It's the only way to get a raise at many places. At least, the only way to escape your current salary band. It's also generally accepted as a primary mechanism

It's the only way to get a raise at many places. At least, the only way to escape your current salary band. It's also generally accepted as a primary mechanism for determining how a company values your work, unless you hit one of those "career levels." If you're a junior person stuck at a low level for a few years, something is probably askew. It'd be fantastic if positions had a wider salary band and you could earn raises for productivity without having to constantly climb the corporate ladder. I've not really seen that outside of union jobs and even then, you don't have a band so much as a guaranteed raise every few years. This is all based on US companies I've seen in the tech (salaried) and construction (union, hourly) sectors.