by your spouse’s employer-sponsored health insurance, you will know how much your employer is saving on health care costs, and you can try to negotiate that money onto your salary, Donovan says.

Look at intangibles
If you find out you’re making less than you’re worth, you have several options, asking for a raise and looking for a new job chief among them. But keep in mind that there may be other perks that make the tradeoff of staying—even at a lower salary—worth it for you.

“Staying in a position with lower compensation can be ideal for people who are trading other benefits, such as flexibility or lower stress levels, for cash,” Palmer says

Similarly, stability or the possibility of a meaningful career track may make up for a lower salary.

“Think about where you want to be long term," Palmer says. "In some cases it may be worth it to take a lower salary in order to position yourself for your next career move,” Palmer says.

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