In addition to the modern US structural labor concerns sibling highlighted, > the maximum wage the company is willing to pay This is the primary method I was

In addition to the modern US structural labor concerns sibling highlighted, > the maximum wage the company is willing to pay This is the primary method I was thinking of. A company/CEO has a variety of reasons for paying its labor more than the minimum (retention, moral belief, working next to colleagues, etc). Shareholders really only have executive comp (and its structure) to discourage CEOs from paying labor more than the minimum necessary.