'A 25% base pay increase': Worker gets denied promotion, gets a new job instead... effectively promoting themself, others share their stories

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Aug 9, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

Making your workers prove themselves by jumping through hoops in order to get a raise—like a monkey, giraffe, or any other suitable hoop-jumping animal—is a surefire way to ensure your monkey starts looking elsewhere for a new gig where there aren't any hoop-jumping requirements.

In that same vein, it has often been said that your work (and your monkey's work) speaks for itself. That is true… until you corner your boss about a discussion about a long overdue raise. Suddenly, the work you've done is no longer doing any talking on the matter; instead, your boss is only interested in the future: improvement plans, personal projects, and growth through company learning programs—anything to put obstacles, distance, and time between the current conversation and the reality that, one day, they'll have to pay you what you're worth.

The thing is, it's going to cost more for them to replace you if (when) you leave than it is going to cost to pay you that 5-10% raise you're asking for. It costs an estimated 30-50% of an entry-level worker's salary to replace them, more for mid-level and higher. On top of that, they're probably going to hire your replacement for at least the rate that you're asking for with your raise anyways.

Alas, many employers allocate more funding to hiring budgets than they do to raises and benefits for existing workers, meaning that, in order to move up and earn more, you often have to look elsewhere.

This worker shared their experience of doing exactly that after being denied a raise and told that they would need to "prove" themselves for a promotion. The worker decided to "prove" themself by looking for a job elsewhere, successfully finding one with better pay and benefits than they had been seeking at their current job.

Read on for their experience, originally shared with Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance community, where it went viral this week—along with a selection of responses and experiences that readers shared in response. Next… check out this worker who shared what they called their "supervillain origin story" when their employer tried to sugarcoat the fact that they were receiving a demotion.