Less than a dollar more is nasty work.

There’s a reason most workplaces discourage discussing salaries with colleagues. When you find out how much more or less your fellow employees are making, it might inspire you to ask for more money. It might also send you into a spiral, making you wonder, «Why is this person $X more valuable than I am?»

There are many factors at play when an employer decides how much to pay employees. Some of the most significant pieces of the puzzle consist of information an employee is not typically privy to. An employee usually has no idea how much money their labor actually generates, nor exactly how much of that money is profit and how much is absorbed by operational costs. While some employers pay their employees little because they know they can get away with it, many employers pay peanuts because there simply isn’t enough money to keep the business afloat and give their employees a raise. Employees always have the option to negotiate a higher salary or leave for greener pastures, but those options don’t always work out as they’d want.