I really struggled with this a few years back. I was adamant that I didn't want to "play the salary matching game." My boss insisted they didn't have the budget for a raise. I didn't want to job hunt, then bring my new offer to my boss, etc. I let myself be underpaid for at least 3 years because I was sure that my results should speak for themselves. Then I got really bitter and fed up. I got a job offer that was a 50% raise. I took it to my boss and immediately our company magically had a 50% raise in the budget. I quit in the middle of that interview because I couldn't stomach the idea that he'd been intentionally underpaying me all that time.
It changed my outlook on companies and playing the salary matching game completely. While I'm still in demand, I'm always looking for a better offer. I am planning on this bursting sometime. In the meantime, I'm going to get paid.
After we were on system amd thelr regular processes were in place suddenly a lot of people got a massive raise to match the min amount of money this position at this seniority level has to earn.
So far so good. But imagine the surprise of management when people weren't happy about the raise (10 20+ percent in not few cases) but a lot of resentment was voiced for being paid too little for years stating that there isn't enough money for raises and once big corporate brother rules that there is a minimum salary to be paid the money can be shelled out.
I can totally relate with the colleagues who are currently looking at other options because they feel that they were lied to over the years.
It changed my outlook on companies and playing the salary matching game completely. While I'm still in demand, I'm always looking for a better offer. I am planning on this bursting sometime. In the meantime, I'm going to get paid.