Comment by tensor

In many tech companies there is a skill matrix and competency attached to jobs, and these are tied to compensation bands. Often these skill matrices are given to employees too. When someone complains that they are not being paid fairly or that they are working at a higher level, these skill matrices are used by management to double check that the right hiring/raise decisions were made.

Mistakes get made and not all managers are the same, but believe it or not there are companies where senior management does try for consistency and fairness in how they set compensation. These companies also often have internal studies run that check for biases or oddities in compensation. E.g. which departments are above the standards, which are below, which are not progressing juniors enough. Without data all this is impossible. You can't build a fair, objective, and especially not transparent system without data.