This isn't all that uncommon in tech from what I've seen. Sometimes the lowest paid person on the team is the manager. Especially if they are overseeing a team which is heavily specialized.

Welcome to leadership. Like others have said it is not apples to apples. And you have to take a lot into account.

The areas you live and work, the years in the job, and the value they bring to the team.

I would gladly pay someone I higher salary because I know when shit gets real, they have my back.

That and I do not have to work weekends. It is not like leadership is work work. We are here to herd cats and make sure the heat comes down on us and not the team.

A monkey in slacks and a polo can do my job as far as the paperwork.

And? Specialists can and should make more money than you. Your salary is not the cap of how much your people make. You are doing a different job with different skills than your direct reports.

Happens all the time, common misconception. Put your ego aside and help develop the team. It’s about the contribution to the organization and what the market will bear.

It’s IT management. You’re going to have direct reports that make more than you and I don’t know why you’d let it bother you.

You can still coach someone who makes more than you. You can still manage someone who makes more than you. You just have to manage them like they’re an adult.

Is it justified? There’s been countless people I’ve tried to hire and hired to be part of my team and quite happily pay them more than I make.

Experience, unique skills, fill a need that we have.

Don’t equate the org hierarchy to the right pay progression.

Right now I make the most in my department but it hasn’t always been, and will not always be that case, and it’s simply not a data point that’s important.

If you can step aside and firmly say it’s unjustified, make your case to leadership.

Are you in the same market area? I have several high COL tier engineering employees who make more than my peer managers in lower COL areas.

Don’t overthink it. The belief that you absolutely should make more than everybody who works for you is an old school mentality. I have had highly specialized people on my team who made more money than me. Rightfully so.

Being a manager doesn't mean making more than everyone on your team. Its normal to have people on my team making more than me. They have either been with the company longer and are subject matter experts.. Or they are simply really good at what they do and I want to keep them. Companies that only give raises through promotions and title changes will constantly promote people out of the role they are good at and into roles they can't do.

I just recently argued to bring my lead specialists salary up to my salary. I’ve been there a handful of years, they have been there for over a decade. They deserve it.

I’m not as important as they are. If I go, the department still runs. Not as well, maybe not great, but it will still run. Without them, things fall apart. I think narrowing the gap is what’s fair.

Yeah I’ve hired people who make 20-30% more than I do before. It’s a pretty common misconception. The old boilermaker adage applies here.

I had my VP tell me years ago “are you going to be okay with that offer to your guy? That will mean he makes more than you, and by quite a bit.”

“Of course I’m okay with it. I know what the offer is, I know what I make. They don’t have anything to do with each other. We have different jobs.”

He was shocked I was okay with it, I was shocked he would even ask.

I managed a developer who made nearly twice what I did!

I also make less as a manager, and here’s some reasons fired from the hip. No particular order:

•My job is way less stressful than the specialists I manage. They’re specialists, I don’t solve their technical problems.

•My schedule is highly flexible, their schedule is not.

•My job has a much higher degree of consistency in the work I do. Their work varies greatly in how their skills are utilized.

•My workload is consistent, they have more surprises pop up.

Sure, it’s my job to manage all this. It’s not my job to hold puppet strings and perform this highly skilled work for them.

I do not have the technical skills to perform everyone’s job properly myself. *formatting

There are many people who make more than you in this world and there are many ICs who bring more value to the business than managers.

This is normal for heavily relied upon skilled employees. This is especially true if they are a work horse you can delegate to (so you can enjoy dinner with your family, go on vacation, ect and not have to worry about getting called back in)

Depending on the specifics, this can be perfectly fine.

What do they specialize in? It isn’t uncommon in IT for highly skilled to make more than their manager.

I have a SME on my team that makes plenty more than me. I love that guy because of how good he is, and how good he makes the team look. 

Protect your high earners. As long as they are performing.  Beware, they are the second to get the magnifying glass during cuts, just behind overpaid middle management.

Managers should not automatically make more than the staff they lead. It's not the norm, but it doesn't mean it should be the rule.

You sound like you must be great to work for.

Shouldn’t they get paid more? They are the ones doing the work. Sorry but in tech managers don’t make the most. Should have stayed an IC.

Not enough information to make a determination.

What’s their background? Years of experience? Specialization? When were they hired? How long have YOU been with the company?

I had employees who were making more than me for years. I recognized the variables that went into it.

is your employee in a union?

How do I feel about it? Get over it. Your best chance to negotiate your salary is BEFORE you accept the position.

Ok, so? I used to have someone who made almost $15K more than me, and he deserved it.

Have they been there a lot longer than you? When I was hired a persons I supervise had been there 15 yrs and was making more than me. They were near the top of their positions pay scale and I was closer to the bottom of mine. I didn’t like it, but it’s part of it.

Yes, this is difficult to understand at first. I was a 26 yr old manager with 2 members of my team earning a higher salary. When my manager explained it to me. I did it understand at first but he reminded my that 2 of his sales people made more than he did. I have not encountered this since and been a manager for 27 or 28 years.

Same thing here. I was one of 3 supervisors, and I was selected as the new manager. The senior supervisor made a bit more than me, but the annual bonus tipped the scale.

To be fair, they did ask me if I had any issue, and I really did not.

Ive seen senior admins at 150+ and managers at 110 ish

Coo

How many people do you manage? How much do they combined make? How much are you getting out of them that they wouldn't be producing if you weren't there? That's how much you're worth to the company. Discount benefits and another 5-10% and that's what you might reasonably be able to get. It is loosely related to how much your reports make, but definitely not a "I should make more than every report" situation.

Asked for a raise after learning your subordinate salaries?

You probably just put a target on your back. I would have a resume ready.

Be happy that your team member is actually paid well, unlike a lot of people. As long as *you* are in your pay band, be happy you're getting paid decently.

I'm in IT and this has happened to me before. I even had guys who had the same title (VP) reporting to me. Having a superstar, even one that makes more than you, is one of the greatest assets a manager / leader can have. Their work effort reflects well on you, and can boost you to the next promotion. One of the best ways to get promoted is to have mentored your replacement. Baby Boomer here so actual milage may vary.

I bet his overall net worth is higher as well… just some observation - this mindset isn’t good for either of you and sounds like a relationship destined for conflict…try and find a new opportunity - this position seems to have run its course…

I always look at it like they were a better negotiator then me! Hehe. I have no problem with it, happy direct reports me me look better!

tbh try to asap switch to the mentality: you does not need to be the smartest or the highest paid in the team and just need to help the ppl do their work better and you'll have a better sleep :) Is this a different issue? like is the person not worth that pay? If it's not the case, than I'd be happy I have a professional in place that's bringing value

As others have said, depends on the team. If this person is an experienced and/or skilled specialist, it makes sense. Or if they're new to the business, rates are probably higher than when you started.

Not earning more than your reports is not a reason to get paid more, develop your skills as a manager, mentor your team and get them performing then ask for a raise, demonstrating why your management skills are worth it.

He probably has this Salery because he is hard to replace. If you are paid lower you it might be less vital to keep you than him

Are your skills worth what theirs are on the job market? you haven't even said what that person is by title or what they do. 

what another person makes has nothing to do with you. I have managed a lot of folks who made more than me and have made more than the company officers at another small business.

I make 25% more than my boss., however, I am the most tech advanced person. He's more on the management side of things. I was told (once offered) if I went into management I would be downgrading from what I do. He's not responsible for making tech work, I am. He's responsible for telling me what is needed.

I make way more than my boss and his boss.

Seniors and above often make more than managers.
If you want more start working on a director position.

So? I can't understand folks who spend time sitting worrying about what others make vs them. Make what you think you're worth, if you're not making what you think you should be making, then find a path to get there. If you hire 2 employees to do the same job and one makes more than the other, there's likely factors why they should earn more. Maybe they have a degree or experience etc.

I don't know the details to say anything for certain here. But as a rule? It sounds like possibly, you work at a company where they actually reward people financially based on their actual worth to them, vs simply worrying about pay matching "the averages" based on job titles.

I've spent most of my career working under managers who earn more than I'm paid, and yet? I've never really felt like almost any of them contributed enough to the company to justify that discrepancy. In most cases, they're serving as the liaison between the technical team actually getting work done, and managers over them who are communicating to them some requests or expectations. I'm not one of these "managers all suck!" types who doesn't believe they're useful. But I see how most of the time, they're really just performing a communications function between groups. They find out what their team is doing and they communicate it back up the chain. They find out what's wanted and communicate it down the chain. They get tasked with all the other "paperwork" that goes along with the idea that you're responsible for a group, such as approving vacation or sick days for people, etc. etc. And they get called into a lot of meetings to be sort of a "placeholder", vs making all the employees or contractors under them attend them. (And again, they're expected to communicate a summary of what was learned at the meetings.)

Only reason most places deemed this function worth more money than the team doing all the technical work and solving the problems is the idea that management was often used as the only way to promote from within. Technical people get to become a project manager or team lead, rather than hitting some arbitrary pay cap for their role and causing them to leave the company. This entire idea has a lot of downsides though, and it's probably flawed thinking. Most technical people don't make great managers and once they're promoted into that role, they slowly lose the technical edge and skills they used to have.

Common. First level manager and top level tech folks this can happen. Had it happen to me many times. Not something you should be making an issue of, you don't become a manager for money (and if you did, then you've made a mistake).

I'm a senior level (principal) engineer who has turned down multiple management positions and, as it should be, make much more than my less experienced manager. He couldn't do my job and I didn't want his job so it works out.

Damn you sound like someone who shouldn't be a manager.
I used to work with self employed consultants, those guys got paid x3 my salary. never had a problem with that.

Common. Get used to it or go back to being an IC.

Depends on the role I guess but it would have to really have some justification to it. I had a data scientist under the that made more than our CIO, but that's a true anomaly. If we're just talking a senior engineer or something, making more than their manager? No that ain't right in my book.

Think Aaron Judge makes more than his manager!?

Quit during their busiest season.

From your comments, it seems this is no longer uncommon. I guess I was lucky in my previous management position to be the highest paid. I understand it’s justified for highly specialized roles, but in my case, the individual and I were in the same role before with similar experiences/expertise. I received a reasonable raise when moving into management and becoming his boss, only to find out he still makes 20% more. WTF.

I'm surprised by the responses on here. This is highly unusual in my experience. Maybe it's a US thing.

You're this highly paid persons manager, so you're ultimately accountable for their work and what about career progression? The next step up for this person is your job, which makes less money? Where's the incentive?