It's probably more a consequence of framing compensation as "$/hr". But on the other hand compensation based purely on performance doesn't work well either beca

It's probably more a consequence of framing compensation as "$/hr". But on the other hand compensation based purely on performance doesn't work well either because it can feel unfair to workers particularly those can't control the input for their output. [ For example, I've worked with a radiology department where the hospital requires technologists to meet performance metrics based purely on scans/hour or they are sent home early before their shift is complete. This would seem to be more directly performance based, but the problem is that the rest of the hospital fails to do pre-scan screening questionaires correctly and doesn't get patients to the scanners on time. It's extremely demoralizing to the staff and more importantly it leaves very expensive hardware sitting around doing absolutely nothing. And the most talented staff actively avoid doing complex proceedures because they take longer. The "bean counters" somehow don't care about the big picture--expensive hardware is left unused and patient care suffers--hardware purchases and staffing are managed by different administrators and overall things are just... not holistically integrated. Anyway... it's complicated. ]