[rjbwork]

Unfortunately this is the answer.

The bean counters do not give a shit about your experience or value. They just need warm bodies. They know the friction of leaving a company is high so they'll intentionally make you feel like a sucker until you finally quit, getting more years and months out of you for a lower rate than you deserve. When you finally do leave, they'll pat themselves on the back for retaining you for so long at a depressed wage.

[hallway_monitor]

I guess the problem with bean counters is they don't know how to count our beans. The low performers look exactly the same as the high performers to them. So they make foolish decisions.