I'm an engineer. If my assistant made the same as me without having to go through the bullshit that was engineering school/any equivalent education, I would be unhappy. You dont dump $80k dollars into.am education.and deal with the kind of bullshit engineering courses can throw at you to make the same as someone with a fraction to none of your knowledge.
Yeah, not giving experienced employees a raise was ridiculous. I'm not surprised people quit the company.
The dude shouldn't also have announced this plan to the world either. Keep private company matters...private.
What's more important
- Employees who can barely afford to live a comfortable life being given more (I know we're not talking about poverty here)
- Employees who already make plenty getting even more to make them feel like their hard work allows them to be superior to other people
All the implications this might have for how the business does and what it does for the new employees is all interesting, and it'd be cool to see whether it succeeds overall or fails, but at the basic level I've got a problem with people who want to earn more than other people because they worked hard. If the only thing keeping you happy with your place in life is that there are other people who aren't making as much money than you, then you're selfish and entitled. You can say all you want about 'but I put in all this work!' - there are other rewards to being good at what you do than money, and someone else in the world making the same, slightly less or more than you shouldn't be something you spend significant time worrying about. It's competitive nonsense, the mindset of a big baby.
How about this. You've got two job offers,
1. 80,000 a year, the office secretary makes 25, 000 a year
2. 80,000 a year, the office secretary makes 70,000 a year
You mean to tell me some of you would go for the place where the secretary makes 25, just so you can feel rewarded for all that hard studying? Fuck it.