I'm sure you're doing a great job. I also had goals this year that I was planning on doing and couldn't because of the COVID situation, and my boss told me that I shouldn't be making excuses and trying to do everything I can. Some of my goals relied on my customers doing certain things, and they didn't because of COVID - I was frustrated by this and the fact that he wasn't being more understanding. I recently was listening to the Audiobook version of Radical Candor - it talked about how you typically have two different types of employees - Rock Stars & Super Stars. Everyone at certain points in their lives will likely be either. The Rock Stars are the employees that are consistently performing and always doing their best, they are on a steady increase. The Super Stars are the ones that are over achieving, and pushing to make moves forward. Neither is better than the other, but the problem is that a lot of managers only recognize the Super Stars and don't acknowledge the Rock Stars as doing a good job. This really resonated with me and paying attention to my Direct Reports and how they're doing. I think you're a Rock Star and your manager is maybe not acknowledging that fact. Keep doing what you're doing - and if you're really unhappy, try finding a different job where your consistency is appreciated.

Unfortunately, when you've been with a company that long you become taken for granted. The management has come to expect a consistent performance and has forgotten your value in a lot of ways. I'm so sorry that they can't see it.

I understand how you feel. It’s just not a good feeling when this happens. I can share, as a Compensation Professional, that survey data for merit increases is about 2.9%. Usually that’s the starting point and from there companies usually have to scale back, even when they are doing well, in order to utilize money for other areas. I’m sharing this so you can have a different perspective on merit increases. Having said that, you should ask your manager for other ways to reward you, if they truly don’t have money on the budget to give you a bigger raise. For example, they can pay for you to attend a conference in your area of expertise or other training. Maybe you can share a few ideas and seek approval. Or ask them to pay for your membership to a group related to your job. There are non-monetary ways to reward employees when there is not enough money to do it through a merit increase.