[scarmig]

This seems equal parts petty and self-defeating to me.

No one except the worst performers are going to stay at a place when they see market salaries rising substantially everywhere else. So what this does is hamstring the company from re-hiring the top performers who could easily get new, higher-paying jobs at other companies.

Equally bad is that the weak employees will have gained substantial organizational power, so they'll be making decisions by virtue of time served instead of skill and knowledge.