What do well compensated employees such as athletes, actresses, CEOs and salespeople have in common? Individually measurable performance.
Like any other cost, employee compensation is a cost that is paid from the company revenue. How much each employee is paid depends on how much they contributed to the revenue. An employee whose performance is individually measurable will fare better than an employee whose performance is muddled in with the rest of the team. After all, how can you say you contributed a lot to the pie when you don’t know how much you contributed? (This is also why front office makes more than back office.) Worst case scenario, people forget why the latter employee is necessary and his pay drops to zero.
There is no I in team, but there’s no we in pay either.