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I remember when my old company cut the "swag" to the tune of about $100,000 a year. The CFO was proud of himself but the work environment wasn't great before th
by mrj 4y ago
I remember when my old company cut the "swag" to the tune of about $100,000 a year. The CFO was proud of himself but the work environment wasn't great before that, which lead to a few key people leaving. They had stayed not for swag but the social parts of the job were keeping people happy. A few more followed them. It wasn't long before half of the tech team had gone.
At the time we were spending about 40k for recruiter fees to replace each engineer. During my exit interview I asked the CFO if he thought that math worked out. He had some regrets.
- spamizbad 4y agoIt's interesting that the Software Dev job market has been on fire for over a decade but retention strategies have evolved at a glacial pace. The industry just collectively decided turnover is to be expected and eat all the associated costs - which are significantly higher than many other professions inside the org.
- pickovven 4y agoLet's not forget they also colluded to prevent poaching and still have employees sign illegal non-competes.
- danaris 4y agoI mean, in general, management as a group has no idea how to retain employees. Part of this is because (as you allude to) a very significant chunk of them don't even believe that's important to do: employees are just interchangeable cogs in their system, grinding along to produce bonuses for them. But part of it is because retention is about motivation, which is a very, very complicated topic, and any attempt to create a one-size-fits-all solution to it will inevitably fail. Of course, a large percentage of those who do believe that retention is important are deeply convinced they know exactly what one-size-fits-all solution is The One True Way, and anyone who doesn't respond to it is just some degenerate weirdo. So they go on missing, and we go on shaking our heads.
- deelowe 4y agoI sense there's a bit of a crisis with top tech firms. They cannot afford to keep paying the wages the tech market demands. Costs must come down. It's feels things are reaching a tipping point.
- ghaff 4y agoIt's somewhat of a chicken and egg sort of thing. If some segment of your workforce seems to have high turnover in spite of efforts to retain people, maybe it makes sense to stop trying so hard and accept that it's just a market dynamic.
- ryandrake 4y agoNot even expected: Preferred! Every company I've worked at would rather pay $X+2 to a fresh new employee than retain an experienced employee by raising his or her salary from $X to $X+1. I can't explain it.
- unity1001 4y ago> It's interesting that the Software Dev job market has been on fire for over a decade but retention strategies have evolved at a glacial pace Capitalism. The absentee shareholders' interests trample everyone else's interests. Even the actual founders' interests...
- bradlys 4y agoI doubt he had any regrets as long as his boss was happy with his decision. Very few people give a shit if something is cost effective, ethical, or even intelligent to do if their boss is happy with the decision or they’re able to placate their boss.