> Your average line worker cannot impact the entire business like this.
We already use this to justify the massive disparity in raw salary, so it doesn't make sense to use that same argument to justify the massive disparity in percentage increases as well. The scope of influence is already factored in to last year's salary.
Raises on the order of hundreds of thousands would not make sense, but why not raises that are comparable as a percentage of pay? Each front line worker making (for easy math) $50k a year in 2022 can absolutely contribute more than $20k to a year's growth.
Your average line worker cannot impact the entire business like this. They alone cannot be responsible for huge growth or periods of rapid shrinkage.
They just happen to be the most visible...