No matter how good the manager is, if he is beholden to an HR department that only gives slightly above COL raises while the market explodes, people will jump ship.
Our HR was run by the Corporate General Counsel. It was pretty much as bad as you can get.
Also, we were paid "competitive" wages (read: below-market).
I was the manager for 25 years (I should mention that the engineer with the most seniority had 27 years -we started together), and I feel I did a pretty good job. Considering they did not "jump ship," I guess something went right, eh?
Nowadays, it seems that people "manage by fad," as opposed to managing humans. It's kind of heartbreaking, really.
Just assume that we were all idiots, and go back to your happy place.
Did you tell them that “we are all family here”?
I sincerely wish you the best.
For me personally, if the money is enough for me to make a comfortable life with my family, other things at work become important. I could never spend most of my days with assholes or do idiotic work even if the pay was way above market value, for instance. I'd also trade money for more free-time, if possible.
And yes, the company I work at does feel like a family. But nobody had to tell me this. It just does so, naturally.