‘A new hire earns double what I’m getting': CEO screenshare blunder reveals a long-standing employee is the lowest-paid worker in the department, so they negotiate a substantial raise

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Oct 13, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

It's pretty taboo to talk about your salary in the workplace, but why? Under the watchful eye of micromanagers, coworkers cower in the corner under the impression that chatting about financial compensation is uncouth. However, the real reason Big Corpo wants you to think it's unsavory to discuss compensation is that they don't want anyone realizing they're underpaid in comparison. 

To keep wages down, companies have propagated the tabooness of discussing wages, because they don't want to fork out more dough if they don't have to. When this tenured employee, who had worked at a company for years, realized they were the lowest-paid employee in the department, they were shocked. After the CEO blundered through the 2026 company budget on a screenshare malfunction, this employee went back to the meeting recording to scour the revelation. With the annual budget as ammunition, and with proof that they were being seriously underpaid, this worker went out and got what was theirs: A huge raise. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10562903552
    via fizkes

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Screenshare error

    My supervisor was sharing his screen during a meeting, he accidentally shared something but it was removed quickly. However, the meeting was recorded and I reviewed the
    via ahole66
  • recording to find it was our team 2026 budget along with compensation of every employee. I discovered I am one of the lowest paid employees,
    via ahole66
  • despite being one of the longest tenured and most experienced. One particular new hire from the last few months earns double what I'm getting, despite no prior knowledge of our company and its products.
    via ahole66
  • Is it appropriate to discuss directly with the supervisor? Discuss with peers? HR?
    via ahole66
  • Small_Fail_1... Don't mention that you saw the budget!! Just ask for a review, state your qualifications, and if they don't meet your requested pay, ask why
    via Small_Fail_1
  • Whatever you do, do not mention that you know what anyone else is making. This is about you being qualified
    via Small_Fail_1
  • DazzlingPoti... Ask for a raise and start looking now that you know what you're truly worth.
    via DazzlingPoti
  • CornflakeBob1 Good advice on this thread. One other way to approach this is to get a job offer from another company, and then ask that they match the salary of your offer. You'd just have to be prepared to move on if they don't.
    via CornflakeBob1
  • needy1infl⚫ A similar situation happened to me years ago. I confronted my boss that I found all the salary, increases for the year along with bonuses for the year. I saw in black and white
    via needy1infl
  • (paper report, not screen share) how low I was paid versus my colleagues and peers. I told him obviously I was low paid and unqualified to fill the position I held. That
    via needy1infl
  • I would continue in my capacity until he could fill that job and I would be seeking employment elsewhere. He asked me to wait a couple of days and let
    via needy1infl
  • him discuss this situation with upper management. I ended up getting a 40% increase immediately and put on a much better bonus incentive. While still not where the peers were, I stayed
    via needy1infl
  • CantaloupeComplet... The new hire is likely getting paid that because they took the risk of job hopping in one of the worst markets in history. S k it up.
    via needy1infl

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