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Yup. The relationship between employee and employer is a 2 way street, and it may not seem like it some times but both of them have tremendous power. When the e
by InclinedPlane 11y ago
Yup. The relationship between employee and employer is a 2 way street, and it may not seem like it some times but both of them have tremendous power. When the employer starts doing dumb shit and increasingly makes it obvious they don't truly value the employee they pick up on that. And then they start leaving. Who leaves first? Oh, just the people who are the most intrinsically motivated, who care about the work the most, who have the most talent/experience and can easily find a job elsewhere (and know it). And when those people start to leave it starts a cascade. Because when the best, most talented, most experienced people leave it makes the working environment worse. A big aspect of job satisfaction for devs is working around other talented and capable folks, when that diminishes it creates a bigger incentive to leave. So more and more people leave, generally the people who have the easiest time finding jobs.
So talent and experience just start evaporating out of the company. And before you know it there's an enormous brain drain happening.
The thing is, this isn't obvious to people higher up until much, much later. And then it tends to manifest itself as a reduced capability to execute on projects, especially difficult ones. But almost always there's a zillion other things that one can readily blame for such things because no project is the same from cycle to cycle. And, of course, management is generally resistant to the notion that they fucked up and screwed the company over with short-sighted policies. Who would imagine that something as simple as getting rid of free soda could translate into not being able to ship on time years later? That's preposterous? But these are just the rocks in the river that the currents and eddies swirl around, they're the visible aspects of sentiment and changes that run deep and are invisible unless you're in the trenches and paying close attention.
Devs aren't a "cost center", they're the value that the entire company is built around. Treat them well and you'll be able to keep the best ones around for a long time, which is an enormous competitive advantage.
- blisterpeanuts 11y agoI've often heard this "the best ones leave first because they're in demand" meme presented as fact. It sounds logical enough, but is there any evidence that this is really what happens? Sometimes, the best and brightest are also the most invested into the organization's success, hence the least likely to leave. They may be earning a top salary, they may have the ear of the CEO, or they may just love their job too much to pack up and leave on a whim. It's been my experience that the biggest complainers when it comes to belt tightening policies are in fact the lesser contributors. The little dog yaps the loudest. I don't know exactly why, but it often seems this way.
- jon-wood 11y ago> The little dog yaps the loudest. I don't know exactly why, but it often seems this way. When you can't influence things directly, all that's left is bitching about them. The people who do have some influence will take their issues to the people who can change things, and generally either get things resolved, or come to understand why they are as they are.
- jcadam 11y agoI work at a small satellite office for a large company. I have no issues with the local management, but the general sentiment is our cost-cutting obsessed overlords up at corporate HQ just don't care about morale/retention. Senior people don't care as much about free soda as the young folks do. However, we do tend to have families and kids, so when you constantly erode our medical (higher premiums and deductibles starting next year, but at least they didn't nearly double our share of the premium like they did last year), dental, and vacation benefits, we lose motivation. ...and then we end up reading hacker news when we should be working.
- Fjolsvith 11y agoI left my previous company when they started pulling perks, and founded my own startup which is growing nicely and profitably.
- chrisbennet 11y ago"But these are just the rocks in the river that the currents and eddies swirl around, they're the visible aspects of sentiment and changes that run deep and are invisible unless you're in the trenches and paying close attention." You can really turn a phrase. (This is a complement.)