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> Emily's thought bubble: It seems more than coincidental that workplaces became more focused on good management and culture when interest rates were very low a

> Emily's thought bubble: It seems more than coincidental that workplaces became more focused on good management and culture when interest rates were very low and they could afford such luxuries as making sure employees feel valued. Maybe it’s me who is out of touch, but how is that the author’s honest take away? That low interest rates make people better managers? I’m not buying it. It doesn’t cost anything to make sure employees feel valued, unless you’re doing things to hold back their careers. At which point, you’re probably not concerned about employee satisfaction to begin with.

endtime 2y ago
With low rates, there was a lot of hiring, and the supply demand curve for SWE jobs was in favor of employees. So companies had to compete more for employees, leading to perks like remote work. In an era of hiring freezes and layoffs (including stealth layoffs via RTO), not so much. Does that make line managers better or worse at being line managers? Probably not. But it may affect the experience of being managed if your manager is more or less stressed about fighting for headcount, figuring out who to lay off, fitting performance review ratings to a curve, etc.
cle 2y ago
Making sure employees feel valued does have a cost though. Managers spend a lot of time on this, and they have a high salary. Career growth, 1:1's, conflict resolution, comp adjustments, etc. When managers' own heads are also on the chopping block in a tough job market, they're going to prioritize looking out for their own ass. If "leadership" is saying "boil the frogs or you're gone", they're probably going to do it. Even if they don't want to.
sonzohan 2y ago
> It doesn’t cost anything to make sure employees feel valued, unless you’re doing things to hold back their careers But it does. Even something as simple as writing a thank you email has an opportunity cost. In that time a sales person could initiate a new call, or an engineer could write another paragraph on a design doc. It's why engineers having free coffee, or even BYO coffee, is such a bellweather. When the free coffee goes, the good times go with it. It costs the company nothing to let engineers BYO coffee, yet my friends and I have been with many a company that eventually set up a small coffee shop or a pay-per-cup coffee machine and go around confiscating employee-brought coffee machines. Historically they cite a "fire hazard" or some similar safety issue. > That low interest rates make people better managers? It's not entirely wrong. Higher interest rates reduce investment frequency and amount because it increases the risk and opportunity cost. When interest rates are low it's easier to justify to investors/board members that diverting some capital to employee value and satisfaction. When interest rates are high, things like the aforementioned thank you email becomes an inefficiency, reducing your attractiveness to investors. An extra 2% on a 10MM loan is 200k, and someone's gotta provide that additional revenue. Suddenly free coffee, unsupervised/unmonitored work (like remote), and thank you letters don't provide direct increased revenue while a sales call or design doc could.

endtime 2y ago

With low rates, there was a lot of hiring, and the supply demand curve for SWE jobs was in favor of employees. So companies had to compete more for employees, leading to perks like remote work. In an era of hiring freezes and layoffs (including stealth layoffs via RTO), not so much. Does that make line managers better or worse at being line managers? Probably not. But it may affect the experience of being managed if your manager is more or less stressed about fighting for headcount, figuring out who to lay off, fitting performance review ratings to a curve, etc.

cle 2y ago

Making sure employees feel valued does have a cost though. Managers spend a lot of time on this, and they have a high salary. Career growth, 1:1's, conflict resolution, comp adjustments, etc. When managers' own heads are also on the chopping block in a tough job market, they're going to prioritize looking out for their own ass. If "leadership" is saying "boil the frogs or you're gone", they're probably going to do it. Even if they don't want to.

sonzohan 2y ago

> It doesn’t cost anything to make sure employees feel valued, unless you’re doing things to hold back their careers But it does. Even something as simple as writing a thank you email has an opportunity cost. In that time a sales person could initiate a new call, or an engineer could write another paragraph on a design doc. It's why engineers having free coffee, or even BYO coffee, is such a bellweather. When the free coffee goes, the good times go with it. It costs the company nothing to let engineers BYO coffee, yet my friends and I have been with many a company that eventually set up a small coffee shop or a pay-per-cup coffee machine and go around confiscating employee-brought coffee machines. Historically they cite a "fire hazard" or some similar safety issue. > That low interest rates make people better managers? It's not entirely wrong. Higher interest rates reduce investment frequency and amount because it increases the risk and opportunity cost. When interest rates are low it's easier to justify to investors/board members that diverting some capital to employee value and satisfaction. When interest rates are high, things like the aforementioned thank you email becomes an inefficiency, reducing your attractiveness to investors. An extra 2% on a 10MM loan is 200k, and someone's gotta provide that additional revenue. Suddenly free coffee, unsupervised/unmonitored work (like remote), and thank you letters don't provide direct increased revenue while a sales call or design doc could.