How nice of them to give their employees a 2% salary increase. 

There are always some years when companies are struggling financially. It seems like every company has this pie-in-the-sky belief that every financial quarter is going to be more profitable than the last, and every year is going to be increasingly profitable forever and ever. This is not a realistic way to operate a business, and employees may feel disheartened when they complete everything asked of them and discover it’s never good enough because senior management always wants more. 

On the other hand, sometimes there are those magical years where everything seems to go right for a company. You’d think the higher-ups would want to congratulate their employees on making said magic happen and compensate them generously for it, but that’s not always the case. It’s not uncommon for companies to see record profits and ask employees to double said profits the following year. While meeting those high expectations would be incredible, placing all the value on profit and not letting employees enjoy the fruits of their labor, since they are the ones who create the profit, can undermine morale and disincentivize them from caring about the company’s financial success.