I work in a specialised area of marketing; setting up analytics tracking, dashboards, undertaking data analysis, digital advertising campaigns and some SEO work (and more). Previously I did all this for 10+ government projects. I worked my way up from an intern into this highly specialised role at one company over the span of 5 years. The people I worked with were fantastic, creative people for the most part.
In 2021, I requested a raise to bring me in line with data I uncovered about what the work I was doing was actually worth. I contacted the HR department (the standard at this organisation) and made the case for a 30% raise, on a very low salary of 55k AUD. Instead of negotiating with me or even responding to my email, the HR department was almost completely silent (apart from a meeting request that was promptly cancelled and never rescheduled). A number of weeks later I receive a text message from my manager at the time saying that my salary had been increased by 12%. Then a number of weeks after that, a second message indicating an increase of a further 4%. I accepted both of these increases without a word for the most part, my manager knew I wasn't impressed and understood why. Still not a single email from the HR department.
I turned on all of my notifications for the various job searching services and updated my resume with everything I had been doing. Within two weeks, recruiters and companies were viewing my profiles and contacting me. I reviewed each of these offers and slowed down my work output, in line with what I was being paid. Eventually I come accross a job offering 30% above the salary they had increased me to, with a much more relaxed work environment and access to the tools and support I need to do my job. I applied and was accepted.
Over a month on, my previous role remains unfilled. Reportedly, a candidate with the skills to do the job asked for 120k in their interview. Other candidates simply haven't had the skill to undertake all of the work. So, instead of paying me an additional 8k per annum, they are staring down the barrel of an 86% increase to the salary of that position.
Additionally, 3 of the remaining 4 team members are disatisfied with either being forced back into the office or their salary. The company is about to lose their entire marketing team, because they can't come to grips with the reality that salaries and inflation have changed since the early 2000s, and middle-of-the-road salaries aren't enough for high-pressure government work. Great resignation? Bring it on.