I'm in the US and work in healthcare management. I recently had the opportunity to promote an employee from a different department who does phenomenal work. She shows up, puts in the work, gets along with staff, and is an overall joy to work with on a daily basis. The position came with a substantial pay increase…. or so I thought.
My prospective employee is a single parent with a couple kids. Daycare and a number of other government benefits would cease with the pay increase. There is no “off-ramp” where benefits would proportionally decrease with increased pay. She had to initially decline the role.
Luckily, my institution cares about employees and equitable opportunities. This is rare in healthcare, but believe it is because we are a smaller institution that primarily serves the underserved. Our executive team does not get outrageous pay or benefits related to financial performance. Our compensation team was able to boost the prospective employees pay as well as the rest of my team's pay to make sure the increase was equitable. She was eventually able to accept the position, but it was cost-neutral for her where the increase pay offset her loss of benefits and not much more. My team offers more flexible schedules and PTO which helped seal the deal.
I find it incredible that the US essentially traps people in poverty. This employee had to make a 15-20k salary jump in order to offset a loss in benefits. Anything between her original and new boosted salary would have been financially devastating. I appreciate my institution being adaptable, but it shouldn't be this way for anyone. It makes my blood boil that our system punishes people who desire a meaningful career. The odds are stacked against the average worker, especially if they have a family.
P.S. I don't need anyone preaching about not having kids if you can't afford it. Life happens. A pandemic happened. This person was essential to delivering care for the past two years and I want the best for everyone.