Boss Sends A Ridiculous Response To A Worker’s Email Requesting More Money After Finding Out She's Paid Less Than Her Colleagues
The boss tells her to read the staff handbook.
bongkarngraphic / Canva Pro Have you ever tried to discuss salary with your boss? It's a difficult conversation even in the best of circumstances, but if you've got a problematic manager, it can make you want to quit.
One boss’ email response to an employee asking for a raise has been going viral on TikTok because it's just so ridiculous.
The employee realized she was not getting the same pay as her co-workers and requested a raise.
Business Coach Chris Donnelly, a TikTok creator who is known for his popular series ”Most Toxic Companies,” shared the story of Sophia's quest for a raise and her boss' apathetic response. Although he did not mention the company's name, he had a lot to say about the situation.
The email started off with Sophia explaining to her boss that she is being paid “12% less than one colleague and 9% less than another and 7% less than another.” Understandably, she wanted to discuss an adjusted pay rate.
The response she got was anything but professional.
“Hi Sophia, who are you talking to?” Yup, her boss actually wrote that. But there's more. “You would do good to read the staff handbook properly as inside, it strongly discourages people talking about their pay as that is the wrong thing to do at this company.”
Donnelly was frustrated while reading the response because instead of trying to resolve this employee's concerns, the response was to “guilt trip” her into thinking she was wrong for advocating for herself.
The boss' response was so ridiculous, it made Sophia leave the job.
The comments agreed that Sophia was not being treated equitably and her inquiry was justified. “It is not illegal to talk about your pay, that’s an excuse jobs use,” one user commented. “100% illegal for a company to say you cannot discuss pay or retaliate against you for doing so,” said another.
Photo: SeventyFour from Getty Images / Canva Pro
But it was the boss' language that seemed to set most people off. “The fact the [boss'] first instinct is to scold her for talking about it is ridiculous,” one user pointed out.
Before anything could be resolved, however, Sophia emailed her boss and tendered her resignation. “I'll be resigning my post as an account manager. I would love to use all of my holiday to reduce my notice,” she said, which got her boss' attention.
“Hi Sophie! I've called you a few times. I hope you're good. Can you call me? I want to talk to you immediately about how we can structure the role differently for you and I wanna come back to you about increasing your pay,” the boss replied.
Too little too late. Sophie stayed true to her decision to quit.
The takeaway in this messy workplace scenario is that you should always be an advocate for yourself, just like Sophie. You know your value as an employee and as a person, and if you give respect, you should expect it in return.
Lauren Reams is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.