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Comment by AznHisoka | Hacker News Reader

The CEO just sounds desperate for attention, as if he's a cult leader. Seriously, planks during meetings? I'd quit right then and there. Just sounds like an immature person that just wants to start a business because he'll get to implement all these quirky, utopic policies.

Also, just very low emotional intelligence for not thinking about the people who got paid highly and deserved it. You didn't hire robots - you hired human beings with real emotions.

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Maybe I suck at emotional intelligence, but why would a highly paid employee be upset that lower paid employees are getting a raise?

The argument usually goes that some people deserve to be paid more than others based on more specialized skills, more experience, etc. That it's unfair to be paid the same as someone who's doing a more entry-level position than yourself.

This is not my argument, but it's what I've been told when I've had this discussion before.

Let's say I'm a college graduate (with accompanying student loan debt) and you're a high school grad. We both get jobs at the same company and you're paid 40k while I'm paid 60k. If we both get raises to 70k, I am still stuck with my student loan debt while getting paid the same as someone who did not need to spend years in school or take on student debt.

But why would the other person's salary affect you?

Because of the reasons listed in my original post. If I had to sacrifice time and money to graduate from college to qualify for a job and an arbitrary raise provides the same compensation to someone who does not have a college degree, it devalues my degree. On top of that, besides the degree getting devalued, I still have the original student debt amount.

But you had 60k before and now you have 70k... I'm sorry but your line of thought makes no sense at all to me. I'd be fine with it.

As another posted said it makes complete sense. Psychology 101: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_income_hypothesis

People care more about their position relative to others than their actual income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_income_hypothesis

Except that happens all the time, you just don't know about it. This is what its all about - transparency and disclosure. If you keep the first guy in the dark (as 98% of corporations do), he doesn't feel "bad" enough to get out and you trim some cash on both.

"Gravity staffers plank during meetings to encourage each other to speak quickly."

> Seriously, planks during meetings?

Sounds like an idea formed by people who don't really know how to run a business, and are looking for new and creative ways to get attention in the media.

The salary thing may be in the same category, and time will tell if the formula works well for the employees, or cuts their future total income short if the company can't keep momentum.

I would probably quit too. During a planking session. Grubbing around on the floor is no way to hold a meeting.

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