4 ms·

I have never understood why managers need to be paid higher than the people they manage.. That is the single reason for many orgs screwing up their system as t

• neverartful 11y ago
  It does not force techies into management unless it's an 'up-or-out' kind of organization. It provides a financial incentive (and often a status symbol).
  • marcus_holmes 11y ago
    the manager's salary becomes a ceiling for the staff they manage, if managers are always paid more than the staff they manage (and I've heard some managers seriously suggest that they would not be able to manage people who got paid more than them). It becomes a problem when tech salaries are on the rise, because at some point the company either has to start paying coders more than managers, or has to implement pay rises throughout the management hierarchy in order to retain good technical staff. At this point its really tempting to promote good coders into management to keep them.
    • curun1r 11y ago
      > I've heard some managers seriously suggest that they would not be able to manage people who got paid more than them This is just greed/pride. As a manager, the only person who knows that an engineer makes more than you is you. And it's pretty common these days for companies to have an engineering track that has a VP-equivalent top position, so it's pretty common that the most senior engineers will make more than most of the managers at the company.
• tomjen3 11y ago
  Because once they were the most skilled people and now the market is paying higher wages so either you do too or you don't get to hire managers who can work anywhere else.