Company refuses to give employees raises, claims anyone's raise will come out of someone else's paycheck: ‘What’s the point of growing in the job?’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 4, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Would you stay at a workplace after being told that raises are off the table?

Being told 'no' when you ask for a raise is a common experience, one that we would argue every single employee has gone through at least once in their career. You could be the absolutely best employee in your company and still have to sit there and listen to your boss's spiel about budget cuts and restructuring after they denied your pay raise request yet again.

When employees decide to ask for a raise, many do so thinking that the worst that could happen is that their boss would say no, but apparently, even the way employers deny raises has levels of awfulness to them, and if you ask us, the one that these employees had to listen to is up there on the leaderboard. 

It is one thing to be told a raise is not a possibility because the company doesn't have the budget, but it's an entirely different thing to be told that if you ask for a raise, the additional amount you will be getting will be coming out of someone else's paycheck. How awful is that? "Sure, you can get a raise, but just know that the money will be taken out of Bill's hours, and his wife just had his firstborn baby."

We're not sure what kind of tactic this is, but we doubt it will incite employees to work harder or invest more of themselves into the work. They are basically being told that raises are off the table because no one is willing to ask for one in these conditions, so what do they have left that might prevent them from looking for other employment?

This company's employees should not agree to this bizarre rule, and if anything, they should demand that their raises come out of the CEO's paycheck. We can bet the CEO won't even notice the difference, and then everyone's happy. Otherwise, it might be time for everyone in this company to start updating their resume.

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  • 01
    Company's CEO in a meeting.
    via Getty Images

    Company's CEO in a meeting.

    Representative only.

  • 02

    My company told us raises have to come out of someone else’s hours

    Had our department meeting this week and management explained their new labor budget.
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 03
    Basically our department gets one fixed amount for payroll. If someone gets a raise, management has to reduce hours somewhere else to keep the total the same.
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 04
    Then my manager actually said this should make us "more thoughtful" when asking for raises because it affects the whole team.
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 05
    So now instead of the company deciding what someone is worth, they've somehow made asking for more money feel like you're taking it directly from your coworkers.
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 06
    I asked if the payroll budget increases when revenue does. Got told that's not how the budgeting works. Ight.
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 07
    If it's this hard to get raises, I don't see how anyone is supposed to stay motivated to improve their skills or take on more
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 08
    responsibility. What's the point if growing in the job just creates a budgeting problem for everyone else?
    via Mean-Fix9221
  • 09
    Company meeting.
    via Getty Images

    Company meeting.

    Models for explanatory purposes only.  

  • 10
    Thisbymaster Tell them to take it out of the CEOs hours, it will only be about 20 seconds.
    via Thisbymaster
  • 11
    Specialist-Path-4750 Time to find another job.
    via Specialist-Path-4750
  • 12
    Saltedfieldsforever My favorite way of quitting was when the owner rolled out a similar package and was complaining how much his employees cost, that hiring more.
    via Saltedfieldsforever
  • 13
    help meant reducing current hours and then singled me in particular as his most expensive employee (as sole manager of two of his storefronts and all farmers market ops). I said "I can save you almost thousand a week," and he
    via Saltedfieldsforever
  • 14
    legit perked his ears up like curious meerkat, and then I quit right there and went and got a 10am beer at the restaurant next door.
    via Saltedfieldsforever
  • 15
    bloodfire00 This is just their way of saying no one is ever getting a raise. Time to look for a new job.
    via bloodfire00
  • 16
    SnakeOfLimited Wisdom So... what they're saying is that they want to negotiate with the entire labour pool as one block. As... a... union?
    via SnakeOfLimitedWisdom
  • 17
    nitishanand99 This policy is disgusting. Your manager is shifting the blame to the team. You should all agree to stop doing extra work until they fix this. Or it might be time to look for a new job elsewhere.
    via nitishanand99
  • 18
    Sydmeister1369 So if someone gets fired or quits, their pay gets spread around to everyone else, right
    via Sydmeister1369

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management salary boss employee ceo raise employees pay raise company money
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