Microsoft employee reveals she received a hue shock when she asked former boss why she was underpaid: ‘The painful truth is….’

A Microsoft employee recently revealed how a simple request to her former boss at Goldman Sachs resulted in her having the shock of her life. Taking to LinkedIn, Kriti Rohilla said she confronted her boss into revealing why she was underpaid. She revealed she was holding back tears.

Hoping for a better compensation package, she approached her manager with hesitation, finding the conversation emotionally difficult because of the immense respect she had for him. She explained that speaking about a pay increase felt deeply uncomfortable, almost like asking someone close to repay a personal debt, something she had always avoided.

When her manager responded, his explanation was logical and based on the company's compensation structure, making it difficult for her to argue against his reasoning. He pointed out that she had joined the organization after graduating from a Tier 3 college with less than a year of professional experience. As a result, her initial salary had been determined according to those qualifications and market standards at the time. He further explained that every subsequent salary increment had been calculated using that original pay as the foundation. The realization left her stunned, as she understood that her career earnings had continued to be influenced by the compensation level at which she had first entered the workforce.


She revealed her work output was similar to IIT grads. But she had no offer in hand. She had had enough and started to attend interviews quietly.

Three months after that conversation, she received a job offer from another company. Confident that she now had a stronger negotiating position, she submitted her resignation. Within days, the human resources department contacted her and informed her that the organization was prepared to match the salary offered by the new employer in an attempt to retain her.

That experience completely changed the way she viewed the earlier discussion with her manager. She realized that his response had not been driven by bias or unwillingness to support her. Instead, he had simply been working within the limitations of his role, making the best possible decision based on the authority and resources available to him.

The incident also gave her a deeper understanding of how corporate organizations function. She concluded that significant decisions, particularly those involving compensation, rarely happen without a compelling reason that directly affects the company. It is not necessarily a reflection of a lack of empathy, but rather the reality that managers and executives are themselves accountable to higher levels of leadership and organizational policies.

Looking back, she recognized that negotiating power is often the deciding factor in salary discussions. In many workplaces, having a competing job offer creates the leverage needed to trigger meaningful action. The experience led her to question whether a single external offer could sometimes carry more influence than several years of dedicated performance and consistent contributions within the same organization.