I have no qualms with the Steemit team using the Steemit.com application itself and gaining rewards from doing so. I can see why many do avoid payouts because technically it is a conflict of interest. As an employee, while you can't game the system without people realising, your celebrity does afford you a higher chance of getting upvotes from influential whale-like users in the community.

If anything, maybe Steemit employees using the service itself will allow them to experience first-hand the problems that plague the concept itself. The flag brigading, the power and wealth inequality that faces this problem and the rampant spam that seems to make it to trending all of the time. There are serious core problems with Steem itself, problems that only STINC can fix and the more employees who can enact real change from within experience those problems, the higher the chance something gets done about them.

By the way, welcome. I sincerely hope that you actively engage with the community. As I am sure you are aware, Steemit Inc has a poor track record when it comes to community engagement and transparency. I have noticed after the turbulence a few months ago that led to the Steem Alliance and other community-led change initiatives, that @ned and the company itself seems to be really trying.

Now that we have the communication, we really need Smart Media Tokens (SMT's) to be launched, delivering on a core whitepaper promise.