Boss downplayed star employee's efforts — so he upskilled on company dime and landed a 200% hike at rival company

Bosses expect employees to be efficient and often go the extra mile to get excellent output. However, when asked for fair pay or recognition, companies don't value their efficient employees. While being denied can sting, the way it is phrased is often the key reason pushing employees to consider new opportunities. Here's a story shared by a Reddit user on October 6, who used the company's education budget to move to another job with a 100% raise, after being denied one at his current job.

Recalling an incident from early on in his career, u/apost8n8 shared his experience working as an engineer for a defense contractor. There, he led a team that created a product which made $1.6 million in its first year. The employee, who was a project engineer, was managing four other engineers and even helped the company secure a crucial patent. They went on to be nominated by the U.S Air Force for the Department of Defense Contractor Technical Team of the year, and ended up becoming finalists. However, amidst the productive working hours, the employee recalled being away from his family for more than 100 days due to traveling. When it was time for the performance report, as expected, u/apost8n8 received a 10/10 performance review.

While he received a 3% raise, he soon found out that one of his own team members was promoted to a senior position under a different manager. Feeling undervalued, the Reddit user decided to speak to his boss, who snapped at the employee, stating he "did not see him deserving of a promotion or a raise." Disheartened and angry by the response, the project engineer decided to "quiet quit" by not working more than 40 hours per week, and utilized all the sick days to improve his mental health.

When the employee learnt about the company's underused education budget, he decided to use it to expand his skill set. Meanwhile, the promoted co-worker took a company-funded MBA class that required staying on for a few years. However, the Reddit user chose a software training course instead, which came with no such obligation. Soon after, the employee secretly began applying for jobs that required the specific skills he had learnt. Without much delay, he was hired for a new position that paid him 200% of his current base salary, along with additional pay for overtime work.

When he put down his papers, his boss furiously questioned his reasoning and said they'd try to match the new offer. But when the employee revealed his new salary, the boss admitted, "That’s more than I make." In a study authored by Pankaj M.Madhani in 2020 argued that when companies use effective rewards and recognition systems, they can meaningfully improve employee engagement and reduce turnover. It highlighted that employees who do not feel recognized are about two times more likely to say they will quit within a year.

Following the employee's post, many users hailed the employee for smartly utilizing the company benefits to obtain the recognition he deserves. u/pop_tab commented, "That's more than I make!" Is hilarious."

u/chrisk9 commented, "Wouldn't be surprised to see management respond by slashing training budgets rather than directly address the appropriate compensation issue." u/Tweedldum commented, "Best revenge is your success."

More on Scoop Upworthy

Employee starts leaving work at 5 pm after boss denies them a raise: 'I am packing up at 4:58'

Manager kept denying raises until one employee's daring letter left him red-faced

Boss refused raises to senior staff but gave them to new hires. So one worker flipped the script on him