Single Mother Salary Raise Viral Post: In a viral post on LinkedIn, the question asked to a single mother on salary hike has sparked a debate on workplace bias. Know the whole matter.
LinkedIn Viral Post: A seemingly simple issue of performance appraisal meeting has now become a topic of great discussion on social media. An experience shared on LinkedIn has raised serious questions on the attitude towards women, especially single mothers, in the workplace and the way salaries are decided. The post claims that instead of giving a salary hike to a senior female employee of a company, she was asked a question which changed the tone of the entire conversation.
Shocking question received after 25 years of hard work
According to Harshit Srivastava, who shared the post, the woman had been working in the company for about 25 years and held the post of Head of Sales. He had performed better than his set target every year. Not only this, he had also received the honor of ‘Employee of the Year’ thrice and he prepared many such employees who later reached bigger responsibilities in the company. According to Harshit, everyone in the appraisal meeting was hopeful that he would get a good salary hike based on his excellent performance. But during this time, one of the founders of the company reportedly asked him, “Now that your children have grown up, then why do you need to increase the salary?”
Lack of respect became the reason for leaving the job
According to the post, the female employee did not argue at that time, but the question affected her deeply. Later, when objection was raised on this issue, the management’s attitude was that the employee would not go anywhere else due to her age and circumstances. However, he resigned after a few weeks. In the exit interview he reportedly said, “My children have grown up, now it’s my turn to move on.” After this he joined another company, where he got 30 percent more salary than before. See viral post below-
What did people say on social media?
After this post went viral, a large number of people expressed their opinions. Many users said that an employee’s salary should not be decided on the basis of his personal circumstances, but on the basis of his performance and contribution. Many people also wrote that companies often assume that employees working for a long time will not leave the job, but this thinking keeps talented people away from the organization. Some users also reminded that children growing up does not mean the end of financial responsibilities. Needs like rising inflation, future savings and retirement remain important for every person.
Why is this matter in discussion?
This entire incident has once again raised the question whether even today in many workplaces, women’s professional identity is linked to their family responsibilities. Most people on social media believe that respect, fair evaluation and better opportunities are what keep an employee associated with an organization for a long time. When these values are compromised, talented employees take no time to seek out new opportunities.