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by ashtonkem 1789 days ago
The former happens, I’m not convinced that it’s a common occurrence. Changing jobs is genuinely stressful, I don’t think people do it lightly. The latter is usually something the company could fix, but won’t.

Even still, it’s obvious that comp alone isn’t enough to retain employees. Even FAANG companies, which pay extremely well, have pretty low retention numbers. Facebook does best here, at an average job length of only 2.02 years. If comp was enough, people would stay there longer. This implies that people are changing jobs for reasons aside from “this other company will pay more”.
1 comments
6gvONxR4sf7o 1789 days ago
It’s not just about absolute comp. If google will pay you more, then maybe you leave facebook. That’s not because google pays more than facebook, just that it’s easier to get a “promotion” by taking a hire role elsewhere than it is to get an actual promotion. It doesn’t mean you don’t pay market wages, but it does mean you don’t pay that person their market wage.
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ashtonkem 1789 days ago
That’s exactly something companies have under their control. If people are leaving because it is seen as the sure route to a promotion, then perhaps providing clear advancement opportunities internal would reduce this phenomenon and help keep your high performing talent.
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jcims 1789 days ago
The present employer and prospective employer have a different perspective on the individual. It's entirely possible, and indeed somewhat common, that individuals are hired to levels to new employers beyond what they would be able to justify promotion at their existing employer. The only way to eliminate this is prolonged and comprehensive interview process, which is what TFA is railing against.
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ashtonkem 1789 days ago
I disagree that this is the only way to eliminate this problem. Companies could loosen promotion criteria to be more in line with what external candidates bring. Ultimately the cost of lost knowledge and backfilling is quite high, and could easily justify faster promotion cycles on a monetary basis alone.

Even if some of them genuinely get promoted before they’re ready and wash out, you’re not really that much worse off than if you’d lost them before. Besides, there’s always the risk that your new hire is unprepared too, which is a much harder thing to quantify.

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