Boss Cuts Employee’s Wage By 40% Without Realizing He’s The Only One Keeping $100K Projects Afloat
Ultimately, when it comes to work, it all boils down to you providing a service based on your talents and the company pays you for said services. There is a lot more nuance there, but that’s the bare concept.
But when you decide to try to skimp out on the pay for the services—services that did not change one bit to deserve the skimping—you have a fundamental problem in the work relationship. It gets even worse when greed gets involved. See? Nuance. That blasted nuance…
More Info: Reddit
There is only so much that you as a boss can take away from your employees until they jump ship and you become the next wreck at the bottom of the ocean
Image credits: Ciphr Connect (not the actual photo)
Like most such wrecks, it could have all been avoided, if not for greed that led to one employee’s resignation costing over $100,000
Image credits: OneMetalMan
Management didn’t really understand what happened until it was all too late. While the company didn’t seem to tank, it took quite a hit
Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo)
Reddit user u/OneMetalMan recently visited the r/antiwork subreddit to share how they quit their job and in turn this led the company to some pretty hardcore hardship.
Two weeks before the post, OP quit their job for a number of reasons—“better work environment, better commute, and better pay.” This is in context of having their salary slashed by 40% and other factors—like having a certificate dangled in front of their face like a carrot on a stick for 6 months.
OP quit without notice because it didn’t matter as the boss fires folks mid-way through the 2 weeks anyway. Also, there were other folks who could take on OP’s role, or so it seemed like nobody was worried about it. Until they were forced to worry about it.
Turns out, OP was booked for stuff several months in advance, and since they quit, all of that was out the window. This in turn meant that the several huge projects that the company was working on with the government, complicated by poor management and decision-making, was essentially vaporized in the same way the Mandalorian evaporated Jawas with his blaster-disruptor rifle.
While there were no specifics mentioned, the title suggests that the projects were all worth at least $100,000. It doesn’t matter what size company you are, that is a lot of money. Not enough to tank the company, but “so much for that 20% annual growth they accomplished last year on the backs of giving nobody raises.” A big oof all around.
Image credits: vincelaconte (not the actual photo)
The post received quite a bit of attention, garnering over 25,000 upvotes with a 91% positivity rating and a tiny handful of Reddit awards. The commenters were all over the place, but most focused on stories and evil (used lightly, mind you) ways to make things a lot worse for the company.
One Redditor shared how she noticed that her job was circling the drain, so she had another one lined up. Actually worked two jobs. However, this was apparently against company policy (news to her after 2 years of doing this), so she was let go. The company was let go too.
Those with a more devious mindset suggested doing part-time contracting for the company to save its behind at ×10 the rate, or approaching the city and essentially stealing the clientele. And yet others were hoping that the company learns from its mistakes—mistakes that could have been avoided, but no, they gotta be greedy.
OP was quite active in the comments too. This is where we learn that the company and its sycophant employees have found a loophole to avoid paying employees overtime rates and how the company’s entire business revolves around overcharging municipalities and underpaying its staff.
Image credits: Canva Studio (not the actual photo)
According to Indeed, replacing a single employee costs around 33% of their annual salary. Where is this number coming from, you might ask, random internet patron? Well, everything costs. Job ads, onboarding and costs of training, lost productivity, among many other things. And sometimes it takes offering an employee a 5% to 10% pay raise to save it so they can go on managing your lousy company’s crises as usual. Even if a person doesn’t believe in math, it checks out.
While it is quite obvious to many of us, just for the sake of clarity, here are some things that you as a boss, manager or other corporate overlord can do to retain your employees: offer better things. It doesn’t cost much.
Oh, you need specificity? OK. 63% of employees who left their jobs in 2021 explained that it was because of low pay. Again, returning to that 5% to 10%. Or maybe consider benefits, like health insurance, dental and maybe a free PlayStation.
74% of millennial and Gen Z employees often quit because there’s is no future for them at the company. Offering meaningful growth opportunities helps solve that. And, hey, you get a better employee along the way.
There’s also this thing called a toxic work culture. Who knew people won’t want to take bullpies from anyone, huh? All jokes aside, though, roughly 20% of employees don’t deal with toxicity at work, all of which can be easily linked to management (poor communication, lack of leadership, etc.) and even other employees (drama, lack of support, etc.).
And people on r/antiwork, and much of the internet, already know about this, so, Mr. Boss, keep all of this in mind for the next annual company review.
But before you do that, do leave a comment expressing your constructive critique and everything that you have seen, read, or even smelled in the comment section below!
Folks online were sharing ways how it could have been even worse, with other sharing their own satisfying stories
Even in low inflation, no raise within a year is a pay cut. The ONLY reason to give someone a 40% pay cut is so they'll quit and you won't have to pay unemployment. If an employer thinks they need to cut your rate that far because they can't survive paying you what you've been making, they deserve not to survive
Cutting someone's pay by 40% could be considered a constructive dismissal in some areas. The employer would still be on the hook if the employee quits. Drastic changes in pay, hours or responsibilities can all fall under constructive dismissal.
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Even in low inflation, no raise within a year is a pay cut. The ONLY reason to give someone a 40% pay cut is so they'll quit and you won't have to pay unemployment. If an employer thinks they need to cut your rate that far because they can't survive paying you what you've been making, they deserve not to survive
Cutting someone's pay by 40% could be considered a constructive dismissal in some areas. The employer would still be on the hook if the employee quits. Drastic changes in pay, hours or responsibilities can all fall under constructive dismissal.
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