[eastbound]

> But keeping skilled people is something that modern management philosophy (in tech, at least) doesn't seem to care about.

I’m a founder for 10 people and this is the first thing we think about. Except for low performers; except that youngsters need a variety of experience to be proficient at life; except that the team is not performing well(1). 25% or 30% increases for half the workforce are frequent.

(1) The biggest remark from management coaches is that giving raises lowers employee performance, which I can fully witness in my company. It’s not even good for morale. I’m just happy that people exit the company fitter and with a girlfriend, even a kid and sometimes a permanent residency, but business-wise I’ve been as good as a bad leader.

I’m reaching the sad conclusion that employees bring it upon themselves.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Paying more is not the answer (but it is also not not the answer -we need to pay well). Improving the workplace environment, into a place people want to stay, is important.

My friend could double his salary, moving almost anywhere else, but he gets a lot of perks at his work, and is treated extremely well by his managers.

They just gave him a rave review, and that did more to boost his willingness to stay, than a 10% raise. He will still negotiate a better salary, but is more likely to be satisfied with less than he might have, if they tried to treat him badly.

Treating employees with Respect can actually improve the bottom line. They may well be willing to remain in difficult situations, if they feel they are personally valued.

I know this from personal experience. When they rolled up my team, after almost 27 years, the employee with the least tenure had a decade. These were top-shelf C++ image processing engineers, that could have gotten much higher salaries, elsewhere.

[trinsic2]

Yeah I agree with this. It really depends on the culture of the business. If the employee feels valued, giving raises increases feeling valued.

The problem is our current form of corporate culture. Employees don't feel like they matter, there efforts are a cog in a wheel. If you get a raise in this type culture, it only matters to the bottom line and there is no incentive produce because the employee is already unhappy in the first place.

Change your business culture and these problems will disappear, IMHO.

[scarface_74]

How is paying people less than market value good for morale?

[nouripenny]

Is there any alternative to raises that don't lower employee performance, like some kind of bonus scheme? Or do you find some unfortunate relation between money vs motivation?

[scarface_74]

Truly unlimited PTO where you judge employees by their performance. I just spoke to my manager at the job I started late last year and he said it is customary for people to take 5-6 weeks kid a year.

We also have a 401K match with an immediate vest.

[FridgeSeal]

I could finally get all the skiing in that I wanted to with time off like that!

[tonyedgecombe]

I remember reading some research that showed that bonus payments have no or even negative effects on performance for intellectual work.