No doubt, the only way we get a decent pay increase is to put in a 2wk notice and make them buy you back.  I've done it, but its BS that it needs to go to that extreme.  I made sure there was a job on the outside beforehand, just in case......So, if you do it, make sure you're valuable enough that they'll want to keep ya  We have had a couple folks over the years submit theirs trying for more money and they ended up having to leave, and one of 'em didn't have shit lined up on the outside!