Time to jump ship? New hire being paid more + OT cut.

Bit of back story: when I got hired 5.5 years ago, there was another entry-level open position that my company never filled, and I absorbed some of those responsibilities when I joined because my skillset aligned with that role in addition to the one I got hired for. I have since been promoted twice and my responsibilities have infinitely multiplied, but I still do a good bit from the other role. In terms of where I’m at with the company, my reviews are excellent, and I would venture to say I’m a well liked and important part of our team now, managing 2 essential functions of the business on my own. I report to the director of my department, work directly with the C-suite more than 90% of my peers (more sensitive information), and travel internationally for work.

We, as a company, have grown and gotten to a point where hiring someone to fill that forever-open position is vital; final interviews are this week and the new person will likely onboard first week of October. I happened to see today (on our company’s public career page job listing) that this new person will be making making 1.5x more than me, despite them being hired as a junior (in both title and job responsibility).

I’m one of only 3 people left working hourly on my team, this new person will also be hourly. Now, I’ve had unlimited OT (very needed for what I do, and not abused) the entire 5+ years I’ve been here, except for 4-5 months during the worst part of the pandemic. Today, myself and the other 3 hourly employees were informed that all OT is cut until further notice due to our Sales team having a hard year.

I’ll be very clear, I KNOW OT is a privilege that is never guaranteed, I do fully understand that. But it’s been a huge part of my paycheck, last year alone 23% of my gross income was OT. The year before that it was 21%—my director is super aware of this. Now, if I’d only seen the junior level’s starting pay today, I would still feel upset, but it is crushing to find out both on the same day. I also realize cutting OT on a team of mostly salaried employees doesn’t affect anyone but us 3 hourly peasants lol.

I am not a fool and I do see what’s happening here. This is the way of corporate America, we’re in a majorly unsteady political climate with inflation higher than ever, they’re going to start hiring paying more tthan in 2019, and true internal financial progression is maybe just a pipe dream.

But… I’m comfortable in my role (especially as I have some physical limitations that have been wonderfully accommodated to), I love my team, I know I’m producing results and I know that eventually, I’ll be promoted again. But the question is, if it’s such a hard time for us, when? And how quickly would I even break even with the new hire’s pay?

Now to my final point: would this be enough for you to switch companies? Are there any tactics you’d employ before totally jumping ship, like asking for a raise? How would you go about it if you did that? It feels somewhat in poor taste to do that with knowing Sales are unsteady, but I feel this job has been important enough for me to at least have this conversation in a respectful manner before I do leave.

Any advice welcome.