[joncrocks]

Regarding your first point, I think it's important to think about the fact that you may well be worth more to your current company than to another one, if you've been there a long time.

Your experience in exactly what your current company does, the way it does it, the relationships you have within the organisation etc may mean that part of your worth within the organisation is related to how long you've been there.

[ChuckMcM]

I completely agree with this, there is certainly a strong value in knowing how to get things done within a particular company, and it is something that is usually not well documented.

However, I have also observed that this value is also quite hard to quantify. I have seen the key individual to a particular process get transferred or leave after a management change resulted in their "food chain" not understanding this value. Only later when they ask "Why can't we ship X any more?" do they find out that person they felt was over paid and under utilized was in fact quite essential. Sadly, management that clueless is prone to yelling at everyone else rather than do a little introspection.