Getting to the end of the year when me and my senior team are rationalizing performance reviews for next January.

Last year with inflation peaking at 11.1% - we normalise to a standard distribution of wage increases, with last year's mean reward being 6% - we had the position with our reviewees that it wasn't a great year for the company either - but still doesn't remove the fact that we were giving a 5% real terms pay cut for having our concrete performance objectives met.

This year we've raised our prices to be just trailing the cumulative inflation since 2020 but the indications we have of the reward we'll offer are still lagging cumulative inflation.

Checking some of my best performers, both of which have been promoted this year, their inflation adjusted reward is at or just under them having zero salary increase since they were hired - despite them having been promoted with major responsibility change since then.

For the best example one developer has gone from a new hire expected to just complete stories with no design input - up to technical lead with multiple junior reports - and yet is only making £675 more take home per year in real terms.

I had grumbles last year, and I've had statements about *needing* a salary increase throughout the year at monthly reviews (hence the reason I've done a number of promotion cases - although promotion isn't linked to reward) - and I'm unsure about how I handle both the reward discussions and how I report the reward discussions back up.