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There is something wrong about "buying" loyalty. Call me old-fashioned but the reason you want someone in the company is because they want to contribute. How ca

There is something wrong about "buying" loyalty. Call me old-fashioned but the reason you want someone in the company is because they want to contribute. How can you "generate" contribution from someone who wants to "leave?" Fundamentally it is wrong, and values outlast everything. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/11/12/when-google-gets-into-a-bidding-war-for-its-own-talent/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/11/12/when-google...

araneae 16y ago
Well, if that were the case, people wouldn't need to get paid at all! Salaries track two things: Supply: If something is unpleasant, dangerous, or illegal there will be fewer people who will do it. Construction workers, drug dealers and prostitutes can make some decent cash. Demand: If you are awesome and your skills are in demand, companies will pay more to keep you. This is why a high-class prostitute can make quite a bit more than a street walker, despite the danger of street-walking that should limit the supply. So yes, if working at your job is pleasant, you can pay your employees less. But if your employees are in high demand, you can't pay them that much less because the whole point of work is that you're exchanging how annoyed you are to have to be there for cash.
- bhickey 16y ago
  Ah, but drug dealers and prostitutes don't necessarily make good money! Stephen Levitt (Freakonomics) has some papers on this subject: http://www.streetgangs.com/academic/gangfinance.pdf http://www.streetgangs.com/academic/gangfinance.pdf http://economics.uchicago.edu/pdf/Prostitution%205.pdf http://economics.uchicago.edu/pdf/Prostitution%205.pdf
  - araneae 16y ago
    That's not news. Like I pointed out, supply AND demand are important. If you are 50 year-old cracked out prostitute with missing teeth, you're not in high demand. They lower the average income quite a bit. And yeah, illegality and danger does limit the supply, but unfortunately not as much as it should. That's because these illegal jobs aren't competing with careers in computer science; they're competing with jobs at McD's. All they have to do is outpay that and the risk of getting caught, which is sadly not much.
berntb 16y ago
In addition to supply/demand, from the other comment, there is another point. A high salary means that your employer consider you to have high worth. They won't waste your time -- and they will try to keep you happy (you're a valuable resource). Edit: I should add a corollary -- for job satisfaction, stay away from situations with too little money and hard competition for few jobs. (The academic world and bureaucracies comes to mind.) It is like too many rats in a too small cage... Another question, about 60-80 hours work weeks: I've always read/heard that 40 hours was a work "optimum". If you do more/less hours, the productivity over time will be less. Are high paid people generally able to work 60-80 hours a week over years and be productive? (I wouldn't know -- I'm not certain that 40-hour rule fits me personally.)

araneae 16y ago

Well, if that were the case, people wouldn't need to get paid at all! Salaries track two things: Supply: If something is unpleasant, dangerous, or illegal there will be fewer people who will do it. Construction workers, drug dealers and prostitutes can make some decent cash. Demand: If you are awesome and your skills are in demand, companies will pay more to keep you. This is why a high-class prostitute can make quite a bit more than a street walker, despite the danger of street-walking that should limit the supply. So yes, if working at your job is pleasant, you can pay your employees less. But if your employees are in high demand, you can't pay them that much less because the whole point of work is that you're exchanging how annoyed you are to have to be there for cash.

bhickey 16y ago
Ah, but drug dealers and prostitutes don't necessarily make good money! Stephen Levitt (Freakonomics) has some papers on this subject: http://www.streetgangs.com/academic/gangfinance.pdf http://www.streetgangs.com/academic/gangfinance.pdf http://economics.uchicago.edu/pdf/Prostitution%205.pdf http://economics.uchicago.edu/pdf/Prostitution%205.pdf
- araneae 16y ago
  That's not news. Like I pointed out, supply AND demand are important. If you are 50 year-old cracked out prostitute with missing teeth, you're not in high demand. They lower the average income quite a bit. And yeah, illegality and danger does limit the supply, but unfortunately not as much as it should. That's because these illegal jobs aren't competing with careers in computer science; they're competing with jobs at McD's. All they have to do is outpay that and the risk of getting caught, which is sadly not much.

berntb 16y ago

In addition to supply/demand, from the other comment, there is another point. A high salary means that your employer consider you to have high worth. They won't waste your time -- and they will try to keep you happy (you're a valuable resource). Edit: I should add a corollary -- for job satisfaction, stay away from situations with too little money and hard competition for few jobs. (The academic world and bureaucracies comes to mind.) It is like too many rats in a too small cage... Another question, about 60-80 hours work weeks: I've always read/heard that 40 hours was a work "optimum". If you do more/less hours, the productivity over time will be less. Are high paid people generally able to work 60-80 hours a week over years and be productive? (I wouldn't know -- I'm not certain that 40-hour rule fits me personally.)