You want to talk about red flags? Well do I have a long laundry list of them. I work for a non-profit organization that has multiple different departments. My department produces a monthly magazine, and when I first started I was just happy to have a job, because I got a degree in English and realized very quickly that the job outlook (aside from being a teacher which I don't want to do) is very terrible for people like me.
I've been with this company for about a year, and I love my direct supervisor. She is supportive, accommodating and even allows me to have a hybrid remote schedule due to the long commute in the area that I live in. But even though I don't have any direct issues with the people I work with, the upper management and the CEO of our non profit are extremely questionable and I have been looking at other jobs but haven't gotten lucky…
For one, we only have one graphic designer for an association that publishes 2 different magazines, has a foundation and a retail store, and runs multiple different events. She makes advertisements that go into the magazines, she makes signs for events, and posters for retails sales. She has been working with the company for 5 years and is still only making 46k a year. Which is the same salary I make.
Secondly, the company doesn't have an HR department, only one payroll specialist that helps with onboarding. So there is no HR representative to go to if you have concerns with management or if there was any sort of misconduct in the building.
Third, the wage disparity between roles at this company is widely unbalanced. The CEO makes more than 400k a year, while all the VPs make over 100k. Managers and supervisors make anywhere from 60k to 80k, and anyone else who is a full time worker but not in any sort of leadership position makes 38k to 46k. And of course, the majority of the people who work at this organization are not in leadership positions.
At a company lunch once, the CEO asked me if I could see myself working at the association for 40 years like my predecessor did (For context, the person who had my job before me retired from the position). Why would he even ask one of his lowest paid employees that question? Especially when he makes as much as he does?
There is no union to speak of, and even though we have a hybrid remote work culture currently, the CEO eliminated remote work for 2 different departments because he doesn't believe that remote work is productive but then proceeded to go on a “work trip” to Italy.
Any jobs that open up that are management positions are hired from outside or through nepotism, so there is no internal growth whatsoever. I don't know what to do.
And sure, yeah, you could say that I can ask for a raise but I already spoke with my supervisor during my evaluation, and when I asked her about raises, she told me that she doesn't have the power to give me a raise even though she would like to, but she would work with me on more remote days since a raise is not something she can guarantee. And while I appreciate her working with me, and accommodating me the best she can with what she can control directly, it leaves me to sit and wonder how anyone can stand to work for a place that doesn't have proper representation for the workers who are paid like dirt.
I feel stuck here and I just know that if I stay here for more than 2 years, I'll be like our graphic designer, still making 46k.
I physically can't leave this job until I find something else or else I'll be homeless. I don't want to be the company pissant for the rest of my life, working my ass off and never getting a raise that matches inflation. But I know that it's going to be like this no matter where I go. It's humiliating and life sucking. I can't fucking stand it. I just want to make enough to live comfortably. And the most infuriating thing is that companies can most definitely afford to adequately pay their employees, they just choose not to. It's disgusting.
TL:DR The company I work for doesn't give raises nor does it promote internally. But I don't know where else to go or what else I can do. I feel hopeless.