For the majority of people in their career (the Seniors and Principals/Staffs) MS pays significantly worse than other FAANG-type companies, often being well under half in terms of stock compensation for example.
The company is well aware of this as it's constantly brought up in all-hands (both within individual departments as well as at the all-company level), and they always respond with "we've done research and we believe we actually do pay comparatively in this market segment".
Sounds like market fixing and likely illegal, however I can imagine poorly paid employee wouldn't be able to afford a lawsuit.
also, most stories I've heard is that the sub-optimal comp comes bundled with pretty good WLB. So maybe if you were to double the number of hours worked and double the comp M$ would blow other BigTech out of the water. Maybe this is the play (half the money for half the effort) and everyone knows it.
The fact that one can change job shouldn't enable companies to continue like this.
to play devil’s advocate (from a top lawyer firm): how can one force a private entity to pay a certain wage that is way over what the minimum wage is?
The minimum wage should be tied to company revenue to reflect the value workers generate. I mean revenue, not profit, because those companies are masters at hiding profits to avoid tax.
Had a friend who worked at Mercedes Benz corporate and he could pretty much pick any non-AMG car in rotating 6-month leases. The monthly lease payment for him to lease a SL550 (a six figure convertible) was about the same as leasing a Honda Civic.
Seems other car companies do similar programs for their employees.
The majority cares about money and convenience. If people really cared about reputation then Riot Games, Microsoft, Tesla, Facebook, that big ride sharing company whose name slipped my mind, Shell, and lots of other companies, would be struggling to hire.