I know this is all anecdotal, but most people are A-OK with someone making more than them if that person is also obviously providing more value. With the ad-ho

I know this is all anecdotal, but most people are A-OK with someone making more than them if that person is also obviously providing more value. With the ad-hoc thing we do in tech, where everyone is working in the same pen and has a similar title, but some are making more and some are making less, and the ones making more are often providing less value and only have a higher salary because they were hired during a better market, you end up with a lot energy being expended on intrigue/sabotage/oneupsmanship that could have been spent on the product. Take sales for example. You can make a decent estimate of what another salesman on the team is making just by looking at the board and multiplying, and if it comes out higher than what you pulled, it is really hard to pin that on anyone but yourself.