For some reason

I remember back when I worked for another company, for 5 years all us grunts would get was the very basic 2% increase. Because you know, times are difficult, you did what you were supposed to do, but did not "stand out". Like A Troll's example, you save the company $1,000,000 and you get "That's what your supposed to do."

I stayed friends with my boss from back then, and see him once in a while, and we remeniss, and that is when I found out this nice little bit of information. While all of the grunts were getting 2% annual raises, the managers were getting 10%. Essentially they are givin a budget for raises. Whatever they didn't give out, they get to keep.