I think the more important question is whether comparing Bob to Susan (or Sam, or whomever) is helpful. I would argue it's not, that it's even unhelpful, unless

I think the more important question is whether comparing Bob to Susan (or Sam, or whomever) is helpful. I would argue it's not, that it's even unhelpful, unless you know a whole hell of a lot about how Bob and Susan got to where they are right now. Did they have competing offers when they were hired? Did they negotiate a [non-]discretionary bonus into their package? Did they negotiate more PTO or profit-sharing in the form of a non-discretionary 401k contribution? These are all things that won't be immediately obvious but will affect their individual numbers. In aggregate, these aberrations get smoothed out. I don't see any benefit in comparing individuals to each other, but there's a lot of benefit in comparing individual to the average.