It can be really frustrating to think you’re killing it at work and are guaranteed to get a raise, but then you find out that you’re still being paid the bare minimum. In this situation, would you still work as hard as ever to prove yourself worthy of a raise, or would you stop trying so hard?

In today’s story, the employee stops trying so hard, and it really pays off!

Let’s read the whole story.

Won’t get paid more for doing my job quicker? alright I’ll just do my job slower.

I’m a software developer at a medium size company where I would get a project and a timeframe to get said project done.

This time frame is insane not because of the lack of time to get it done but because of the excessive amount of time it would give me. Something I could get done in 2 weeks is given 3 months to complete.

My first 6 months at the company were spent with me doing said projects in the amount of time they took me as opposed to the amount of time given for them to be completed and when my performance review came back I assumed my raise and bonus would reflect my performance.

Time to change the workflow.

As many of you can probably guess from where I’m posting this story, my raise did not in fact reflect my performance and instead was the base amount my contract guaranteed.

My response to this was not to complain as I frankly didn’t care and instead to just stop submitting my progress at the same pace I had been doing it.

I still did it in the 2 weeks for 3 months but it was a work from home job and I would just add in bits and pieces to keep the progress at the expected pace while having the completed project on a personal machine.

He now works two jobs at the same time.

I still work there and have been working there for 4 years now and and very happy spending maybe 2 months of the year doing my job and the working my second job at a different buisness as a software developer as its a work from home job and there are no mandatory check ins or anything of the sort.

I’ve been offered a decent raise to return to my original pace multiple times but I’ve declined each time and after around a year and a half they accepted the current pace as I still do quality work with no delays.

I guess don’t shaft me originally and expect me to change my mind when you realize my value?

No idea I just make way more money than I would have needed to and now effectively get triple my salary as my other job makes twice my lousy job.

What a sweet setup! Imagine getting paid a full time salary for only working 2 months out of the year! This guy is living right!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Here’s how it works at USPS.

Another person rants about a similar situation.

This person has also learned this lesson.

Another person shares the definition of salary.

Work smarter, not harder.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.