[Gmo]

Well, I can't answer this question for 2 reasons : 1. This is the first year this has been done (well, apparently, it was like that also in the past when there were only 6/7 people but that's a different dynamic I guess). 2. I will myself be part of this process only from next January on, so I was not in the room so to say.

Everyone is free to ask what they want. They are assessed by the others though. The process is the following (again, I'm not part of it yet, so it's only what I remember being told) : - You give your number in front of everybody else (here it means people in the "choose your salary category"). - People can make remarks directly or later if they choose to do so - 1 week later, people meet again, and give a possibly updated number based on the feedback they got. They can also justify this number (be it because it's too "low" or it's too "high". For instance, you have the right to say "I had a hard year last year, I prefer to take it a bit more easy this year, therefore I put a lower number").

If there is a very big mismatch, then it can be decided there is no agreement and we should probably stop working together. Anyway, with a "normal" system, an employee would not have had the salary he/she asked for and would probably have looked elsewhere for a new job. Here at least it's pretty clear. It can also be decided that the salary is granted but he/she has a year to prove he/she's worth it.

The goal is to have transparency, so all those decisions are clear from the beginning and throughout the process. Otherwise, it's useless.