[optforfon]

it sounds a bit too idealistic. How about if someone is hired at a hire rate because "well we needed someone with his skill set ASAP, so we agreed to pay him a premium" (but we can't afford to pay everyone at that rate) or "We desperately needed someone quickly with skill set X and he was the only person available"

And sometimes comparing people and their skill sets is really apples to oranges. If one guy is an expert on some very specific top, and thats important for your business (and is therefore an expensive hire) - it doesn't mean you should create an incentive for other employees to learn his skill set (maybe you only need one statistician or expert in COBOL or whatever)

"There's no compensation system that makes everyone happy"

Sure, pay people way above market rate and don't allow them to compare wages. They will not feel ripped off and they don't develop a sense on inadequacy

[softawre]

> Sure, pay people way above market rate and don't allow them to compare wages

That sounds illegal. Can you really not allow your employees to compare wages?

[Nick-Craver]

In the US at least (I can't speak for elsewhere), preventing this is illegal. Companies discourage it through various ways and it's practically an embedded culture thing at this point throughout the country. But: you cannot legally prevent it.

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 is what you're looking for here - it provides employee protections for such discussions.

[JustSomeNobody]

Yeah, it's interesting. They can't prevent it, but if you do it, you can guarantee you'll be fired. They'll just eliminate your position for some other reason.

[phasmantistes]

You don't want to work for a company that operates that way anyway, if you can avoid it.

[pwang]

No, you cannot.

[passiveincomelg]

I don't know about the comparing bit, but paying way above market rate doesn't even seem to work. I read some Netflix reviews on Glassdoor, saying that people increase their standard of living to their high income and become dependent on it. The anxiety and stress this causes has a negative impact on the culture. Totally ridiculous that people screw themselves over like this, IMHO. :-(

[optforfon]

Money doesn't buy you happiness, but at some point you prolly stop blaming it on your employer haha

[passiveincomelg]

What sucks about this is that the people who can't handle the high salary ruin it for everyone.