This feels fake. I could be wrong and hope I am.

Can’t tell if the boss’ reply is AI text or just kool-aid drunk businessman.

Working hard and working effectively are not always the same thing.

Do the minimum and go around the office socializing. If they complain, show them the email and tell them you're working on the metrics they care about the most.

Just don't work anymore and instead chat cheerfully with your coworkers. Its the same quality work. Bring the vibes xD

They are fucking, aren't they?

Did everyone clap, too?

I just don’t believe a boss would commit to writing “your output is higher and better but I like Tad’s vibe better.”

Just begging for a visit from HR.

I can see a situation where that makes sense. A colleague who keeps morale up can be at least as important for the team as one who works hard

...on the other hand, it can also be a way for managers to reward their loyal favorites for no particular reason.

I dunno, this makes me happy we have collectively bargained wages at my workplace

It's been my experience and advice that you should never negotiate your pay by arguing that others get paid more, or equal, or whatever. Same for external factors like inflation, cost of living ect. You can think that internally, and base your target on that, just don't bring it up in negotiations because it's a weak argument and signals that you're chasing parity relative to some external factor.

IMO you should pick a target that genuinely makes you feel is fair to you, and pursue that in your negotiation, arguing that that's what you feel is fair for your experience and time.

Work hard to get paid. Once you get paid, dial back that work folks. Dial it right back.

The world has enough "what's your reaction?" content. No need to poll the internet, just make a decision and move on with your life.

“What is it you’d say you do here?”

“I’m a vibes person! I deal with vibes!”

Quit the Lawyer, Hit the Facebook, Gym Up

I'm in the Netherlands, work culture may differ.

So poorly worded. This company should have a better answer to this question, or not engage with the question at all. Comparing compensation is difficult. It isn't just about how much you do.

Not everybody is a factory line worker where you can simply measure the daily widget output. I've been a manager in high tech companies, and people often wildly misjudge their own ability and how they contribute to a broader structural problem in the company. The work is more than daily widget output and doing what you're told. I also need creativity, pushing back on colleagues, human care, commercial insight, among many aspects of your job. Don't reduce yourself to your output.

Edit: I know this is probably going to get downvoted. I'm just answering the reality of how capitalist companies operate. In a class struggle sense, no company is going to give you the full value of your labor. Switching to another company will not change that, there is always profit for owners to take. Fighting unfairness in the workplace is one thing, but we can't know if this is favoritism, the company being bad at judging value, or the worker bad at judging their value. Calling for more to be given to the workers instead of the owners is always right, but that says nothing about the distribution between workers.

I don't understand the stance in this thread.

I hear so many workplace horror stories about new management coming in and firing low output people without understanding that they contribute positively to morale and increasing everyone else's output. But when that role is acknowledged, it's suddenly time for a lawsuit and finding a new job?

That is a quittable offense.

Good, good.... Make them fight each other

Find another job, get a start date, call out first day of new job, if you like new job quit old next morning. They don't deserve any notice. Simple.

This can't be real. Who would write this down? This sounds like an easy lawsuit.

Insta-quit.

that reply is all you need, time to start looking for something else

Quit

Quit, without notice.

I'm surprised no one in the comments noticed that the person getting paid the same for working harder is a woman. This is sadly the norm in many businesses including those that I've worked for. That made this seem awfully likely to be real other than only a moron would actually put this in writing. I think this lady should just start doing as much work as her salary dictates. There is clearly no benefit to busting your ass if you get paid shit. Also, start looking for a new place of employment.

Feels like the scene from The Other Guys about how you’re valuable for doing the work we don’t want to

From https://www.wikihow.com/Quiet-Quit#How-to-Quiet-Quit-Your-Job-.28Without-Getting-Fired.29)

How to Quiet Quit Your Job (Without Getting Fired)

• Step 1 Stop doing any tasks that aren’t in your job description.
• Step 2 Stop showing up early to work and only arrive on time.
• Step 3 Stop staying late in the office and leave on time.
• Step 4 Refuse office communications outside of working hours.
• Step 5 Don’t take work home with you.
• Step 6 Don’t attend non-mandatory meetings or social work functions.

My opinion, only quit if you a) can do those things and b) want to extract value aside from money during the time you spend working.

It's so weird that they went through with justifying the difference in pay (which I don't think they actually had to do in such detail) and somehow... they didn't stop halfway through and realize that doesn't actually justify anything. The "we value your attitude" part is exactly why she should be paid equally. I mean, they literally offered her a leverage to use in negociation.

You could read between the lines and realize your attitude affects the team in a negative way.

Weirdly, both are kind of true. You should be pissed, but he is also right, he just shouldn’t have said it. Think of it this way, though, a supervisor usually makes more than the people they supervise even though by definition they often do less of the actual work. Same with management. Getting other people motivated (if he actually does do that) is worth something. On the other hand,if you’re really doing twice as much work, you may literally just be overworking or should find another job where that is actually useful.