Microsoft CEO says women need not ask for raise, should trust system

This reminds me of David Graeber's bullshit jobs[1] thesis, that those doing more "real work" tend to get paid less because real work is enjoyable. It sounds awfully like Nadella is saying that "more responsibility" might be a substitute for better pay, and that people should be happy with that.

[1] http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

I haven't seen the full context, but I believe the statements may have been offered with an implicit, "in an ideal, properly functioning system".

That is, less "don't ask for a raise", more "you shouldn't have to ask, pick a place that does it automatically [my goal for Microsoft]".

Of course, there are still problems with that approach: the salary incentives are never fully aligned, and even if you achieved that harmony of salaries-and-value for a short while, it would drift out of alignment. Workers demanding raises or managers cutting the overpaid would then both be required.

But I can see why a large-company CEO like Nadella would hold out the ideal of smooth, regular, equitable, no-exceptional-requests salary adjustments. That's something big companies can systematize much more easily than little ones.

Personally speaking, I worked 2+ years at a company where I slowly realized that I was worth more than what I was being paid. I didn't push for a raise very hard, but the more responsibilities I acquired, the more products I built, the more customers I interacted with, I thought it would be more than fair to increase my compensation.

Every single request was met with a "we'll speak about this at a better time." I would just smile, nod and go back to work. It made me feel bad about myself from the standpoint that maybe I wasn't worth that. Then of course come the friends and family that ask whether I've gotten that raise yet (always a fun conversation..).

I learned that if you want something, you need to go out and get it. If you sit there waiting for a raise, you will never receive one.

So I left the company and found a new job with better pay.

It sucks because not everyone has that option (I'm a stupid, young, single person) and it shouldn't come down to that - but it is a reality of the business world. The fact that the CEO of Microsoft so naively believes that this is how things work is somewhat unsettling.

This thread, in about half a second, dropped from the 2nd post from the top to the 28th post. C'mon mods, quit suppressing discussion.

Which implies that the solution to the problem is to LOWER the pay of men to match the pay of women. I think the term "unintended consequences" can be writ large here by now.