I think the issue is that feeling underpaid is an issue that grows in importance with time as your spending power decreases and your hard work is not rewarded s

I think the issue is that feeling underpaid is an issue that grows in importance with time as your spending power decreases and your hard work is not rewarded so that at some point it doesn't matter any more what the company offers. If you are doing interesting work, are treated well and keep getting regular raises then it's going to be a lot harder to want to leave even if you might be underpaid according to market rates. Granted this will only work if you are within a certain small percentage of market rate, ~10% and your financial circumstances allow it.