"Let's Hire/Give a Raise" Paradox

The Director of the Cleveland office wants to track birthdays and throw parties once a month during lunch to boost employee morale. She decides to hire three people whose sole purpose in life is to plan parties and other special events (holidays, charity events, etc.). They add no productive value ... and although the events are supposed to boost morale, they only promote cynicism, because EVERYONE knows that these three people make more money than ten of the people manning the phones.

There isn't really a paradox ... I suppose I could imagine a scenario where certain employees are given the additional responsibilities those three people were given, along with raises to compensate for the added workload (which, for productive employees, amounts to about two hours of work per week). I suppose we could argue that the employees would, after awhile, become dissatisfied with the extra money and tracking of birthdays ... longing for the days of three people whose sole purpose was to do these trivial things.

This 2nd scenario is pointless, because 1. employees, in my experience, rarely get raises for added responsibilities they could handle, when a brand new person earning an exorbitant salary and benefits package is an option, and 2. the reality is birthday parties do not boost morale. Practical things people can use, like bonuses, paid time off, free meals (notice meals are practical, whereas birthday parties are not), free cars, gift cards to Wal-Mart ... things like this would actually help increase loyalty.