Pay quietly Don't pay your staff consistently for the same work. Refuse to advertise your budgets, and loosen your "ranges" to get people in the door when they

Pay quietly Don't pay your staff consistently for the same work. Refuse to advertise your budgets, and loosen your "ranges" to get people in the door when they push you about it, but then use those same targets to hand-wave away people already inside -- who come to you after comparing notes or observing the impact of broader market conditions like inflation. Also, stop them from comparing notes or doing fifth-grade level math like compounding effects. That education is there to help you, not them - and speaking of which, it taught them better than to talk out of turn, let alone to question the people they work for. (...satire aside though, you do know standups can be done in the afternoons, right?)