In that case you can be disappointed that your business can't do right by the employees you lose while at the same time being happy for those people for finding new places of employment that can pay them what they are worth.

A good business would have a line of communication open to employees about it's financial state anyway. They would not come to you with a competing offer, there would be no need.

Yes, of course.

I was only pointing out that underpaying staff does not equate to not respecting them.

You can also value your employer and expect your compensation to grow at a certain rate.

Most line employees don't have enough influence over the business plan to point out that, say, it only works if the company can live with a high turnover rate or with keeping salaries low.

None of this is personal. It's actually a big ask for someone to get paid under market rate or work on horrible legacy systems for years. Managers shouldn't take it personally if they ask for something big and don't get a yes.

The basic idea of capitalism is some ventures / companies will fail. Trying to hang on by underpaying people is generally just forestalling the inevitable and closing up shop early is generally better for all involved.

That said, if your growing etc and just have a cash crunch then stock is generally an option.