Not very good. These were highly skilled engineers that could easily have commanded better salaries, elsewhere.

That meant they stayed for other reasons.

I wonder what those reasons could be?

This is brilliant. I'm a mid-level engineer with decent C/C++/Rust background. Have yet to find a team like this. I'm inspired by your story to keep searching!

Will be five years with my current manager. Team has shifted some but money is not the only reason to stay somewhere.

… So you let them enjoy work but fucked them on salary?

FAANG type compensation doesn't come from "raises", it comes from good yearly performance bonuses.

(Although in my experience the raises you get from changing between smaller companies are still worse than just staying at one FAANG.)