Sometimes it’s just politics. I manage software engineers and am responsible for advocating for their raises. Occasionally the answer from above will be “no” b

Sometimes it’s just politics. I manage software engineers and am responsible for advocating for their raises. Occasionally the answer from above will be “no” because budgets are tight and it’s a bad time to be handing out money, but if I have an offer to match in hand it simply gets more attention. I have advised my direct reports to go get an offer if they could, and it was not because I wanted them to leave. I wanted them to have the best chance at getting that raise they wanted. I also want them to do the best thing for themselves, so if they have an offer and I can’t match it, good for them they should take it. For them it’s win/win, it only sucks for me if I can’t match.