I'll start off with the good news. I recently accepted a new position with a pay increase and much better benefits.
But here's the surprise part. When I put in my notice to my last job. My manager called and told me how surprised she was that I was leaving and how it would be a huge hit to the company that I left because I was involved in so many different projects and one of their top 4 employees. She thought that giving me more responsibility and different projects was a “bonus” and would help with retention. Which had definitely helped with not getting burnt out.
The problem is they were paying me 25 percent lower then the other employees at the top. I found this out by talking to them. I told my manager that I wanted a raise to reflect my proficiency in all the different projects and how I was being underpaid. She told me “we'll work on getting approval for that”
I told her I would wait until Christmas and then I was good as gone.
Christmas came and went with no raise so I worked until the end of January, applied at a plethora of jobs and took all of my PTO during the process.