How to find out if you are underpaid

Winning the Super Bowl wasn’t enough. A four-year contract for $30 million also wasn’t enough. He is one of the NFL’s top running backs – and at the brink of preseason football the Seattle Seahawks'  Marshawn Lynch decided he was underpaid.

Yes, you heard me -- $7.5 million a year wasn’t enough for Lynch. Luckily, for Lynch and the team, the powers that be were able to “move around” some money to guarantee Lynch $1 million in incentives and roster bonuses. Not too shabby for throwing a workplace temper tantrum.

I would say 99 percent of us would never get the same results as Lynch if we refused to work until we got a raise. In fact, I would bet most of us would get fired.

So my weekly words of wisdom: Don’t pull a Lynch if you feel your are underpaid.

Regardless of whether we all think Lynch was overcompensated, compensated fairly, or underpaid, most of us are in the same boat as Lynch and wonder if we are being compensated what we are worth. According to Glassdoor.com, a recruiting Web site, 39 percent of employees feel they are not being compensated fairly for what they are asked to do.

In an ideal world, we would all like to think we are all equal and should be compensated equally as well. The fact is, when it comes to the workplace we are not all created equal and therefore are not paid equally.

Employers have a number of factors to consider with each employee’s individual pay, including education, experience, productivity, performance, responsibility levels and specialized training and knowledge. These factors are typically combined with the “market rate” for a particular position (or similar positions) in a job market.

Being underpaid is probably one of the worst feelings in the world. What could make you feel worse or more worthless than not getting fair market rate for what you spend the majority of your life doing?

If an employee does feel underpaid, it can create a lot of problems sure to impact the business, including lower productivity (why work hard if it doesn’t matter in the end?), high turnover, absenteeism and decreased morale.

Aside from asking co-workers what they make – not a great idea and forbidden by a lot of employers --  how can you tell you may not be getting what you're worth?

A great place to start is online salary surveys. The Internet has resources literally at your fingertips to help you determine the overall basis for what the “market rate” is for your position. Great sites to start with would be the U.S. Department of Labor and recruiting sites like Glassdoor.com or Careerbuilder.com.

Also, visiting with others in your industry in similar positions is a good way to gauge where your compensation sits within the market.

Next, it is good to take a look at the company performance overall. If profits and revenues are growing and your salary is staying the same over an extended period of time, it may be time to have a visit with the boss. While a strong overall company performance without raises doesn’t exactly confirm you are underpaid, it still is something to explore if you are questioning fair compensation.

If your responsibilities have grown, but your paycheck hasn’t this also could be an indicator you are underpaid. Keep in mind however that many employers will assign expanded duties to employees who are productive. While expanded duties may not equal an expanded paycheck – and could be an indicator you are underpaid – it is good to keep in mind that expanded skill sets look good on resumes for future opportunities.

If you still have gone through all of these steps and feel like you are underpaid there is nothing wrong with sitting down with your manager or supervisor to discuss your compensation concerns. Recently, I have seen that most employers do not automatically or consistently hand out raises, but rely instead on employees asking for raises. In today's workplace, you will more than likely be the party to begin the discussions.

If you decide to ask for a raise, stick to presenting facts about your responsibilities and your accomplishments and how they relate to the company. Discussing personal financial needs or overall economic conditions usually deters employers from giving raises.

In the end if you do feel you are being underpaid and your employer is not willing to work with you, the job market is back up and booming – so it may be a good time to take a peek at what else is out there.

Monica Bitrick is CEO of Bitrick Consulting Group, a human resources company in Idaho Falls.

Tyler Schwendiman building Hitt Road insurance office

Tyler Schwendiman anticipates having his Insure It All building on Hitt Road finished by November.

I've gotten a few questions about the project happening on Hitt Road just north of Chuck-O-Rama. No it is not a new restaurant, it is the new 7,973-square-foot office Tyler Schwendiman is building for his Insure It All agency.

In business for 12 years, Schwendiman and his 15 employees are under two separate roofs and running out of room at that. The building, which he anticipates having finished by November, will put everybody under one roof with room to expand. Schwendiman said he anticipates adding seven more employees after the building is finished.

The new location, at 919 S. 25th East, will also give him better visibility on a more-traveled road, and he said he plans to have a sign that will attract attention.

Schwendiman is an independent insurance agent dealing in property, auto, health and life insurance. His Web site is www.coveryourstuff.com.

Double Down Bar and Grill offers simulcast horse racing

Danielle Wilde, Steve Laflin and Rachelle Hunter at the Double Down Betting Bar and Grill, 3078 Outlet Boulevard.

Horse racing enthusiasts in the Idaho Falls area don't have to go to Sandy Downs anymore for simulcast betting. Double Down, which opened in July at 3078 Outlet Boulevard, is offering live simulcast betting in a facility that serves food and alcohol.

The business, formerly the One 16 Sports Bar and Grill, is being run by Steve and Dottie Laflin and their daughters, Rachelle Hunter and Danielle Wilde. The betting side is being run by Jim and Melissa Bernard, owners of Intermountain Racing and Entertainment.

Laflin, CEO of International Isotopes, said they had no interest in running a regular restaurant, but that the simulcast element made the proposal attractive to them.

Betting on horses in Idaho has been legal since 1963, and the Legislature authorized simulcasting in 1990. Before July 2011, however, simulcasting was only allowed at live horse racing facilities -- Sandy Downs in Bonneville County's case. That year, the Legislature passed a bill allowing simulcast horse betting from other venues, supporters arguing that off-track locations could provide a better atmosphere, food and other incentives to attract paying customers. The 2011 bill did not allow new simulcast betting venues to be set up, but instead allowed operations like the Bernards' to move.

Pari-mutuel betting is a system under which all bets are pooled together. Once the outcome of an event is determined, winning betters are paid out of the pool. The idea is that a wagerer has a better chance of getting a better return.

This past session, the Legislature approved HB220, allowing pari-mutuel betting on historical horse races. Laflin said they anticipate having 50 historical race machines installed by November. So if you want to bet on a race at Aqueduct that happened in 1996, this will allow you to.

In Idaho, proceeds from simulcast pari-mutuel betting go to youth programs run by the Idaho Horse Board and the Robert R. Lee Promise Scholarship program, which annually awards 25 scholarships to students attending state colleges and universities. The remaining funds are distributed by the Idaho State Racing Commission to improve horse racing in the state.

Idaho Falls firm makes CNBC's top 100 list for fee-only wealth management

Onyx Financial Advisors (from left): John Parry, Aaron Sautter, Lyndsay Goody, Ken Simpson and Terry Roe.

Onyx Financial Advisors, an Idaho Falls company that was started in 2005 by Ken Simpson, John Parry and Terry Roe, has been recognized by CNBC as one to the top 100 fee-only wealth management companies in the United States.

Coming  in at No. 99, Onyx was the only Idaho company to make the cut. Companies were chosen based on a number of criteria, including:

Professional designations on staff (CFP, CFA, CPA or PFS)
Relations with third-party professionals such as attorneys or CPAs
Growth of assets
Years in business
Assets under management

Firms were also evaluated based on any regulatory actions by the SEC, FINRA, state regulators, and state insurance commissioners, and could not have had any reported complaints, actions or disclosures.

Here is a link to the full CNBC story: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101619698

Downtown Shabby opens on B Street

Jamie Casella, left, and Aubree Gardner, owners of Downtown Shabby.

Downtown's newest addition is Downtown Shabby, 348 B Street, specializing in refinished furniture, picture frames, and decorative items too unique and funky to describe.

The store is being run by Jamie Casella and Aubree Gardner, who were at Morgan's Emporium until about a month ago, when they decided they wanted to be downtown.

The store features items from 14 different vendors. Although it's mostly furniture, the merchandise ranges all the way to kids' clothing.

Everything is tied together by Casella and Gardner's gift for presentation. The inside, formerly an accounting office, has been done up in a very Pinterest way. "We dated a cohesive, boutique feel," Casella said. "A lot of people like this kind of stuff."

Hours are Wednesday from 1 to 7 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call Casella at 206-7268 or Gardner at 201-2823. And of course you can check them out -- even like them -- on Facebook right here.