Here's my take, as someone who makes a good salary and manages two IT teams. If someone is underpaid and performs well, I go out of my way and put my reputation on getting them raises. If someone half-asses they are the first person I give less money to when I'm given the annual raise budget. I had a guy woefully underpaid and this year I went to bat for them, got them a 14,000.00 raise and on annuals I got him the highest % of any of my team.