These people talk about "equality"……
I was hiring for two people in the industry same level, same role.
The first candidate - Ken - asked for the maximum salary.
The second candidate - Lily - asked for a salary £10k below the maximum.
The MD instead of being fair wanted to put Lily into the level below and accept the £10k less salary.
I was furious - I reminded this person that this was unacceptable and I had interviewed them at one level and wanted both hired at the same level and on the same salary.
I had to make a huge fuss to make this happen - yet these same people talk about "equality".
Lesson/s : You need to shout and make noise sometimes instead of being a smiling docile idiot.
How did you move forward?: The salaries were equalised and so were the titles - I would scream even louder.