In a high inflation environment, not giving raises is essentially a pay cut but doesn’t have the same negative psychological effect.

And RSU’s are a huge portion of comp in tech companies, it’s easy to cut RSU’s. Setting aside the very top performers, the middle 80% are not going to have an easy time finding a job in this environment. And may be less likely to leave when so many other companies are cutting but they happen to be at one of the few that didn’t cut but simply scaled back bonuses.