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    Empathetic Manager Pushes Back Against Leadership Who Refuse to Give Employees Raises: 'I went to my VP and I got laughed out of the room'

    Author image for Remy Millisky
    Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
    Jun 8, 2026 11:15 AM EDT

    This manager knows that their company should be giving the employees raises, so why aren't they? 

    As the wealth gap grows, there's an ever-increasing divide between employees and their bosses. While many employees make an okay-ish salary, maybe $50k or $75k, that's not what their bosses are making. Many CEOs and other higher-ups are raking in like, $250k per year or more! They're able to afford things like going on actual vacations, instead of staycations. They can afford luxurious meals, nice new cars, private schools for their kids. Meanwhile, their employees are hanging in there, but they can't exactly save for retirement or send their kids to summer camp. 

    Even if higher-ups know about the monetary divide, they don't have to think about it too much. In between their 6 vacations a year, they'll pop into the office to cheer up the employees with a pizza lunch before dipping out again. They wouldn't know how to work a 40 hour week even if they tried. 

    This boss can see right through their employer's nonsense. And this manager is appalled at the "solutions" being offered to the workers they supervise. 

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    • Manager and employee have a workplace discussion, in a depiction by models.
      via Amy Hirschi

      Manager and employee have a workplace discussion, in a depiction by models.

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    • The empathy theater is making me look like a corporate clown

      I am currently sitting through a mandatory leadership workshop about radical empathy and emotional bandwidth while my entire department is screaming for actual resources. The disconnect is becoming physicaly painful.
      via Phase_11Shift
    • Corporate sent out a memo last week saying that there is a total freeze on all cost-of-living adjustments for the next fiscal year, but then yesterday they sent an invite for a mandatory session on how to support employee
      via Phase_11Shift
    • Manager speaks with higher-up, who refuses to give employees any rewards for their hard work.
      via Amy Hirschi

      Manager speaks with higher-up, who refuses to give employees any rewards for their hard work.

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    • wellness. I have twelve engineers on my team who are all underpaid compared to the current market and I am expected. to sit them down and talk about their feelings instead of their bank accounts.
      via Phase_11Shift
    • Last week I had to meet with my senior dev who has been carrying the whole legacy codebase for three years. The guy is a machine and he finally asked for a ten percent bump because he has an offer from a competitor that is
      via Phase_11Shift
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    • 2 employees look dismayed after hearing that they won't be getting any monetary bonuses for their work, in a representation by models.
      via wocintechchat

      2 employees look dismayed after hearing that they won't be getting any monetary bonuses for their work, in a representation by models.

    • basically a life-changing amount of money for his family. I went to my VP and I got laughed out of the room. No budget for retention, apparently. But ten minutes later I got an automated email saying that as a manager I need to encourage my team to
      via Phase_11Shift
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    • use the new corporate meditation app to reduce stress. How am I supposed to look this guy in the eye and offer him a subscription to a breathing app when he needs a mortgage payment?
      via Phase_11Shift
    • Managers discuss how to move forward and motivate their teams, in a representation by 2 models.
      via Amy Hirschi

      Managers discuss how to move forward and motivate their teams, in a representation by 2 models.

    • This is such a shame

      I feel like a total fraud every time I open my mouth in a one-on-one meeting now. I have to follow these stupid HR scripts about non- monetary rewards and career growth opportunities while I know for a fact that three
      via Phase_11Shift

      Non-monetary rewards? In this economy???

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    • of my best people are already interviewing elsewhere. The corporate suite wants us to be the shock absorbers for their cheapness. They want me to use my personal relationship with these people to convince them to stay in a house that is
      via Phase_11Shift
    • clearly on fire. It is performative kindness and it is totaly exhausting. I am spending more time managing the collective disappointment of my team than actually hitting our roadmap goals.
      via Phase_11Shift

    • Not the pizza party

      I am tired of being a professional liar for a company that thinks a pizza party and a wellness check-in can replace a fair wage. I actually care about these people and watching them get squeezed while
      via Phase_11Shift

      It's a company's go-to to temporarily pacify workers, even if only for one meal, while making no meaningful long-term changes.

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    • I am forced to play the role of the supportive therapist is killing my own motivation. If I hear the word culture one more time today I think I might just lose it. We dont have a culture problem, we have a math problem, and no amount of radical
      via Phase_11Shift

    • Very well said

      empathy is going to fix a broken budget.
      via Phase_11Shift

      If workplaces actually care about employees, they have to show that in actual ways. Telling the employees to do deep breathing or whatever is so insulting. These are real adults with real jobs, and it's very belittling to act like their lives wouldn't be changed with extra cash. 

    • I feel for this boss. They're trapped in an impossible situation. They can stay and support their workers, a smile plastered on their face, but they know that they're not actually making real change. Or they can leave, abandoning their team. And who knows what kind of manager will take their place? 

    • People really felt for this person

      Aerosoul_X Management thinks empathy is a cheap substitute for a budget. Once those three engineers leave, they will spend twice as much trying to hire new ones. Some leaders have to lose their best people before they learn basic math.
      via Aerosoul_X
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    • They're making the manager the scapegoat

      Zenith_Volta The corporate disconnect is real. They spend thousands on these empathy consultants but won't give a dime to the people actually building the product. It makes you look like a liar because the company is forcing you to be one.
      via Zenith_Volta

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