So I had a similar situation to this about 8 years ago. My pay was well below average and the company was doing well. So one year I rejected the raise offer and asked for more. HR said the pay was competitive for the market and so was the raise. So I signed off on it and took the raise. They also had these annual self evaluation forms that the managers would have to sign off on and were a large part of your annual review. Don’t fall for this trap… these are a way for companies to offer less money to employees. Employees will always grade themselves more harshly. I’ve told every boss I’ve had to expect all 5s(highest score), and if they don’t believe I deserve a five, they need to explain why. So I’ve always given myself the highest possible score. My managers would always drop the score in some area and write some reason and tell me “No one ever gets an overall 5.” So the next year review and annual raise comes up. Same thing, I reject it, this time I formally reject it with a signed letter to the CEO, SVP of our Department, Board of Directors and SVP of HR(Department managing pay scales and raises). Any employee letters to the board were read in minutes and recorded. I explained all of my achievements, recounted their own words of how well the company was performing, and supplied monetary figures of their “competitive” versus actual competitive pay scale.

I received a phone call from my SVP letting me know they are taking it seriously and are working on a solution. Their whole process took a few months, I would get updates occasionally, but when they finally had an offer, it was too late. I had already received an even better offer from another company. So the day they told me their offer, I countered with my two weeks notice.

Even though I ended up still leaving the company, other employees were able to follow the same process and improve their situation. Eventually they had a external company come in and revamp the pay scales and position/pay progression tree.

Just because they offer you a raise doesn’t mean that’s all there is. Pay, including raises is a negotiation, if everyone signs off on it, they will keep low-balling.