[BeetleB]

> Corporate attempts to be meritocratic. They have every incentive to be. Executives want to hire the more effective people to perform tasks so they can maximize profits.

Not where I work. They hire people who they think will make them look good, and it's not always by hiring the most productive. They'll deny promotions to their most effective workers out of fear they will leave. They block transfers.

Companies make a show of being meritocratic, but most of their rewards system fall apart under the smallest scrutiny. On average, those who self promote are more likely to get rewarded than those who do the better work. Some companies even formalize this by insisting the managers are not supposed to know who is better, and you have to convince them by writing your semi-annual review yourself.

Lots of managers who want "yes-men" who'll reward those who say "yes" and fail and punish those who correctly say "no".

[esyir]

I don't get this "promotion = leaving". I'm pretty sure there's a very sizable chunk of people leaving because they're stuck.

[BeetleB]

Not everyone is in SW where finding a job at another company is easy.

My company used to pay at the top of the market for certain fields. Leaving the company would mean a pay cut.