Learn English – What does mean the mind boggles

This is how you read it by breaking the sentence into parts and extracting the complex meaning from it: You have been working hard and providing measurably positive results for your company,

yet

your pay isn't what it should be

or

you keep getting skipped over for a [promotion or new opportunities] to grow.

Means: you are working hard and fetching results as well

but, your pay is much less than what you should get

because you are not considered for a promotion or new opportunity to grow.

In the US, they refer to Europe as "the Continent" - as in the continent of Europe. It is a reference to the fact the the US has one (English-speaking (oh, OK, and French-speaking)) country to the North (Canada), and a Spanish-speaking country (Mexico) to the South - in stark comparison to the melange of languages and cultures in Europe.

"Continental" is (was?) used as an adjective to describe a level of higher culture than the plebeian culture of America.