I’ve previously read the the number one employee complaint is not pay but feeling under-appreciated. I think the difficulty for managers is knowing an employee’s particular language of appreciation. One may value being lauded in front of the company with an award or snazzy new title while another couldn’t care less and would rather be shown appreciation through a behind-the-scenes bonus.
yes, that's part of the underpinnings of intrinsic motivation, that you'll be rewarded appropriately for achievement, not just monetarily, but also in status and esteem. expectancy theory [0] is one of the frameworks for understanding this.
as others have pointed out, pay is inextricably tied with perceptions of fairness, so it's a highly relative measure. if programmers are paid 30k on average, then getting 35k seems fair to you. but if the average is 60k, then 35k seems insulting.
I like being praised for my work, and would be annoyed if I was never congratulated for doing a good job. But if I'm often praised and never see a compensation increase, that will make me feel the praise is fake: if my work is so valuable, why am I not being compensated for it?
I hear you, but I think it depends on the context of your job.
Are you doing good work within the context of the duties in the job description? I think a good manager will praise that work but that’s essentially fulfilling your end of the work/pay contract. Expecting continuous raises for meeting agreed upon expectations comes across as entitlement beyond the scope of that labor agreement.
But if you’re consistently doing well beyond your previously agreed upon duties, then there’s grounds for expecting a pay increase because the employer is no longer upholding their end of that bargain
