Company forces employees to participate in ‘Financial Wellness’ workshop after refusing to give anyone a raise for over 3 years: ‘We'll help you make the most of your income"’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Apr 18, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

"We can't give you a raise, but here is Susan, who is going to teach you how to meal prep for the week so you can save a few extra dollars every week."

Working a 9-5 job in an ordinary company means you sometimes have to deal with annoying office life etiquette and mandatory extracurricular activities you didn't really sign up for when you signed your contract. Like taking 15 minutes out of your day every time someone has a birthday so you can sing to them in the kitchen while you're all huddled around a small birthday cake, or spending your precious evening at an office holiday party, participating in a "socializing" game someone from HR found online.

Even though it is not part of any job description, it is still a part of the job, and it's usually a lot easier to go along with it than attempt to fight it.

However, some of these office "extracurricular activities" tend to cross a certain line, moving from harmless to downright insulting, and the activity described in the story below is a perfect example of the latter.

This company has been claiming that it's experiencing financial struggles for years now, which is why upper management has been refusing to give any of the employees a raise for over three years. Even as the cost of living has gone up from one year to another, none of the people working for this company saw any change in their paychecks.

If that is not terrible enough, this week the employees all got an email inviting them to attend a wellness workshop called "Stretching Your Dollar in Tough Times", meant to help the employees find ways to budget their money better. Imagine! Working for a company for three years without a single raise, being forced to participate in a workshop, and having to listen to some lady telling you how you can save money in these tough times.

Talk about workplace audacity…

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  • Speaker Addressing Audience in Conference Room
    via akki

    Speaker Addressing Audience in Conference Room.

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

  • My company sent out a "Financial Wellness Workshop" invite to help us "make the most of our income"

    We haven't had a real raise in 3 years. Inflation hit, rent went up, groceries are insane. HR has been radio silent on comp reviews for months.
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • Today we get a company wide email inviting us to a lunch and learn called "Stretching Your Dollar in Tough Times" hosted by some random third party wellness vendor. Topics include things like
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • budgeting money effectively and "finding joy in simplicity." I wish I was joking. The same company that made us eat a 0% raise last year because
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • "market conditions" is now paying an outside consultant to come teach us how to have some savings set aside instead of just you know, paying us what we're worth.
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • The audacity is genuinely staggering. Not even a 2% cost of living bump but sure, Karen from FinWell Solutions is gonna fix everything with a 45 minute PowerPoint about meal prepping.
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • Whats even worse is my manager sent a follow up email saying attendance is "strongly encouraged." So now its mandatory learning how to be
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • poor more efficiently on my lunch break that I dont even fully get because I play on my laptop and eat at my desk most days.
    via SuitableAmbition997
  • GreyWulfen Time to start asking questions using real numbers. If our take home pay averages X and rent/mortgage is Y, how should we budget for savings.
    via GreyWulfen
  • Will the company support work from home to help us reduce fuel costs/depend Be polite, be respectful, and be ruthless.
    via GreyWulfen
  • betwixtphencyclidine our "founder" boss sent us a 3 paragraph "reality check" email on excessive consumption of the free diet cokes in the office fridge (tax- deductible btw). We're no longer allowed free drinks except once per month after work. It was clearly written with Al too.
    via betwixtphencyclidine
  • TheCrimsonSteel Reminder that changing jobs can, on average, get you a 20% raise
    via TheCrimsonSteel
  • JJB :h I am sure a bunch of idiots will use this service just to make the corpos feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
    via JJB**h
  • Timewinder81 Beware future layoffs.
    via Timewinder81
  • crsh1976 They make it extra tough not to be even more cynical. Have you considered not eating 3 meals a day?
    via crsh1976
  • Who really needs an apartment when you can sleep in your car? Time to divorce that spouse, ditch the kids, and marry into money!
    via crsh1976
  • Defiant-Rabbit-7599 My company had been so toxic. They sent us a discount code for 30% of therapy services. I wish I was joking.
    via Defiant-Rabbit-7599
  • Mitch Wallberg Ask how much they paid the third party vendor for their condescending advice seminar
    via Mitch_Wallberg
  • giganticrats I would start looking for a new job now.
    via giganticrats
  • kiwimuz That's when you challenge them during the presentation. If you have already being doing all these things that are suggested, what's left if it's still not enough due to no pay increase for x number of years.
    via kiwimuz
  • Business people at a conference event
    via sanjeri

    Business people at a conference event.

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

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job workshop ceo raise pay raise overworked-employees workplace company money
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