I am posting this with my wife's permission because this is her story.
The company she works for is worth several billion, probably 30 billion on the low side. It's not publicly traded and is constantly ranked near the top of the Forbes “Best Places to Work” list. But they get that ranking because they have a “pizza party” culture to the absolute max. Free coffee from these delux coffee machines, free concerts from local artists, an absolutely massive Christmas party, 3 weeks PTO, free snacks, and a game room. The list goes on.
But they will do everything but raise wages. Their justification is that they have a “flat structure.” These last 2 years, my wife put a lot of time and energy to getting her masters degree as well as another industry specific certification that only mid to upper level management would normally have. And even though she didn't get a promotion immediately, they did just offer her another job because her team member got a promotion. That team member, we can call her Jen, who was making more money than my wife. But when they offered my wife the EXACT SAME JOB that Jen had, they prefaced it with “it doesn't come with any more money.” Like how!? How do you offer someone more responsibility but not even give them the salary that you were already paying?
Little did they know, she has been looking for another job for about 2 months now and has 2 offers. 1 is a 40% pay raise they other is over 70%! And both are fully remote. They company culture of compensation probably won't change because they have such a great reputation and they are the largest employer in college town. But I'm glad we saw the light, and my wife worked her butt off for this. I'm glad someone recognizes it.