3 ms·

There is no such thing as "same work" outside of a production line and the like. You learn this in the initial weeks of your career. In every tech company ther

by blfr 3y ago

There is no such thing as "same work" outside of a production line and the like. You learn this in the initial weeks of your career. In every tech company there are programmers, project managers, and sales people who have the same titles but deliver vastly different quality of outcomes. And everyone knows this because they instantly pick the good ones whenever they have the slightest optionality. You have a new project, difficult client, some fuckup to straighten out, and everyone's eyes turn to the same person. It's such a common occurrence, you must have seen this. You must have seen people being fired without a single tear or with a sigh of relief and others quitting to widespread worry over who will manage to step in for them. People with the same roles on paper.

mschuster91 3y ago
So what, you can use a well defined bonus structure. At least that is transparent and related to one's own work skill.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  Let’s imagine that msc91 is the person we always turn to when the chips are down and they always deliver great results in the clutch situations while maintaining all of their regular duties as well. How long until we rationally decide to pay msc91 a monthly “in case the chips are down” bonus/retainer? Msc91 is made better off; the company and its customers are made better off and thereby, msc91’s colleagues are made better off. If we decide on principle that we won’t do that, how long until a better-funded or better product-market fit company comes along and hears through the grapevine of ex-msc91 colleagues that they should pay their overall higher wages to msc91 and get them to join? Now, all of the good things that could have happened in the prior paragraph are lost.
- blfr 3y ago
  Interestingly, you can't. Although to be fair, plenty of managers still believe they can. Imagine a job where results seem fairly easily quantifiable: sales. You want to hire a great salesguy you know. His current salary is 168k and he collects another 85k in bonuses. How do you get him? You offer him 260 base and some unspecified bonus you will work out later. Why? Because he already knows what kind of bonuses he can collect where he is but only has a vague idea of your company's product potential. This uncertainty and unattainability of full information forces companies into either wide bands or made up titles. That's even before he goes to his current boss for a competing offer.

by blfr 3y ago

mschuster91 3y ago

So what, you can use a well defined bonus structure. At least that is transparent and related to one's own work skill.

sokoloff 3y ago
Let’s imagine that msc91 is the person we always turn to when the chips are down and they always deliver great results in the clutch situations while maintaining all of their regular duties as well. How long until we rationally decide to pay msc91 a monthly “in case the chips are down” bonus/retainer? Msc91 is made better off; the company and its customers are made better off and thereby, msc91’s colleagues are made better off. If we decide on principle that we won’t do that, how long until a better-funded or better product-market fit company comes along and hears through the grapevine of ex-msc91 colleagues that they should pay their overall higher wages to msc91 and get them to join? Now, all of the good things that could have happened in the prior paragraph are lost.
blfr 3y ago
Interestingly, you can't. Although to be fair, plenty of managers still believe they can. Imagine a job where results seem fairly easily quantifiable: sales. You want to hire a great salesguy you know. His current salary is 168k and he collects another 85k in bonuses. How do you get him? You offer him 260 base and some unspecified bonus you will work out later. Why? Because he already knows what kind of bonuses he can collect where he is but only has a vague idea of your company's product potential. This uncertainty and unattainability of full information forces companies into either wide bands or made up titles. That's even before he goes to his current boss for a competing offer.