A couple of trends. It feels like more people get out of cycle promos vs end of year review promos. In many cases a new manager (friend?) will give the person a promo... that your current manager actually didn’t feel you deserve. I guess one would wonder what are reviews actually for? Also it seems like these are for positions that a hiring manager actually “earmarks” for someone. Not really giving other candidates a chance... so many open jobs within seem like an actual joke. Open a job just so “the person” can apply and close it right away.
Secondly all the new hires and rehires coming in. New hires start more than a grade higher or more than previous hires....and will take years to be able to add the same type of value. Then you have rehires coming back and maybe at a grade hire .... basically getting the promo you haven’t while you weren’t the one shown the door.
So much for striving for equity ha.