I think defensibility is one reason why companies have their pay secrecy clauses. People don't like confrontation, in general, and asking for a raise is one ki

I think defensibility is one reason why companies have their pay secrecy clauses. People don't like confrontation, in general, and asking for a raise is one kind of confrontation, so people are slightly defensive (and thus slightly irrational). If they're then made to defend those choices, they have to give clear reasons on WHY they gave the aggressive negotiatior whose not great at coding a raise, in lieu of the star performer who does badly at human tasks. Since there's no nice way to do so, they'd rather just avoid the situation altogether.