Employees definitely tolerate this. As said above, this already happens in industry, and also for many years Amazon used to cap salaries at some hilariously low number—I think like 180k. That may not seem low until you try to buy a house in the Bay Area and lenders laugh in your face.

People would either be part of a two-income household or wait for their stock to vest, but for many years they tolerated it fine.

Can't you count bonuses that are consistent for two years?