[randmeerkat]

> Rising the pay has diminishing returns. You can't prevent workers leaving because of lost of interests, be sick or die by throwing more money at them.

People would absolutely be more engaged and more excited about their work if they were paid more. The only reason people work is literally for money…

[disillusioned]

>The only reason people work is literally for money…

Well, yes, but also that's super reductive.

The primary reason people work is literally for money. The specific _place_ people work is for things that interest them, engage them, challenge them, provide a path for continued growth in their career, or contribute to a common good they believe in.

And I would argue that it's not necessarily a given that people will be "more engaged and more excited about their work if they were paid more," but instead, may be willing to stick around in an unengaging, unexciting environment _longer_ when they're paid more.

[lcuff]

That might be true for you, but way back when, I took a course in programming and thought it was the most fun I'd ever had. Couldn't believe that people wanted to pay me to do it. Spent the next 40 years making a great living. The only jobs I disliked was the ones where there were "glass bowl" bosses and co-workers. Problem solving was always fun. Not saying I didn't enjoy being paid well, but it wasn't the major consideration in whether I wanted to stay in any particular work environment. Here we're talking about the potential for huge schedule and technical pressure and low morale. A whole lot more money wouldn't keep me in those circumstances.

[donkeyd]

> The only reason people work is literally for money

Theories like Hertzberg exist for a reason and show that money isn't even close to the most important thing for people to work for. If the money is good enough, there are many other factors that are way more important. Not enough money is a reason for people to leave, getting more money is hardly ever a reason to work harder. The possibility of getting more money if they work harder is a good motivator though, once they have it that stops.

[badpun]

I've found that to be absolutely not the case, at least for me. If the job is super disorganized, boring, stresful for stupid reasons or just plain not interesting for me, no amount of money will make me engaged or excited. I've been in such jobs which paid a lot of money (for me) and the result was golden handcuffs - I didn't want to lose the money, so I was basically pretending to be way more engaged than I really was. I suspect majority of FAANG employees are like that - the money's just way too good to not put up a charade and keep milking the cow.

[lukaslalinsky]

This really only works in situations where people are typically underpaid and need to get up to some living standard.

In most software engineering jobs, people have enough money to live an enjoyable life. At that point, having more money is not really such a strong motivator.