When I was a kid, my father owned a coffee shop. For his 10 or so employees, my Dad had a simple pay philosophy: If he liked someone, he paid them more.

Of course, that’s not how major corporations pay people—in theory, anyway. Most corporations have a detailed compensation policy that explains how everyone, from employees to contractors, should be rewarded. But at the individual manager level, these policies are often overshadowed by personal opinions. Most compensation politics are hard to enforce at scale, and as a result, pay remains a frustrating and deeply emotional issue for workers. And pay discrepancies have led to entrenched inequities, disappointed employees, and calls for improved pay transparency. READ MORE