[wildgift]

Another word for empowerment is "autonomy" or "slack". If the regular job is easy, let the employee do other things during the slack time, whether it's helping the company or not. If it helps - that's great, and the person should be paid.

Overqualified people are cool if you don't have to manage them - the lack of oversight saves everyone time and money.

Likewise, being overqualified is cool. The work is easy and steady. Probably even more importantly, people who are overqualified for some jobs take the jobs because they're "fun" jobs. My job is basically "fun" except for some of the coworkers (most are very awesome, but you never get 100%). I undertake odd side projects. The pay isn't great, but the benefits are decent, and the hours are pretty good.

I'm looking to make a lateral move that's probably to a differently "fun" job, but one with less autonomy and slack time, and more pay.