I like “or else” meant no promotions, as if that ever meant anything in tech. If you want more money you jump to another company. This just gives them even more incentive to do that.

Fun fact, a big reason why innovation happened a lot in tech is because of this-- when a company fails to retain someone, they take their wealth of knowledge and trade secrets with them. It actually hurts companies more than just losing a person since it also gives the competition a leg up!