The easiest way to see the equity theory at work, and probably the most common way it does impact employees, is when colleagues compare the work they do to someone else that gets paid more than them. Equity theory is at play anytime employees say things like 'John gets paid a lot more than me, but doesn't do nearly as much work' or 'I get paid a lot less than Jane, but this place couldn't operate without me!' In each of those situations, someone is comparing their own effort-to-compensation ratio to someone else's and is losing motivation in the process