There are lots of reasonable reasons to work for less than the value you create. - First, you can never actually reach 100% while working for someone else. If

There are lots of reasonable reasons to work for less than the value you create. - First, you can never actually reach 100% while working for someone else. If you reached 100%, then the employer would look at you and say "I can make exactly the same amount of money if I employ this person or not. Why should I do it? There is absolutely no benefit to me." - You might want to work on a certain problem with a certain team. For example, let's say I want to work on the next Pixar movie, with the Pixar team. There's no employer other than Pixar that can offer that to me. They can pay me less than I contribute, the only thing they need to guard against is mass defection. - Switching costs. If I am earning 98% of what I would like, switching companies might be not be worth the extra effort. - Other intangibles. Unlike what some economists would like you to believe, not everything of value can be reduced to a single unit (money) and rational decisions derived from that. Things might be of value to me or my employer that aren't included in the value that I create or my salary. These things don't necessarily behave linearly.