Employee at nonprofit organization discovers new hire gets higher salary, takes it up with manager, who refuses to give them a raise: ‘There will be no increase’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Mar 4, 2026 12:00 PM EST

Who thought that a non-profit organization would be so… ungenerous towards their own people?

What makes a workplace somewhere employees want to stay? Is it the people, the money, the benefits? Is there a secret recipe that combines a set of workplace qualities to create the perfect place to work?

Well, if you ask us, many employees would be willing to give up most qualities, even pay and benefits, if it means they get to work at a place where they feel fulfilled and appreciated. Even if their workplace is unable to give them a raise every year, or if they don't get too much PTO, they would stay for years just because they simply enjoy coming into work every single day.

However, all it takes is one action from the employer's behalf to have their employees running out the door. Like when the nonprofit organization below decided to cut a longtime employee's hours and pay to accommodate a new hire. They decided they would rather pay a new, inexperienced employee a higher salary than to preserve someone who has loyally been there for the last two years.

When the longtime employee discovered the new hire was getting paid more than they did, they immediately confronted their manager. Sadly, the manager didn't have anything beneficial to say and only claimed that there were several reasons for the pay discrepancy. The employee didn't even have to read the whole email to understand that they will not be getting any raises anytime soon.

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  • Man Feeling Jealous of His Colleague's Success in Office
    via Africa images

    Man Feeling Jealous of His Colleague's Success in Office.

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

  • New hire makes $4 more than me

    Thank you so much for bringing up your concern. I so appreciate you feeling like you can reach out and that we can have open conversations about everything. Transparency is very important to me. Please know that you are valued as a person and as a professional. Your contributions are vast and your performance is outstanding! There are several reasons for the pay discrepancy and some of them include: no future pay raises, matching a current salary, securing the right team member, salaries paid by
    via eisforexhausted
  • I've been with this nonprofit for almost 2 years. Our team has been asking for additional staff to support the fast increasing caseloads.
    via eisforexhausted
  • When we finally hired a new person, my hours were cut to accommodate them, I lost my preferred days, and this new person makes $4 more than me.
    via eisforexhausted
  • They have no prior experience in this field, no college education, and are self-proclaimed as someone who has no attention to detail (OUR JOB WORKS WITH LEGAL SYSTEMS).
    via eisforexhausted
  • I finally confronted our ED about it and this was their response.
    via eisforexhausted

  • Should this employee fight for workplace equality, or was this blatant disrespect enough to walk out the door and never return?

    It's hard to say goodbye to a workplace you have given it all to, but as we've said before, all it takes is one act to show just how unappreciated employees truly are. We hope this employee will find a better workplace, with even better pay and much better people.

    Until then, all we have to do is learn from their mistake…

  • FreeFortuna The font change tells me that they copied and pasted those reasons from somewhere else. I wonder who told them what to say.
    via FreeFortuna
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply My thoughts exactly. They also failed to acknowledge my hours cut and days lost....
    via eisforexhausted
  • MusicQuestion Non-profits will cook you if they can. I would have a conversation in person and force them to be clear and fight for your worth.
    via MusicQuestion
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply I can almost guarantee there will be no increase once I talk to them in person.
    via eisforexhausted
  • MusicQuestion Then start applying else where. Non profits operate by taking advantage of people like you. They expect sacrifices from you while they get to live the way they want to.
    via MusicQuestion
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply You're right and I have been. It's tough to find jobs in my area
    via eisforexhausted
  • StrangeArcticles When stuff like that comes up, it is usually a sign it's time to bounce cause they will only focus on attracting new people, not holding on to long-term employees. That not only means you're not getting the raise, it often also means you get extra workload to train a person at jobs you are better at for less money than they're making, which is obviously fun. Places like this usually do not adjust their culture but tend to become kinda hostile if their bs is confronted directly.
    via StrangeArcticles
  • Business Woman Greeting Coworker
    via DragonImages

    Business Woman Greeting Coworker.

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

  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply You're absolutely right. Our team is completely overloaded already and training has been insane considering this person has never worked in this field. It's tough having to choose whether I advocate for myself and potentially lose my job or stay and sk it up.
    via eisforexhausted
  • TheVintageJane Time to move on.
    via TheVintageJane
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply Believe me, I'm trying.
    via eisforexhausted
  • Salty Telluride It is tough but stick it out. Made a switch to a local gov and I make more, have better benefits, and enjoy my job more now. It was definitely miserable going home after 10 hour days and spending hours applying for jobs. Don't give up
    via SaltyTelluride
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply Ty!
    via eisforexhausted
  • Surefang This is both why employers keep trying to forbid employees from talking about their pay, and why it's illegal for them to do that.
    via Surefang
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply We've been forbid to talk to each other outside of the office...
    via eisforexhausted
  • PunkRockClub Right it's great they give you reasons but they should still also match your pay. I had this exact situation and it ended up leaving my employer of 7 years for 30% more, new employer not even knowing me after one interview for a job that held far less responsibility but was primarily the same (specialist vs generalist). I can't be happier. I've been here four years now, raises every year, and even did yes get a market adjustment my first year without asking and they gave me literall
    via PunkRockClub
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply That's amazing!
    via eisforexhausted
  • Certain Trade841 It gets even funnier when they hire someone without prior experience in the industry to be your boss while you were applying for the same position with many years already in the company.
    via Certain_Trade841
  • eisforexhausted Original Poster's Reply How do you tolerate that???
    via eisforexhausted

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace new hire new job raise overworked-employees workplace company
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