So I'm writing this as I am commuting to work, as a way to vent and also remind myself of everythint I want to say and every factor that led me to make that decision.
I actually love what I do, but the company has taken everyone for granted, and I know that if I quit, there would be some major consequences, as I've been working there for 4 years now and I have a key role, managing the largest team, and having built from scratch a lot of the processes and guidelines to what we do now, and of course, I trained the whole team.
I started working there as an intern in April 2018. I graduated and I was hired 6 months later to do the job my supervisor was doing, and he was let go. The team leader was very very problematic, and there were two replacements in like 10 months. At that point, the whole team consisted in 4 people, including me and the team leader. So she was fired and I was “promoted” – no raise, no position retitle, nothing, but I had to supervise and speak for the team. At that point a year had passed since I started as an intern.
The team grew from 4 to 8 people in that same year, me having trained them and reformed pretty much the whole scope of the job to more adequate tasks that improves A LOT the product that we sell. And the company and company owner acknowledge that.
However, that doesn't stop them from seriously underpaying me. My wage TODAY is less than a 1000 dollars, and it is a skilled job, that requires a degree, people and project managing skills. I was given my first raise a year and a half after I was already in a managing position, up to that point I made the exact same amount as my team, and I still had to do everything they did + supervise and train everyone.
Now it's 2021 and they decided to expand, and as we work on the product, ours was the first team to grow – from 8 to 20 people. They decided that they were paying too much to everyone that already worked there, and opened the new position for less than 2 minum wages (payed monthly, remember this is a skilled job, paying waaaay less than 1000 dollars/month), of course no one wanted to join, needless to say I was PISSED, because my work was being devalued, too. They eventually raised the offer and some people came, but they were hired for much less than they advertised.
In 2021 we had people with workloads supposed to require 3 people, but they refused to hire more staff for like 6 months. Also they decided I was not fit for doing everything they wanted me to do, and hired another guy to do A FRACTION of what I was doing. Of course I had to train him, and he earns MORE THAN DOUBLE MY WAGE.
He refused to get any training from me, as he was hired to be my director. So he had no training, would not listen to me and started messing up the job. It's been 8 months already, and he is still screwing up, and everyone is counting on me to pick up the pieces, as I always have. Now they've the guts to ask me to supervise HIS job, but HE is my superior and is making more money than I ever dreamed of.
I've tried to talk about my wage and team structure four times in 2022, already. They've asked me to be patient. Well I do not have any more patience.
They were giving raises to some of the team, but they were postponed or cancelled due to budgeting. These are people that are already underpaid well under the market rate. I'm talking about half the pay.
In 2021 the company grew a lot and more than doubled the income, which was well above a million dollars. In 2022 alone they ready made 2 years worth of profit before the expansion.
So yeah, I'm prepared to talk about all of that today, and if they refuse me a raise again, I am prepared to quit.