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Melinda recently commented on how "companies need to spend more money on investments and salaries are not always coming first."

I agree. 

The old b-school adage still holds true: "Your biggest asset, and largest liability, walks out the door every night--your people."

Yet, it's harder to raise salaries in most companies than to lower the US National Debt.

From what I see, it's often an "I'm not getting paid enough either" problem, as middle and even upper management look at their own wallets with disdain and are hardly going to fight for someone else's paycheck when their not bringing home the slabs of bacon they think they should.

Or, its a problem of "We're all working really hard right now and nobody else is getting a raise--so stop whining."  I see this one all-too-often in startup companies that literally burn out both their cash and their employees.

My personal problem with all of this (warning: "my oblique opinion" ahead) is that managers, especially executives, have so much more to GAIN when their employees work themselves to death than the employees themselves ever will.

Sure, "Joe from Accounting" might get a pat on the back from all "the suits" because he worked 100 hours a week for a month without any overtime pay, but when his boss keeps his budget slim, and cranks up the productivity by driving (actively or passively) his employees to work harder/longer without any extra pay, the BOSS gets all the long-term accolades.

• The BOSS gets noticed by the CFO and CEO.
• The BOSS gets promoted and given raises, a parking space, etc., etc., because he/she is a "proven leader" and a "producer".

Joe, is left with an ulcer, a marriage in shambles because he's never around, and a paycheck that's still the same size it always was, but now worth even less because of his diminished lifestyle.

What I am hoping for are creative solutions to rise to the surface for rank-and-file employees to cash in big-time when they produce big-time.  Lifestyles and salaries are skyrocketing, leaving more and more people in the wake because they weren't in the right place at the right time, or someone else took the credit for their success.

Show me a truly simple, yet effective, pay-for-performance compensation plan that keeps the best-employees in the dough (hence, in the door) and the medicore employees striving, yearning, reaching to achieve new hights.

Show me that company, and I will show you an incredible powerhouse for change, and an incredibly thick bottom-line over time.