Employees' lives don't revolve around the annual review process. There are plenty of valid reasons, including feeling underpaid, that can't and shouldn't wait

Employees' lives don't revolve around the annual review process. There are plenty of valid reasons, including feeling underpaid, that can't and shouldn't wait for the annual review process. As a manager, if you have a valued employee that is approached by another company and offered a 10% bump in salary and your response to that employee is "We'll see what we can do during your annual review", you are guaranteed to lose that employee. Raises offered during the annual review process are typically merely cost-of-living adjustments. Unless a promotion is attached, it is hardly ever anything but.