There's an American company that introduced a flat baseline salary of $75,000 -- janitors, receptionists, programmers, managers -- everyone. The concept behind it was that if you're not making enough to not worry about making your bills from month to month, you're not going to perform your job well. Some people were offended by this as they'd been there for a while and were making good money. Even the owner took a big pay cut.

I don't know how this will work out long-term as there's some behind the scenes goings on with a former partner suing for dilution of his assets, or something like that. But it's an interesting concept, being paid enough so that you can relax a little and do your job well.

Another thing is to do what you say and say what you mean. One org that I know of the big boss had an open door policy: absolute discretion, etc. When many members of the IT staff went in to complain about the person who was probable to be appointed permanent director from acting director, and promised absolute confidentiality by the big boss, said big boss brought in said acting director. Temperature went decidedly chilly, and all but one of the people were pushed out of the org within the following year. And a couple of years later the big boss and IT director were gone.

If you are good to your people, they will probably be good to you. Screw over your people, and you not surprisingly might find yourself in a sticky situation. I once had a boss who, a few years after I left, was not told 'quit or be fired' by the city council, but 'quit or be prosecuted.' There were no tears when she left.