Companies will pay as little as they can, employees will charge as much as they can. Everything else is an excuse or window dressing. What someone is paid is no

Companies will pay as little as they can, employees will charge as much as they can. Everything else is an excuse or window dressing. What someone is paid is not connected to what they are worth or their value. Nor is it "fair" because fair isn't a real thing. Your company is not your family. Unless you own a significant share, it's purely your adversary. I wish people would just honestly admit this. Pretending otherwise almost always leads to workers misunderstanding what is happening and getting underpaid.