Re: Staff retention: how to keep 'em down on the farm?

[puff -at- guild -dot- net]

I wrote this last year.


The CEO of a small high-tech company asked me "How do you keep
technically skilled people?"

Is it money?
Is it stock options?
Is it casual dress codes?
Is it offices instead of cubes?
Is it free soda and munchies?
Is it a "living-room" work environment?

And my answer was always "well yes, that helps, but it's not enough by
itself, and I know plenty of cases where people were loyal and
motivated in spite of those factors being negative."

And I thought about it, and it comes down to respect.

A friend suggested "how about `mutual obligation'?  Mutuality?"

But I think mutual obligation flows from mutual respect.

All of those things - suits, cubes, bureaucracy, low pay, etc, tell
the techie that the boss doesn't respect them.

A good boss respects his subordinates, and realizes that they are
responsible for his success.  A bad boss looks at the good boss, sees
all of those symptoms of respect, and parrots them, hoping to succeed
as well.  And of course the bad boss fails for inexplicable reasons.

Steven J. Owens
puff -at- guild -dot- net