I work for a large corporation that a few years ago bumped all of their lowest management up just beyond the threshold of “non exempt” so they wouldn't have to pay us overtime. A normal week for me is 50+ hours and I am even called in at least one weekend a month to cover for us being understaffed with part time workers. Most of the employees on my payroll make more than me, some significantly (one had me print a W-2 for them and they made $17,000 more than me last year).
We are severely understaffed because none of our hourly employees are making a fair wage either and have to put in a ton of OT to make a decent living so we lose people in droves to other companies in the area with similar jobs for $5+ more per hour. Others at my level and the next one up have all said we would happily pick up shifts and help cover the shortage if they paid us. Even just straight pay would be enough for me to work 60+ hours so that I'm not working 50 hour weeks, selling plasma, picking up odd jobs through Uber/GrubHub when I have time, and still living paycheck to paycheck.
I know I should just move down a step career wise and leave this job for one of the higher paid ones, but I have almost 10 years with this company and don't want to start from scratch.
The bigwigs keep promising that this year we'll all get a big raise that they meant to give us last year but couldn't because of Covid, blah blah blah. My plan is to wait it out until the end of the fiscal year and if they don't put their money where their mouth is, I'm out.