Country: Canada

I didn't get where I am today just by doing what I'm supposed to or expected to do. I go beyond that. I worked hard and long to get where I am today. I always made myself the corner stone or pillar of the team. Continually striving to improve and continually learning. My team sees me as an invaluable member. I am often consulted for many things in pharmacy. I do my best and set high standards for myself beyond what is normally expected of me. I strive to be more involved in the pharmacy and other areas within the store. I also train upcoming pharmacists and technicians. There's nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it. If you know you are capable of expanding your knowledge and role, then do it. Don't wait for someone to come along and hand it to you. Take control of situations you can handle and don't let it slide. Be on top of it. Maintain a level head and calm atmosphere. You'll be amazed at how much that can help others in your team.

One out of every 100 ideas will strike a chord with management, and possibly the market. Always look for new ideas, recognizing that it is a difficult and often unrewarding effort. All you need is for one of the 100 to hit, and this can change your life forever. I am proof of this. After the first idea is somewhat successful, later ideas seem to come easier and the probability for success improves at least marginally. Fame and fortune are truly fickle, and favor only those who are willing to risk and put their shoulder into the effort, sometimes for a very long time. Overnight successes are exceedingly rare, and are almost always the culmination of decades of effort (which is often not obvious on the surface.) Anyway, this is my advice and it is extremely difficult to take what I just said and make something from it. but there it is.

I started working for a family run business over 20 years ago. At that time there was 3 of us that worked in 1 department. Over the years due employee vancancies I am left to run the dept on my own and has been that way for more than half of my years served.

Since my start at this retail company I have been given more responsibility then you can imagine. I love this but I have never been compensated for the added work load. Now we have 2 stores and I am responsible for that as well.

There is 1 other employee other than myself that has been here for a long time. He is of the male gender.

If I had to be honest I do 3 times the about of work he does. Not to consider, I replace him when he is not here, and take care of my own responsibilities as well.

I am getting the impression as long as I can handle these responsibilities they have no intention of hiring anyone else to replace former personnell.

I am the longest employeed women ever here and for some reason I don't advance or get benefits like my other male gender co-workers.

I would love another job! The only thing I have going for me is that I have a job of 20 + years.

I feel it's like security in a way. Or am I wrong.

I am a retired nurse. For eight years, I provided a long-time friend ailing with cancer and other illnesses with all manner of support, as a nurse would to any person confined to a wheel chair, managed household accounts, managed other staff hired both to relieve me and for specific duties such as heavy housework, gardening and maintenance. For that, I never received more than minimum wage, nor any bonuses or enhanced pay for working on Christmas, New Years, Éaster, etc. I was even paid substantially less than the relief workers, who cared for my former employer in my absence despite my vastly superior qualifications, experience and duties. My employer has since been moved out of province by two of her daughters, who are unhappy that I asked my employer to give me as a sort of severance package, the equivalent of a dollar an hour for each of the 45,000 hours I worked over that time. The daughters are now asking that I return this money, although this was no financial hardship on my friend who is extremely wealthy. They are complaining that it is costing a great deal more to keep their mother in her new home and need the money. Of course it is costing them more. They are paying staff more than double what I was paid. I am very fond of my friend and sorry that this has caused such issues with her children. I am thinking of returning some of the money. I could well use it, but I can also live without it. If I do this, I will also send an accounting of the difference between what I was paid for my services against the going rate for the period to underline my position that I was only asking for my fair due, and not taking advantage of my friend. I would like to know if anyone else out there has had a similar experience.

Not being fairly paid within the particular organization I work for. Bias: yes, it seems that a very junior individual is being paid 50% more than they should be due to the fact that they are a personal friend of one of the executives and have a personal history with them.

I was hired into a new position with in my company. They basically told me to 'pick a wage.' After taking into account my commute time, I thought I would name an amount which seemed to me slightly high. I was not educated on wage discussions having just previously finishing school. After several months into my new position with more responsibility, I realized through communicating with close friends in the workforce that I was being paid less than people who were doing less of a job than I was. Believing this was unfair, I decided to discuss this with my supervisor on my 6th month review. My supervisor went to my director who told me straight out 'don't believe everything you hear.' I put my trust into these words and accepted a 3% raise. Three months later, I find out that I am the lowest paid employee within the company, and still the people who are doing less work than I am, have a higher wage (still) than I do. I guess I don't have any advice, other than don't let people take advantage of you.

During performance review be confident in your answers.

I believe that my pay should reflect the workload and responsibilities that have changed over the last year. I do not receive benefits or any other income for my child and I am the sole support/wage earner in the household.

I've been with the company for 18 years. People who are just hired start at the same pay scale as I am now after working here for 18 years. It just doesn't seem fair.