[camhart]

I wish employers would better encourage and reward those who put enormous effort into their job. Far too often you just get dragged along with a promise of a promotion down the road. Then its a 5% increase. Meanwhile the sub-par performers collecting the average salary are getting better compensated for their time.

This is one reason why entrepreneurship can be appealing. Not only is there potential reward for hard work, but you are the captain of the ship too. Its not for everyone, but I think its for far more people than who currently try. The world would benefit from more entrepreneurs providing real value through their efforts.

[steveBK123]

Agreed re: entrepreneurship.

There is a problem with modern employment if you do not have an upside tether like pnl, profit share, equity, commissions, etc.

That is because all jobs have implicit downside tethers. If things go wrong for the company you can be fired, and if you get a cash bonus then they can also reduce your compensation by slashing bonuses after you do the work.

I've had jobs like this where you get worked dumped on you left & right. Literally doing multiple jobs as others leave, with managers unable to articulate priorities or what can be dropped because everything is important. Meanwhile knowing max raise is gonna be 5% with a random chance your total comp is flat or even down if the company has a bad year. The promotion path is slow and you are 2-3 years out from the next level.

It leaves the employee with a feeling of powerlessness and lack of control. Highly demotivating.

[pavel_lishin]

> I wish employers would better encourage and reward those who put enormous effort into their job.

I wonder if the reason they don't, is because the folks higher up are also dragging their heels & putting in 40% for the paycheck.

[imbnwa]

Strange how little I hear this asked after

[q7xvh97o2pDhNrh]

I think there's a caveat with the current market.

Many Big Tech companies are in a phase of pre/post-layoff hunger games. Meanwhile, more and more AI startups are appearing, with lucrative-looking equity packages.

In both cases, a pragmatist could reasonably conclude that "working hard to keep the high-paying day job" is a better strategy than "going into the jungle and start a startup."

[rjzzleep]

In a lot of jobs doing too much will put you on a quick path to getting fired or sidelined for being annoying.