Pros
Company Misses Targets and everyone misses a raises.
Cons
You work hard all year. You take on more than your role requires. You put in extra hours. You help other teams. You become the person people rely on. You care about the product and the customers. Then leadership announces that merit increases are being delayed globally due to market conditions. You are asked to stay resilient. Stay aligned. Keep executing with purpose. Shortly after, promotion announcements continue. That is when people start connecting the dots. When the market dips, compensation is paused for thousands. When leadership advances, the market is apparently not a constraint. It sends a clear message. Business risk is shared downward. Growth is selective. High performers are told to be patient. To understand. To keep pushing. Eventually, they do understand. They understand that effort alone does not protect their growth. They understand that being dependable does not guarantee recognition. They understand that loyalty is often one sided. That is when they update their resumes. That is when recruiters get responses. And that is why strong engineers move on.