These employees are optimizing for free time, not salary. As someone who thinks big tech pays ridiculously more than is necessary for a comfortable lifestyle, if I could work 1 day a week for 1/5 the pay I would (I understand why working so little would likely not make sense, I am just fantasizing).
10x more productive is probably a poor way to phrase what I really mean. 10x more impactful probably captures what I mean better.
I used to work full time (50 hour week including commute) for a company with a really high-performing software culture full time, and quit to do my own thing just before COVID.
I now work about 20 hours a week and pull in a slightly higher wage compared to before. Better yet, any productivity improvements go directly to the bottom line, so I experience more wage growth in a month now than I did in a year back in industry.