[Gmo]

You can smell whatever you want, but that's not at all what is happening.

Is there politics within the company ? Yes, of course, like in any assembly of human beings.

This is not a management trick at all. Not everybody does have the same salary, some are better than others at negociating. But if there is a too big difference of people with the same level, then that is what creates problem.

By the way, it happened more than one time that we told a candidate he should up his salary, because it was too low compared to what we are paying similar employees. So, it goes both ways. And that's exactly about "what someone deserved to earn based on what he brings".

People are not "put into the room". Simply, the final step of a recruitment is an oral presentation on the topic of the choice of the candidate. Anybody can join. And whoever is in the room has a right to say something while the candidate is here, and once he's gone and we decide if he's hired or not.

This is a ritual of the company, everybody had to go through this (except trainees who were later hired).