I would like to take this blog today and turn it in to more of a question then a rant.  I am wondering if many companies or professional services firms take inequity (differences in pay) into consideration when they look at staffing their projects.  As it is likely in any environment, when multiple people get together they are bound to talk and will likely expose information on their current consulting rates or salary.  As I have blogged before, if these rates are not indicative of the skill set for each person, you can have a serious problem. 

Often when it comes to staffing a large project (large testing environment, call centre, etc) an organization will put out a requirement calling for multiple resources.  As will always be the case, all the resources chosen to staff this project will come in with a varied skill set.  If resources are placed by different firms the rates can vary as each firm can negotiate for a different margin.  But this difference in price can cause problems down the road of people find out the team members are not being paid the same.

This is the same for employees who have the same responsibilities or skill set.  I am a recruiter for example, but I am not the only recruiter.  If I make more then someone else who does relatively the same thing as I do we should be making the same salary?  I know that I would be upset if someone was making more then I was. 

This is not to say that everyone is equal, and to suggest such a thing is simply incorrect.  Every organization is going to have a mix of talent.  Perhaps my suggest is rather that any organization needs to be able to justify or demonstrate why they are paying one person more then the other one in case someone brings it up.

It always helps to have something down so you could explain if need be why you feel such a person is worth the higher price take.  After all, this is a headache no one wants to deal with…