I saw a post on LinkedIn which says:
2024: No salary increase
2025: No salary increase
2026: Resignation
The post goes on to say — Employee resigns because no increment for 2 years. Manager suddenly offers a match within 48 hours. Employee says it’s too late and the employee leaves the company.
Let me tell the other side of the same story, as an employer. That post tells you what the employee felt. It doesn’t tell you what the company was going through.
1. Salary Increase Is Not an Annual Festival
It’s based on company growth. In 2024–25, many companies in India had zero growth. Clients delayed payments, margins crashed. We didn’t give increments because we were struggling to even give salaries on time. We chose to not fire anyone over giving a 10% hike.
2. If You Were There for 2 Years With No Increase, What Changed in Your Value?
Did you bring a new client? Did you save costs? Did you upskill? Or did you do the same job with the same output for 2 years? Increment is for increased value, not for increased tenure.
3. Why Do Managers Suddenly Match the Offer in 48 Hours?
It’s not because budget magically appeared. It’s because your resignation creates a 3-month cost: hiring cost + training cost + client disruption cost. Matching your offer is CHEAPER than that chaos. It’s business math, not emotional realization.
And the data on LinkedIn won’t tell you: 70% of employees who accept a counter-offer leave within 9 months anyway. Because the problem was never just salary.
At Adyan Consultant, I always tell my team: If you are not growing here for 2 years, please come and talk. Don’t wait to get an offer to have a conversation. My door is open BEFORE your resignation, not just after. But if you silently do the bare minimum for 2 years and then expect the market to decide your value — that’s not loyalty, that’s a transaction.
Good companies should value people BEFORE they resign.
Good employees should also communicate BEFORE they resign.