No one will teach you how to prove you are underpaid, so you must be smart and DIY. Case in point, an indignant female employee went out after work for drinks with her coworkers and learned that a new male colleague doing the same job was earning 30% more than her. 

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While female employees and workers from minority groups are grossly underpaid across all industries, anyone can find themselves in such a precarious situation if they don’t have a good employer; even some food and beverage manufacturing employers tend to exploit their workers.

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Regardless of the reason for your underpayment, the ball is in your court, so find out if you’re getting paid enough and do something about it. 

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How to Prove You Are Underpaid In Food And Beverage Manufacturing

1. Review Online Data

The internet has a medley of information available. If you have an internet connection and a computer device, you can access salary information anytime. Namely, Glassdoor’s salary tool allows you to search salary information conveniently using its industry, company size, location, and experience filtering options. 

You can also review salary information from other job sites, including QTalent, LinkedIn, Careers In Food, FoodWork.ca, and FoodGrads. 

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2. Leverage Your Company’s Pay Transparency Policy

Keep in mind that the pay disparity you’re going through may have been developed by previous efforts by managers to keep salary information under lock and key. You’ll want to be careful not to discuss such matters with colleagues to avoid legal troubles if such is the nature of your workplace. 

But if your employer is transparent about the payscale, how salaries are determined, and if each position pays equitably, knowing the answer to your dilemma is as easy as approaching HR for this information or having watercooler banter with your officemates.

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3. Audit Your Duties and Responsibilities

Auditing your tasks empowers you to see if your workload has been increasing without a subsequent raise, which is a sign of being underpaid. This mostly happens when a coworker is promoted or leaves the workplace, and some of their previous job duties are given to you. 

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4. It’s Been a While Since the Last Performance Review

Performance reviews shouldn’t be an event to dread, but viewed as an opportunity to initiate salary negotiations if you’ve been kicking butt. As you discuss your wins and accomplishments with HR and your bosses, it’s the ideal time to ask for a pay increase. Especially, since you’ll have a list of your responsibilities to show your positive contribution to the business. 

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The Course of Action for Underpaid Workers

1. Talk to Your Boss

Money is a sensitive topic in the workplace, so you don’t want your boss to hear your plight from a third party.

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Set up a meeting to discuss the matter, and come prepared with supporting data showing you should earn more. 

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Compile the information into a PDF, citing the online sources, and send it as an email attachment for the meeting, or better yet, print it. 

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2. Discuss Your Exploits

Have you been making bold moves that positively contributed to the company’s bottom line? 

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Are there recent successful projects you were part of that sent waves throughout the organization? 

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Mention this information to your boss.

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Say the software you recommended managed to save the business CA$1m after implementation, this is the type of information that can cook up a raise.

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3. Ask for Both a Raise and Perks

Canadian companies are expected to increase salaries for their employees by an average of 3% to combat inflation and remain competitive. 

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If your employer is giving raises but not at the rate you expect, ask for more money. In case of setbacks, entreat for non-monetary compensation; employee benefits like fertility treatments, adoption assistance, elder care, tuition reimbursement, and pet care could fill in the gap.

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Since the current inflation rate is at 6.3%, you want to get creative in building the bridge between the salary increase and the inflation cost.

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Work with Better Employers 

Let’s be honest; some food and beverage manufacturing employers will nickel-and-dime you, charging you for trifles in the workplace, resulting in your underpayment. Others will avoid ever giving you a raise, and considering the sky-high inflation rate, your employer should at least provide a cost-of-living adjustment.

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On that account, to be on the safe side, why not seek out prospective food processing employers? 

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Do that with our intuitively sophisticated QTalent recruitment platform, where we connect top technical food workers with great food and beverage processing employers. 

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You can have your customized profile in a few clicks, with your resume being featured, which you can send to different employers with zero edits.

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Our algorithm helps you find employers based on their location, compensation package (because we believe in pay transparency), and benefits. 

We don’t mean to toot our own horn, but yes, we’re the best. Sign up today to get the full benefits of our job search platform.