One Good Engineer Is Better Than Three Normal Ones

Why do companies prefer to pay $150,000 each to three normal engineers, when they could pay $450,000 to one good one?

I suspect it is because these companies want to boast about their total number of employees. Perhaps also they are stuck in the mindset of the 1980s factory worker management model where all humans are only capable of operating at the same average speed and error rate.

My assertion is that good engineers can be identified through a proper interview process and enticed with an adequate salary.

If you only hire engineers with average motivation, average speed, and average error rates, the fate of your company will be worse than if you never bothered trying-- money spent, results not delivered.