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>All developers are equal

In which case let them leave and replace them with another equal developer. Though I am confused as to why you call them one of your best and yet say all developers are equal.

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Best when it comes to skills. Equal when it comes to pay, benefits and professional relationship. That's how most companies see it anyway.

There are lots of ways to make people feel good while keeping pay, benefits, and professional relationships professional. Not knowing where OP is from or where their company operates, I'd give them wide deference in terms of ensuring they follow the law, but talking to an HR professional (who should be involved at this point anyway if there are dozens of folks) can give a lot of good ideas on how to make people feel special without breaching contracts.

As a practical example, Dynamighty listed every full time Dynamighty worker in alphabetical order on CounterSpy, but then called out individuals by their major contributions within the longer credits. It's not a perfect system, but it provided a good balance between giving due credit to folks who worked long hours for equity and those who were making normal salaries the whole time.

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