I recently quit my job after working for my employer for 2.5 years. I have 14 years of industry experience, a trade degree in my field and was selling $1.2 million in product with $700k in gross profit and making $21/hr. I found out my counterparts were making 20% more than myself even though I had the highest gross profit percentage in our location, answered more calls than anyone else, received the locations manager award plus handled many other responsibilities that counterparts weren't required to do. When I brought it to my managers attention that I knew I was being compensated unfairly based on my metrics they immediately got confrontational and were upset that we had discussed salaries which is our right to do. In the end after a heated discussion I told my manager I was going to go to HR over this and he said “that's fine but the decision will always come back to me and I'm not going to change your salary” I knew right then I had to go.
I of course am upset due to this unequal compensation and simply was asking to be paid what my coworkers were being compensated at and my request was unreasonable in their eyes. As a whole we as a sales team were making our location more in gross profit in one year than we individually would ever see in our entire working career. This is only one location and this employer has hundreds so you can only imagine how much profit they are making. It is your typical corporation where 10% of the company is making 90% of the money.
After trying to make this wage inequality right over 6 months, dealing with ever increasing mental health issues and physical health issues because of all of this, I decided quitting was my best option and taking a break. I did everything a person is supposed to do for their employer and was shit on. I busted my ass for them, stayed late, came in early, covered for people, took on extra work and in the end was treated like expendable trash. I am fortunate to have a spouse that has a good career and works for a caring company which allows me to take this break. I do need to return to work here at some point but its depressing seeing how many jobs are posted that pay in the teens and have things like this in their job ads “You’ll need high energy and HUNGER to win” Anyways, just wanted to share my story.