Just came out of my performance review and I have to vent my frustration. Nothing to say about my performance, it has been “absolutely stellar”. My title gets “promoted” to better reflect my responsibilities, which I am fine with. Btw, it's a small company and the CEO has all the powers.
Then comes the discussion about salary. I had already been prospecting outside to know what I am worth, essentially around 120k. I am paid 80k currently. My manager is very open with me and agrees, he sends an email to the CEO in front of me.
The CEO answers back in a few minutes and my manager looks very offended. He shows me the email and it says “saayaminator should ABSOLUTELY NOT get a higher salary than employee B.”. Employee B was an intern just a month ago, I figured he was paid a lot less than me. But no, same pay as me.
Here's the thing. I quite literally have 10 times more experience than him on top of a PhD. No exaggeration. He's a great guy and is good at his job, nothing against him. I am just furious that the CEO considers me at the same level as what is essentially an intern.
My manager apologized to me and I stormed outside. He came back to me later saying that I need to try and be closer personally to the CEO. So now, I need to do “buddy buddy” with this dude for my salary?
I am still shaking from this BS.
TLDR: Frustrated that my CEO thinks I (6 years experience) am worth the same as a junior employee that was an intern 1 month ago.