Are you being paid enough? 3 simple ways to find out

Is your paycheck competitive in the industry and does it justify the hard work you put in?

If you seem a bit unsure about it, assessing how your salary stacks up can give you an idea of what you're worth.

Here are some tips that can help you understand your worth and whether it is fair or not in the current market.

Dig up salary-research sites

There are several salary research sites to use. Websites like www.salary.com, www.payscale.com or the more Middle East oriented www.bayt.com among several others can provide you the range of incomes earned by people in your position and industry.

Another website www.salaryexpert.com not only provides jobs by salary but also the cost of living in the country or city your work in.

This can come handy if you looking to move countries. For example, it can give an analysis of major expenditures if you are looking to move from London to Dubai.

That can help you understand how much you should be earning, keeping in mind the expenses and saving potential and based on this you can have a fair idea whether to negotiate with your employer or not.

Talk to experts, peers

Besides the salary search engines, you can also get in touch with recruiters. There are many reputed head-hunters and HR consultancies in the city who will help you get a fair idea of the salary trends in the market and what you should be looking at.

Huxley Associates, Hays, Bayt, Gulf Talent and Towers Watson are among many other reputed firms with data that you can cross check with.

You can also approach people in your network of friends and colleagues who would be willing to share salary information with you.

Try to skip your office colleagues but compare your paycheck with people on equivalent positions within the industry.

This will not only help you understand your worth but also build your network, which can help in your job search.

Put a value on the intangible benefits

While assessing your worth you are most likely to take basic salary and your housing rent allowance into account. But do consider other benefits as ignoring these (besides the salary) is a common error.

Other factors like insurance coverage, the option to have flexible work timings, maternity and paternity leave, paid vacation days, low stress levels, etc., should be considered.

These factors have monetary value attached to them and should be grossed up with the salary figure to measure the value of your package.

Once you have clearly evaluated your pay and benefits against what is considered the standard in the job market, prepare your case backed with evidence, if you are thinking of negotiating with your boss.

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