Important information, I am a female with at the time 12 years of experience and master certifications in my field.
I quit a job a few years back. Ran the entire department by myself after my coworker quit when I had only been there for 2 weeks. Was massively overworked. After about 18 months of this I made a design mistake, but it wasn't caught by the sales or production team. Cost my office a bit of money and my boss had to eat some serious shit.
So corporate told my manager that they had to hire another person. They said it was not fair or logical that there was only one preproduction person and that no one the other employees could even function as a back up. Manager didn't tell me so that I would think I was getting fired when they started interviewing candidates.
So I figured I would show them the same amount of loyalty that I was shown and started interviewing for new positions. Came in late one morning, in a suit, for a job that's uniform is jeans and t-shirts. They get the point that I'm looking to leave or at least threatening. So new guy is hired quickly after that morning and I start training him. We become chummy. He's basically a junior of my position. I ask how much he was hired at because they usually give a 90 retention raise. Dude is starting out at $4 an hour over my current rate. I ask and make sure he doesn't have any advanced experience or additional certifications. He does not, I am much more qualified than him.
I interview for my current job shortly after and it takes about a month past that to receive my offer. I give my notice. They do the whole song and dance about how they are going to miss me and what a great employee I have been, they require 3 weeks from me to finish fully training the dude making $4 more an hour than me. On my last day in morning meeting I state my salary and the other guys as the reason I am leaving.
The company grew by 35% while I was there due to the efficiencies that I implemented. I was the lowest paid person on staff. Ladies, discuss your salary with your male coworkers I guarantee that you are making less.