Receiving a pay raise is something every employee anticipates, so it was understandable when one worker was taken aback by a mere 3-cent increase. While any raise is beneficial, 3 cents won’t significantly impact one’s finances.
The bewildered employee shared their experience on Reddit’s ‘mildly infuriating’ thread after noticing the minor change in their pay. They decided to contact HR, suspecting an ‘error’ upon seeing the small increase.
The employee had been expecting a 10 percent raise from their hourly rate of $26.35, but this was not evident in their paycheck. Upon reaching out, HR maintained their stance and attempted to explain their calculations.
They communicated: “I am writing to confirm that your 10% pay raise was applied to your pay during the work period from August 11 to August 25. Your new hourly rate is $26.38.”
Clearly, $26.38 does not represent a 10 percent increase from $26.35. This discrepancy was apparent.
Nonetheless, the HR team continued with their explanation:
“Previous pay rate: $26.35
“New pay rate calculation: $26.35 (1 + 0.10/100) = $26.38.”
The error was evident to other Reddit users as well.
One commenter remarked: “What baffles me is they didn’t go ‘hmm, 3 cents increase? That can’t be right!'”
Another added: “So HR is either incompetent at math or they are aware of their actions and hope employees are lacking math skills.
“OP should contact the finance department if possible; maybe they could teach HR some basic math.”
For clarity, the calculation HR provided was mathematically correct but not appropriate for a 10 percent increase in the original pay.
To achieve a true 10 percent raise, as many Reddit users pointed out, HR should have multiplied $26.35 by 1.10, resulting in a new rate of $28.985, or $29 when rounded.
Another user suggested a simpler approach: “Or literally just move the decimal. What is 10% of $26.35? $2.635. So add that.”
It’s uncertain if the original poster managed to convey the error to HR, but hopefully, they didn’t have to wait long for the rightful pay increase.