Showerthought: a manager at my old office said 'we promote people who are already doing the job' and I watched 4 coworkers start doing unpaid work above their pay grade

Uma Murphy · 2026-09-15T08:00:04.95291+00:00

I ran into a former coworker from my Cincinnati office last week and we got to talking about why so many people quit there in 2023. She said our old manager used to tell everyone the same line, that promotions go to people already doing the job, so be patient and prove yourself. What actually happened was people started quietly taking on team lead tasks, training new hires, and running meetings, all on their old salary, hoping to get picked. Three of them waited almost 2 years and got passed over anyway because the budget for the higher title kept getting frozen. The ones who moved up were the ones who applied elsewhere, got an offer, and let HR counter. Has anyone here actually gotten a raise by doing extra work first, or does it only come when you have another offer in your pocket?

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Showerthought: a manager at my old office said 'we promote people who are already doing the job' and I watched 4 coworkers start doing unpaid work above their pay grade | Career Advice - The Community Guide