The idea that people are paid for "working hard" is a very common view in society. I see this view as flawed. People aren't paid for work, they are paid for the results they achieve. I've met people in my career and personal life who work incredibly hard, but achieve very little. The compensation of such people tends to be much lower than those who achieve more. Our society also values independent thought. Someone that requires supervision and direction tends to be paid less, than someone who can recognize strategic goals, make plans that achieve those goals, with little or no supervision.

The idea that everyone in my work environment would be paid the same, is quite challenging for me to imagine working well. If less experienced colleagues with lesser skill sets get paid the same amount as myself, it means this is impacting my employers bottom line. Since only part of my compensation is my salary, and other compensation involves bonuses and stock options that depend on my companies performance, if workers are being paid more than the prevailing rate, it will negatively impact those bonuses and options. To think that everyone can get paid the same wage, and that this doesn't impact the earning potential of the high performers over the long run, seems like a shortsighted and simplistic viewpoint.

I think the tactic of bringing the wage of the earners up to some basic level is an interesting tactic, but have to agree with many others here, that this will need to change at some point, or it will impact the ability of the company to attract and keep the highest performing individuals.