Today I met with my old co-workers from about 5 years ago. We all used to work at a smaller company and since then we have all transitioned into a larger company with full benefits and pretty good pay. However, talking with each of them we have all came up with the same consensus. That we are no longer getting paid market value for our current job and experienced based on what the company itself is reporting. The main reason has to do with inflation. As inflation grows the market value for our position grows with it. However, the company itself isn’t keeping up with the pace of inflation for their current employees. We do get our annual raises but when we come across years when inflation is higher than our annual raise it seems like we are going backwards. I think that the hardest thing for each of us is that the company will hire a new workforce at market value. So it seems that once you do get your foot in the door it is really up to you to guide your future and ensure that you are maintaining market value for yourself. You really need to determine what you’re worth to the company and what your honest value is. Then work toward determining our own career path versus what a company is telling you. It is hard to put in experience with a company to just hire in less experienced people at a higher pay rate because they are doing nothing to try an retain their current workforce.