Negotiating Fair Salaries

I think we need to have workshops / discussions on figuring out fair salaries on college campuses. This is not as easy or straightforward a topic as it might sound.

Here are some thoughts from my end. Read completely :). There may be some unexpected inputs :).

1. The first thing to figure out is *where* you want to work:

Say you want to go be a college professor in Burundi, the poorest country in the world. Now, this kind of a venture is not unheard of. Some people are driven to go and work towards uplifting peoples that are struggling. The question is: How do you estimate what ought to be a fair remuneration for your services?

If you expect to be paid in USDs and have a New York city experience in Burundi, you are being unrealistic and perhaps need to re-evaluate how strongly you are motivated - or to what extent your life situation allows you - to work in underdeveloped countries.

Yet, even here, there are going to be salary differentials in society. You will need to do the homework on (a) what would be a typical college professor salary range for your level of education and experience and (b) what are typical salaries in other professions in society. Once you have this information, I recommend applying the following principle:

**Avoid greed and a desire to live a life so plush that an overall struggling society wouldn't be able to understand or respect you. Yet, don't allow yourself to get exploited! Be mindful. For example, there are schools in India that pay teachers lesser than what auto rickshaw drivers make. This has to be unacceptable and I would be quite happy to see teachers putting their foot down for a fair compensation. Likewise for professors. If they are being paid lesser than bureaucrats and politicians and being given the "be idealistic" pitch, I would smell exploitation!**

The same principle applies in India and other developing countries that are far better off than Burundi and Mozambique, but yet not first world still.

So, first figure out *where* you want to work and apply the above. If your decision to work somewhere overrides all other considerations, then that's that. If not, as long as you are clear about avoiding greed as well as exploitation, you have all the right to negotiate a fair salary.

2. The second thing to look at is the nature of responsibilities you would undertake:

For example, there are colleges in India that might pay me as high as Rs. 2.5L per month but might be by and large focused on UG education. On the other hand, I might get paid lesser at some other institutions but have a better teaching-research balance and access to better research funding, infrastructure, etc.

Where to put oneself in such a range is a decision one has to make to make consciously!

3. Firmly avoid all notions of everyone in society being paid the same amount! Even hard core communists ought to be more realistic and pragmatic than this :)! At the same time, stop thinking of money as the most important consideration in life. We all need money, we have all the right to earn a honest living and live a good life. But if you keep going pay package, pay package, pay package, you are being pretty boring :)! Be interested in something :)! Think about what you want to do, where you want to work, then figure out what would be the right salary to ask for, and proceed :)!