Used to be a high performer at Big Tech. Found out a coworker with less experience at the same level had $200k/year more in comp. I didn’t care about the money, I care about being taken for a fool. There were additional factors, but I left and started my own company within three months and nobody in my old team has anywhere close to my experience.
It is awkward for a person to know that they make substantially more than coworkers. It forms a feeling of guilt and other negative feelings. But what are they supposed to do? Negotiate lower salaries when starting or after working for a while? And it's definitely frustrating knowing other coworkers with the same or less experience and responsibilities as you make a whole lot more. It forms feelings of jealousy, not feeling valued, self worth, and other negative feelings. And all of this is caused by the company simply not caring about actually employing and managing humans.
And it's always been insane to me that companies will let an experienced person leave because they won't raise their salary and then immediately put out a job requisition at a salary that would have kept the experienced person. It makes no sense, and yet, this happens constantly.