What you define is not contribution, it's participation. Killing meritocracy entirely also kills the incentive to improve oneself. Distributing equity non-equal

What you define is not contribution, it's participation. Killing meritocracy entirely also kills the incentive to improve oneself. Distributing equity non-equally is just one of those dials which if you adjust slightly, you reward people who are able to self improve more. Do it too much, you alienate your team (as you pointed out). Do it never, you reward the lazy by not rewarding the hardworking. I think you are on the right track with your intentions but having a balanced approach is the key and choosing one extreme over the other is not the path forward here. This has been a fun debate but I believe what I think about the topic can be summarized as this: Healthy competition without the toxicity is possible in the workplace. It is just hard and needs careful attention to detail. If you ask how much, that's probably the subject of ideology. When ideologies battle, it's either bloody and both sides lose or it's small wins and loses achieved by mutual compromise. No matter where the balance is met, it must progress with dialogue.