I don’t get how corporate is so detached that they’re making these policies. I left my last job about a year ago because a competitor offered 30% more. My manager said they could do 3% and, with regular raises, I’d be at that amount in 10 years. I know his hands were tied and he was just grasping at any reason he could come up with to keep me, but that just makes me even more incredulous that companies are crafting policies like this.

I had something similar happen. I lined up a second job that was offering almost double the pay. And my current company was just at a loss they couldn’t even offer me online work it was just like a goodbye. Though now I’ve kind of hit a paid cap for my particular field so I doubt that golden moment will happen again

I think that’s the point where I’d start considering trying to find something else in the same company. If I can make lateral moves for pay raises, I’d prefer that to toeing the company line and hoping they’re nice enough/like me enough to promote me