&gt; They quit a good job, a job they liked, because other people got a raise.<p>&gt; This is our culture of &#x27;getting ahead&#x27; talking.<p>That&#x27;s a pretty bold conclusion without any evidence. The concept of a salary is to pay someone in return for work performed. How would Seth feel if I make the same amount of money as him just by sitting at home (obviously an extreme scenario from one aspect)? It would undervalue his contributions, his hard work and dedication, the obstacles he had to overcome, etc. Any reasonable individual would have second thoughts about working at a company that considers a manager as an equal (financially, salary-wise) to a janitor (for example).<p>It would be safe to say that those two people didn&#x27;t quit because other employees got a raise. It was probably due to the fact that their contributions didn&#x27;t hold the same value anymore.