‘Severely underpaid’ employee is refused a raise despite above-average performance reviews, so they call out their boss land new job with a 60% pay increase

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Jul 1, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Mustering up the courage to ask for a rightfully deserved raise is nerve-wracking. Why? I have no idea. When you think about it, if you have gone above and beyond (or simply excel in your role), your boss should be gunning for you. It's really easy to sell yourself short, thinking about all the things you might've done to tick me off—but it's important you aim for the stars. Your time and effort are as worthy of accurate financial compensation as your boss's, so making big chess moves in your career is a rite of passage (and usually pays off). 

But, sometimes it doesn't. You can do everything right and still end up getting the short end of the stick, and that's usually due to a jealous boss who can't fathom that someone might be better at the job than they are. Even when you get glaring performance reviews, they're right there in the corner to take you down a notch or five. Luckily, the employee in this next story finds a way to not only spite the boss but land a unicorn role that gave them a 60% raise. Did their old company match them? Yes. Did they accept? Nope. Scroll to read the entire story below.

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  • "My manager was all about perception > reality."
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "Raise denied for not working overtime"

    A couple years ago, I was working for a corporation as an analyst. Company culture was that working insane overtime was bragged about and praised -
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  • when in reality, these people are working overtime because they do so much meaningless work that could be automated in a dozen different ways. I've always
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  • been very flexible with my time, because my management has been flexible with me - if I needed to take a long lunch, leave early for an appointment,
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  • etc. And I've always been very forthcoming about this. However, if I don't have to work late, I'm not... I finish all of my responsibilities during normal work hours and wrap things up neatly at the end of the day to have a smooth start the next day.
    via louisiannamc
  • I had been in this position for a little over a year and went into it knowing I was being severely underpaid, and I'm very confident in the output of my work - always
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  • got great marks on performance reviews and constant praise for what I was doing. So I felt deserving of a raise, and I requested it. (20% which is large,
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  • I understand, and I debated that for awhile because I knew I wouldn't get the full amount. But this is how severely I was underpaid, and I knew 20% was
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  • the cap by our company's policies.) I was immediately rejected any raise because I come into the office at 8 and leave right at 5 while everyone
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  • else works late and I never offer to help others out when they are overloaded (meaning they work late and I leave on time). The first part of this "feedback" actually
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  • came from someone else who worked on our floor, never worked with this guy in my life. My manager was all about perception > reality. Which I understand is general corporate culture, but that doesn't mean it's not bullsh*t.
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  • Cheezburger Image 10522781184
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+
  • Ok. I can change that. Around 4:30 everyday, I would ping my manager asking if there was anything she needed help with to finish out the day. I documented
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  • all of this in a word doc. Day in and day out, there wasn't a single thing she ever asked me to do in addition to the work I was already doing. I would test things out and stay until 5:15/5:30 some days to see who all is working late. Very seldomly was anyone ever in the office past 5:05.
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  • Eventually, my manager said I don't need to be checking in with her at the end of everyday. I said ok no problem, but I just want
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  • you to know that you can always reach out if you need help with something, because I can't be expected to know your workload if you don't communicate.
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  • Our relationship stayed very strained after that. I was desperate to leave the company, especially once the raise was fully rejected after receiving
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  • above average performance review for being in the job for only a year. Finally got another offer about 5 months later that
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  • was a 60% raise. My prior company offered me the same 60% raise and a promotion. Took the new company's offer and have never been happier in a job.
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  • DeepAd3343 I remember seeing articles popping up of interviews with people from management teams, HR and even CEO's. They all complained about how there's no more loyalty to a company, they all blamed everything possible including that these younger generations are lazy. Maybe value your employees and take care of them by paying them well with benefits, they just might stay.
    via DeepAd3343
  • There was a excavation company I worked for in the early 2000's I walked in the door named $18 an hour with O experience working in that industry. Everyone got 2 weeks paid vacation a year, dollar for dollar match on a 401k, earned 4 sick days a month plus full medical coverage (obviously paid
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  • by us). Every Christmas the owners would throw a huge company Christmas party, everything paid for including 4 open bars and a hotel room for anyone that wanted one for the night. At the end of the party (or if someone left early) they handed every employee a personal check for $2k as a Christmas gift not a bonus. I saw more people retire from that company after 20 years than I have seen anywhere else
    via DeepAd3343
  • CoderJoe1 In the corporate world where HR is of the mindset to never give anyone more than a cost of living increase, you need to jump around to new employers to get recognized for your worth. Long gone are the days where it's normal to be recognized for your efforts monetarily.
    via CoderJoe1

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