so, i've been working at a startup for a year and i know i've been super underpaid for my position, especially since i live in a pretty expensive city. this is my first job out of college so i didn't have the guts to negotiate a year ago. so i asked for a raise that would match how much other folks in my position are getting paid in my city during my one-year review, but i was lowballed.
then, after my manager undermines my experience, he says the company 'doesn't have the budget' to give me that large of a raise right now. he also said that although i was doing a lot of work outside of my regular job description, it was only because my department wasn't gaining as much revenue as they thought it would before i came into the position (they never communicated this lmao) THEN he admits that almost everyone at this company is underpaid since we're a tiny startup.
i took the raise and compromised a lot, but have y'all ever ran into this problem before and what do you even do in this case?? i knew not to trust any manager or higher-ups because they're just going to protect the company, but it seemed like my manager wanted to help me get the raise i wanted for a second.