My company is offering lower-paid roles so we can have ‘promotion runway’.

During a re-org, several folks in my workgroup are receiving 'Manager' v. 'Director' or 'Director' v. 'Sr. Director' titles, which of course come with lower pay and lower pay bands. This is being spun as a positive – we are told we are being given 'promotion runway'. As in, 'you can take off if you get up to speed'. People I work with are buying that line smh. That phrase is a new one for me. Watch out for it and push back. Demand to be paid for the work you are doing today. Edit: grammar