This is happy story in my book.
Two weeks ago, I turned in my resignation, effective this Friday. The new position is similar to a promotion that I had recently been denied because I refused to relocate. Heading to a seemingly friendly workplace at a big locally- based company with tons of room to move up, and a 21% pay increase. So I’m good.
The management expressed interest in promoting my assistant to my current job, which I wholeheartedly supported. She has essentially been doing the same thing as me for over a year, for a lot less pay, has been with the company for a couple of years longer than me, and she is great. Truthfully she is more knowledgeable than me. She was concerned about getting a lowball offer, so she asked my pay and I shared it with her without hesitation. A similar position was posted in a different location recently, so she was already aware of the pay range. I let her know that I was sitting pretty close to the top of the range.
When management met with her and offered the low end of the range, she refused and they panicked. She told them that she wanted at least what I made considering her tenure, and they flipped out on her, talking about how unprofessional I was for sharing my salary. She jumped to my defense (appreciate that, but I’m good- I want her to look out for herself). She and I both know that they cannot enforce or retaliate regarding my actions, and someone must have told them, because they haven’t said a word to me about it. Or anything else. They have been ignoring all of my correspondence since. I am trying to get things squared away for my departure and they just ignore me. So I am just doing my best to make sure things are in order for when my successor takes over, and I guess if the management really needed anything from me, they would have asked.
And yes, they gave my successor what she asked for. So it’s a win in my book.
In situations like this, black and white, antiquated ideas of professional behavior are just a way to keep leverage in the hands of companies. My decision was a professional faux pas, and oh well. It was ethically correct. And now they have an amazing person in the position who is being paid right, so she may actually stay.