I retired recently, but still keep in touch with old colleagues - many are friends and even neighbors.
I remember at least 2 occasions when they talked about how compensation was set. At the working level, they compare salaries with a mix of employers... presumably this mix includes workers from low-paid jobs as well, apart from other oil companies and such.
And they always concluded that ATT employees at the lowest levels were overpaid.
At the senior management level though, their position was that these are highly specialized jobs that are difficult to do and they need to retain these brilliant, visionary folks. To do this, they compared salaries with the highest paid industries... and concluded that these fine folks are underpaid. The poor folks. Oh my...
If any of these fine visionaries are asked to leave, I am sure they will get nice golden parachutes for steering the company so well through these tough times. It must have been rough for them. Indeed.