UPDATE: Senior admin employee demands a $5/hour raise, exposing HR when she discovers the company pays new hires more than experienced workers: '$21 an hour is a huge win'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Feb 1, 2026 9:00 AM EST

If the newbies on the job are making more than experienced workers, that's a wage discrepancy problem that must not be ignored. 

These days, they say the only way to get a promotion or a raise is to job-hop. Many Gen Z workers and the younger workforce are pretty familiar with the concept, because they expect nothing from their employer or the company writing their paychecks. However, experienced employees and more senior workers can't fathom that. After a lifetime in the workforce and after expecting their company loyalty to pay them back in spades, older generations are hoodwinked by even the mere suggestion of interns or new hires making more money than them. 

Unfortunately, however, that's a reality that's becoming more and more common. Don't despair, though! There are ways to fight this inequality, and it turns out it can be as simple as calling HR out for their daylight robbery. 

Oftentimes, admin positions will go for months without making the updated changes that they're meant to. This can lead to promotions, reviews, and employee evaluations that slip through the cracks. However, if employees are diligent about their own salary (and make it their business to know everyone else's take-home), that can work out in their favor. 

An experienced admin worker didn't have to job-hop to get a raise; she found a loophole: The truth! When she found out that the newbie hires were making more than she was on the job, she was initially fuming and felt insecure. However, after reviewing her personal portfolio of expertise, licensing, and training experience, she fluffed her feathers, marched into the HR office, and demanded to know what she was being shorted. This bold move was not only enough to grant her a matched salary, but a significant raise, earning her $5 more per hour than she was used to and ranking her above the new hires.

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  • Woman negotiating a raise with two other managers.
    via kate_sept2004

  • Although it sounds like this is how it should be without having to fight for it, these days, working folks will fight for every scrap that they deserve, and it's nice to see the little guy win in the boxing ring versus a goliath HR department. Because usually when workers come face to face with Big Brother upstairs in their gilded offices and wth their fancy leather chairs, it's intimidating to demand what's rightfully yours. And this woman sets a wonderful example to all of us in the workforce who are being underpaid and overworked, making a statement that speaks volumes about the value of experience and job loyalty. 

  • Getting paid less than new employees - I listened to your advice and here's what happened.
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • I posted about my salary issue. I was in a new role as lead tech and admin and discovered I was making a few dollars less per hour than the newly hired people. I was making $16 an hour, and they were starting
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • at $17.50 or $18. I got a lot of good advice, but I also received strange private messages asking for personal details, which is why I had to take the post down.
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • Anyway, I finally had a meeting with our HR manager, and honestly, the conversation was very direct and open. She explained that my previous manager was hiring people at whatever salary he
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • wanted, completely ignoring company policy. She even pulled up the official salary chart on her screen to show me how the starting salaries they were getting were completely wrong.
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • I listened and nodded, then I simply told her, 'Okay, I understand that, but what does this mean for me now?'. Their first offer was a 50- cent raise, bringing my pay to $16.50. I very calmly refused and explained that it didn't make sense.
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • Female worker at her desk doing admin work.
    via kupicoo
  • I said something like, 'With my experience and being the only person here with certifications on all the new equipment, I feel the value of my role isn't reflected in this offer.'
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • We talked for about 30 minutes, and I found out they had completely forgotten about my mandatory 60-day performance review, after which I was supposed to get a raise, and that I had also
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • never received raises for the additional certifications I completed. Anyway, long story short, after she reviewed everything, I got a $2.50 raise, bringing me to $18.50 an hour. She
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • also told me my annual review is coming up in June and said, 'Based on everything you've accomplished, you'll get another raise of at least $2. I expect your pay to reach at least $21 an hour after that, if not more.' I asked her to send this to me in an email so I'd have something official, and she sent it right away!
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • I got it in writing, which is a huge win. Companies like this do not value employees. They view employees as expendable. It's a huge slap in the face.
    via phenols_reshoot5s
  • nathottub Congratulations! Couteous conversation and common sense wins!!
    via nathottub
  • Man working on his laptop while taking a phone call.
    via Karola G
  • Aeroy Presumably the review was supposed to have happened back in August. They've been underpaying you for 5 months. You should consider asking for backpay bonus.
    via Aeroy
  • FreshLiterature All I'm gonna say is $1/hr works out to $2080 a year of full time work with a standard 2 weeks of time off. In other words - in the year 2026 it's not that much money.
    via FreshLiterature
  • A raise of $.50 is literally nothing today. The fact that it took that long for you to justify not even making $40k/yr is outrageous. Even at $21/hr you're going to be at $42k a year.
    via FreshLiterature
  • Even back in 2015 that would have been nothing, but you might have been alright if you were out in the sticks.
    via FreshLiterature
  • Today that's nothing even IN the sticks. It probably wouldn't be that hard for you to figure out how much your company makes off of your work. If they make $100 an hour you should be getting paid at least $35.
    via FreshLiterature
  • If they're the only game in town then it sounds like they need some competition and you're in the perfect position to identify which niche products you could most easily beat them on.
    via FreshLiterature
  • QCr8onQ Good for you. Sounds like you handled everything professionally and they responded. Kudos
    via QCr8onQ
  • VocalTrance88 it's nice to see good news for a change
    via VocalTrance88

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