Said It Here

Why am I getting underpaid despite great performance reviews?

High performers can end up stuck near the bottom of their salary band because assigned tasks or leads may be unfairly weighted against them, making their output look lower on paper. This discrepancy makes high-performing employees feel like they are failing despite consistently exceeding expectations.

Overview
People affected9 accounts across 6 forums
Workarounds found13 items attempted
Community agreement36 total upvotes

What the numbers show

Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count

  • People have been saying this in most months since September 2026.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

13 items+ Contribute

Found another way around this?

Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.

  1. 1
    Checking CRM history and tracking what happens to properties before and after inspections to identify lead manipulation
    Did this help you?
  2. 2
    Changing job titles on LinkedIn to match actual responsibilities rather than official titles
    Did this help you?
  3. 3
    asking for a raise
    Did this help you?
  4. 4
    finding a different company
    Did this help you?
  5. 5
    switching to flat rate or flag hour pay
    Did this help you?
  6. 6
    Working side gigs (like delivery apps) seven days a week to make ends meet
    Did this help you?
  7. 7
    Actively applying to higher-paying jobs at other companies
    Did this help you?
  8. 8
    Relying on child support payments to supplement the low base income
    Did this help you?
  9. 9
    Threatening to quit to force a counter-offer or raise
    Did this help you?
  10. 10
    Finding a new job externally and leaving
    Did this help you?
  11. 11
    Bringing the discrepancy up with a coach or manager
    Did this help you?
  12. 12
    Questioning the bonus directly to negotiate an adjustment
    Did this help you?
  13. 13
    Focusing on office politics and networking with leadership rather than just raw performance
    Did this help you?
Tried another approach not listed above?+ Share your workaround ↑

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Accounting3 people · September 2026 – November 2026

“Is it not paying you as if you were a clerk to do the full role of an accounting manager, then when you’ve had enough and are ready to move on you can only describe yourself as a clerk?”source ↗

DeltaBlueBBQ · r/Accounting · 14 upvotes

“Found out I was underpaid for the annual raise/ bonuses.”source ↗

“The other person at my level had mentioned there bonuses was about 3-4k higher than mine.”source ↗

“I’m just confused because I got valued/ exceptional as well as becoming a CPA and having more hours charged.”source ↗

Any_Interaction9151 · r/Accounting · 11 upvotes

“the reason why i am posting this is because the engineers and purchasing people make 100k more than me when ive been there longer.”source ↗

“i have built the accounting system alone with a software no one is familiar with since the beginning.”source ↗

“why do i feel like im being im being taken advantage of?”source ↗

boxerx262x · r/Accounting · 1 upvotes
r/PropertyManagement1 person · October 2026

“The problem is… I am very underpaid with an annual salary of 52k.”source ↗

“I was promised a promotion by my previous manager who has since moved into her new Vice President position (promotion) and left me hanging.”source ↗

“I am no longer excited about my job because I know for a fact I am least paid property manager in my region.”source ↗

“What keeps me at my company is the flexibility of being able to take my son to his many dr.s appts, not being micromanaged, and overall it’s a good company…I’m just not reaping the benefits of a good salary.”source ↗

“To make ends meet, I Spark 7 days a week, and receive child support payments for my son who will be 18 next June.”source ↗

IncidentExtreme6399 · r/PropertyManagement · 10 upvotes

“My company’s annual increases are capped at 3.5%.”source ↗

IncidentExtreme6399 · r/PropertyManagement · 1 upvotes
r/Roofing1 person · September 2026

“all higher-converting leaks and emergencies appeared to be handled by my manager, while I received properties that had already been serviced, low-probability work, and complicated estimates requiring repeated revisions.”source ↗

“Why was I barely selling?”source ↗

“That is what eventually made everything click for me. I went back through old properties, i also wanted to see why my sales where low... and so i went full detective mode and started checking everything about jobs”source ↗

“At the same time, corporate would obviously see that the estimator was not selling much. So now the estimator looks like the problem. That was the part that frustrated me the most. I spent months thinking I was failing.”source ↗

EpicXplosive · r/Roofing · 4 upvotes
r/careerguidance1 person · October 2026

“I’ve taken ownership of several business-critical initiatives, consistently delivered results, and received positive feedback from leadership.”source ↗

“My manager recently told me that compensation adjustments wouldn’t be possible until the new year due to budget constraints.”source ↗

“I understand budget limitations, but I’m also aware that other employees have received raises, which makes the explanation a little harder to reconcile, and the people that threatened to quit have received raises (I am trying to do this based on merit).”source ↗

“I’m now considering reaching out directly to one of our senior executives to get their perspective on my leveling and whether there’s genuine support for a compensation adjustment in the new year. I’m starting to question whether I’m better off exploring external opportunities.”source ↗

Busy-Poetry2391 · r/careerguidance · 2 upvotes
r/MechanicAdvice2 people · October 2026

“😂 am I supposed to replace a control arm struts or maybe bend a straight axle I said 26 alignments everything from straight bars and toe and go’s”source ↗

Imaginary_East_1175 · r/MechanicAdvice · 1 upvotes

“26 alignments straight is no joke especially solo. shops around here charge like 80-120 per alignment and you're getting 17 flat. thats rough math.”source ↗

Time-Cover-8981 · r/MechanicAdvice · 1 upvotes

“I get paid 17 an hour should I find a different company?”source ↗

Imaginary_East_1175 · r/MechanicAdvice
r/humanresources1 person · September 2026

“I’ve been in my role 4 years, my performance reviews have always been above target rated, I’ve been given awards for my performance- and I’m fairly confident my role I’m being paid on or below 80%.”source ↗

runner9331 · r/humanresources

Where this came up

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