Employee writes critical resignation after finding out people working under them are earning more

Discovering that the individuals working beneath them are earning a higher income can be deeply frustrating for anyone. Such a situation unfolded when an individual turned to Reddit to express their dismay. They posted about it on r/antiwork SubReddit, but now they have deleted it. The title of the post carries the outrage, which reads, "Found out new starters (I was mentoring and leading) were being paid around $43,579 more than me." These situations are becoming more prevalent in workplaces due to a shortage of employees. Companies attract new employees by offering them higher pay, which makes the more experienced and skilled employees feel less valued. Such a situation is called pay compression. Companies can avoid this by offering due compensation to more seasoned employees, but the user's company did not do it.

"Management told me there was nothing they could do," the Reddit user wrote, but this was a lie as they had hired new people with higher salaries. "Started interviewing externally, got an offer for €60k more" for the same job the person was doing. The employee decided to resign and handed over their resignation. The screenshot of their resignation is doing the rounds on the internet. The letter begins with, "Please take this as immediate notice of my resignation. As threatened, I have found a job externally who are prepared to pay me a fair market value."

People who have been taken advantage of know how good it feels to write such a letter. People can fight pay compression by assessing the pay offered by the company to employees and looking at the market conditions to communicate better about company policy and even groom one's employees for promotions. In another interesting story about standing up for one's worth, u/TheVideoGameCritic shared their story of attending an interview for a role that demanded too much without proper compensation on Reddit.

The post's title reveals how the company wanted someone with four years of experience, a bachelor's degree, and a costly certification for just $55K a year. The story has gained over 27.3K upvotes on the platform with over 1.5K comments. The user starts by saying that they were overqualified for the job but faced many problems because of companies downplaying their role.

The Reddit user attended the interview and found out that the company wanted an "all-star" employee before moving on to their compensation expectations. The interviewee knew what they wanted, having done prior research about the company and keeping the cost of living in mind. The company was willing to provide a measly $55K annually for the role. Upon hearing this, the individual was shocked. They wrote, "After taxes in California, it doesn't make sense with mandated health insurance, student loans re-kicking in, I'd be very close to the poverty level."

The job seeker also knew the company's profit which amounted to over $1.2 million a year. They write, "If the owners simply valued this position as much as it needs to be, it would very reasonable to afford what I'd need salary-wise." The interviewers were taken aback by hearing the interviewee speak about their financials in detail. The Reddit user states they have been unemployed for roughly a year and did not intend to "job hop." They conclude the post by saying despite inflation, salary levels continued to remain the same. The user also informed the employer they were not interested in the role.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on September 5, 2023. It has since been updated.