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Comment by tannk11001 | Hacker News Reader

> I suspect it will cause some degree of resentment in the rest of the company.

Why is that? While some people might be that petty, it's very possible that Gravity never hired those kinds of people in the first place.

> It also removes the incentive to improve for the lower tiers, since they have further to move up the ladder before they see an increase in pay.

Why is that? I don't think the idea here is to raise everybody's wage and then institute some kind of 30 year wage freeze. It's to establish a baseline living wage so that none of your employees need to be hustling for other opportunities just to pay their living expenses. They can focus on their work and their lives. Rewarding exceptional behavior is a small cost once that's out of that way, and I don't see why we shouldn't expect to see it here.

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> Why is that? While some people might be that petty, it's very possible that Gravity never hired those kinds of people in the first place.

It may be petty for someone making several hundred thousand a year to resent someone who's market value being 30-40K being bumped up to 70K but for the vast majority of college graduates that is a slap in the face. Your giving everybody the rewards they worked their asses off for. I don't consider that petty, I consider that basic human disposition. Especially in a place like a credit card payment processor. I doubt many people working there go home and take pride in telling their family and friends about the work they did that day and how its making the world a better place. The majority of them are probably working for the paycheck.

Now don't get me wrong. I do admire the guy for what he is doing. Its a great selfless act. But I'm just saying its completely reasonable and understandable for those employees who where currently making ~ 70K to feel resentment and it does not make the petty or bad people. I would hope they thought this side effect through and have plans to deal with it. Since its not going to just be one or two bad apples but the vast majority of people in that position.

A good chunk of college graduates will never see that kind of pay. If you think people only go to college to make more money, you need to think again. Many careers for college graduates pay below average, and people knowingly still go for them.

E.g. in the UK a prime example is law school. The average pay for a UK solicitor is well below the national median salary.

>While some people might be that petty, it's very possible that Gravity never hired those kinds of people in the first place.

Yes, that petty university graduate with thousands of dollars of debt and many years invested in his craft should just be a better person.

Until the world is a very different place, return on investment is a huge factor in people's career.

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