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(OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?

by tachyon (Chancellor)
on Oct 03, 2003 at 03:16 UTC ( [id://296146]=perlmeditation: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

In an industry where much is written about employee turnover I am interested in hearing it from the horses mouth as it were. The cost of employee turnover is high. If you have a turnover rate of 6 months you really only get 3 months useful work from an employee. How do I calculate that? Well roughly:

  • First you spend about 2 weeks of a current employees time finding your candidate (Google budgets 80+ hours)
  • Next you spend 4 weeks+ of a productive employees time getting the new candidate up to speed
  • When an employee decides to leave they probably invest about 2 weeks of company time either looking for new jobs or dreaming about telling the boss :-)
  • Once they have put in notice they are unlikely to do much useful work (say 2-4 weeks)
  • Finally once an employee leaves you generally have some cleaning up to do (password changes, backdoor checks, code validation, etc, etc) - Say another 2 weeks

All up this comes to about 3 months of lost work out of a 6 month employment term. You can argue about the figures but there is no little doubt the there is a considerable fixed overhead in turning over staff. The longer they stay the more this can be amortized by their useful work.

Say you roughly agree with those figures and you are paying 100K per year. For your 100K you get 2 employees and 6 months productive effort, giving a real cost of production of 200K per working year.

Say the costs remain the same but the employee stays for a year. Now you have 1 employee and 9 months productive effort giving a real cost of production of 133K per working year. This is a rather significant saving.

So now the questions. What personally makes you stay where you are employed, and what makes you go? What should a potential employer do better to encourage you to stay?

cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print

</div

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Oct 03, 2003 at 07:24 UTC
    I worked 6-month contracts for nearly 16 years. With one exception, I always stayed for more than 2 years, with the longest being close to 8. What made me stay...
    • Not the money. It was adequate, but I could have earned more (and sometimes now wish I had) by changing more frequently.
    • Not the benefits package. The salary was it. Above that, I was lucky if I was allowed to use the company bar or parking facilities.
    • Not the people. There were exceptions, but mostly --regardless of whether i was employed as an independent contractor, external consultant or latterly, on a "No hours, semi-permanent" basis, the 'permies' treated 'contractors' as 'fly-by-nght' cowboys, even when I had been in-situ longer than anyone else on the project!
    • Not the company car, health plan or pension. If I didn't save it, I ain't entitled to it.

    In two words -- Job satisfaction. Of course, that covers a lot of things.

    1. Doing something that I enjoy, perceive as valuable, and am given enough responsibility to sate my desire to be 'in control', and the authority commensurate with that.

    2. Recognition. And I don't mean employee of the month schemes, or little plaques or paper weights. Nor even more money, though that's nice. too. A simple, "Good work" or "Thanks for your diligence" is way more important to me personally than anything else.

      If you perceive no difference between doing an OK job and putting in the extra effort to do a good one, you'll slip unconsciously into doing 'just enough', or worse.

      Given (genuine) acknowledgement for a job well done elicits extra effort next time. Most people have an innate preference for the carrot than the stick. (When their on the receiving end anyway:)

    3. Having ones opinion considered, and at least be given an explanation -- even if it's only "I short-listed A and B, little to choose between them, but a decision had to be made, so I decided upon B" -- for why one's professional opinion is overridden.

      Management doesn't owe subordinates an explanation, especially to 'externals', but in my small bouts of "managerial responsibility" -- I resisted anything more. I like coding -- I found that 5 minutes spent explaining my decisions went an awful long way to keeping people on-side and interested.

    4. A broad scope of work with the ability to work in areas outside of my 'CV skill set'. I was very lucky, or perhaps chose wisely, in this regard. The one time I served minimum time was when I was recruited on the basis of my C-skills as one of a mass recruitment and when things shook out, found myself doing maintenance work on a COBOL code base!? It was an interesting diversion for a while, and I actually learned quite a lot, but minimum term was enough thank you:)

    5. A lack of Corporate bull***t. 90% of meetings, especially 'cascades', 'scheduled team meetings' and 'team building exercises' are (IMnsHO) a complete and utter waste of (my) time.

      20+ people sitting around in a meeting room for an hour listening to stuff being read out that they could more easily comprehend in 10 minutes of reading an e-mail, memo or even something stuck on a notice board is pointless. Even when you move into the feedback phase, 19+ people listening to (the!) one person who feels the need to question at length is pointless.

      Pre-existing material should be distributed and digested before meetings commence. Reading the minutes of the previous meeting (only really necessary where legal action could result!) can more effectively be done off-meeting time if at all. Meetings are for interaction and cross-fertilisation. The meeting ends when no new ideas are forthcoming. An uninvolved person (secretary, project controller) attends and takes notes. These are typed up and distributed for sign-off. Management make their decisions off-meeting. Meetings are held when interaction is necessary, not because the room is booked!

      External status precluded or excused me from too much of the bad sort of meeting... thankfully.

    In summary, I stayed because I was doing something I enjoy, that I felt was valuable, that I had some measure of influence over, and that didn't involve too much crap. Beyond the inescapable needs of keeping the bailiff from the door, food on the table etc, you spend about a quarter of your life on average working.

    Making sure that you are interested in and get a sense of satisfaction from that time is far more important that financial reward -- once the basicas are taken care of.

    I chose my jobs as, if nor more carefully, than they chose me.


    Examine what is said, not who speaks.
    "Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
    "When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." -Richard Buckminster Fuller
    If I understand your problem, I can solve it! Of course, the same can be said for you.

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by defyance (Curate) on Oct 03, 2003 at 03:38 UTC
    Benefits++

    I work for a company that offers an incredible benefits package at a very competitive rate. This and high moral is what has kept me with my employer for the last 4 years 4 months, and 14 days (who's counting?). There are many other factors to it, but those are the two that stick out most (I should not have to mention salary).

    Seriously though. I feel that if a company is going to invest that much into making sure I'm healthy and happy, then I should make sure they know that it is worthwhile investment. Hence the tenure.

    --
    A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.

      benefits--

      I care not that my employer provides health insurance or any of that crap. It's my experience that the national health service provides good service and i don't need private insurance. I'd far rather that instead of giving money to insurers and insurance suits, they gave the money to me as part of my salary.

      What keeps me at a particular employer is a combination of interesting work, clueful management, and good salary. The last two jobs I left I left because of malicious mismanagement in one case, and a combination of overbearing management and low salary in the other.

        Do you live outside the US? Because there really isn't a national health service here. Your options are either a good benifits package, bleed money to pay for a private policy, or pray that you don't get sick (I'm taking that last option ATM :(

        ----
        I wanted to explore how Perl's closures can be manipulated, and ended up creating an object system by accident.
        -- Schemer

        Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Oct 03, 2003 at 06:06 UTC
    ...and what makes you go?

    When I'm ordered to shut up and do something really dumb, over my best recommendations. That's a sure sign that management has lost its grip and is following its worst instincts. The most recent example was insistance on having an open mail relay as part of a web site.

    After Compline,
    Zaxo

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by dws (Chancellor) on Oct 03, 2003 at 05:52 UTC
    What should a potential employer do better to encourage you to stay?

    Keep the company intact and afloat?

    I was thinking about this the other day while cleaning up my resume. Most of the places I've worked don't exist anymore. The reasons why are all over the map (change in business climate, falling out with investors, executives that can't get along, right product at the wrong time, etc.). A few of the companies I might still be with had they not cratered. The people were good, the projects were good. I was getting to do good work, and I was learning stuff. Alas.

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by thraxil (Prior) on Oct 03, 2003 at 04:59 UTC

    i work in academia, so it's definitely not the money that's kept me in my job (over 2 years fulltime and a year and a half part-time before that).

    for me it's several things. my coworkers are all smart, nice people that i enjoy working with. i respect our management for what they do and i feel like they respect me for what i do. my job involves constant new projects and challenges that necessitate learning new skills and keep things from getting too repetitive. not working for a for-profit company, i can feel warm and fuzzy knowing that the end goal of all my hard work isn't just to make some rich person even richer.

    a big part of it though, is that i feel needed. i can see how i fit into the organization and how it would be damaged if i left. i've invested enough of my time and energy that i'd rather not see that happen. i've been with them since almost the beginning and i've been allowed to contribute to our direction in non-trivial ways, so i feel like our success or failure reflects directly on me.

    salary and benefits are nice, but not everything. once they're at a base level where i can pay all my bills and not really have to worry about money, they get less important. coworkers, a pleasant environment, a lack of drudgery, and a feeling of having a stake in the organization's success are what matter to me.

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by Anonymous Monk on Oct 03, 2003 at 04:46 UTC
    I stay because of contracts.
    I go because of contracts.

    People want stability -ie- longish contracts (longer than 3-6 months -or- at least a year).0 It really depends on what you're doing job-wise, but I just want stability.

    If a job takes only 6months, that's fine, but I'd rather take a 1 year contract over a 6 month contract anyday.

    In IT people are too often contracted for short-terms for full time permanent positions, and I just can't figure that logic out. What's the point in rotating employees every 3-6 months for a permanent position?

    The problem as i see it in this situation is that the short-term-contractor is lining up his next job halfway through his <6mo contract, so if the genius who hired him offers to extend the contract another 6mo (or whatever), the contractor has to decline because he already lined up his next contract.

    That's just been my experience.

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by Marza (Vicar) on Oct 03, 2003 at 04:51 UTC

    For me it is an awsome boss. I have worked for him twice. He keeps you current with knowledge always hands out great projects. Mentors people that need it and leaves you alone if you know what you are doing.

    Benefits are good but challenging meaningful work is a must for me.

    Travel never hurts as well. But my job description requires it!

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Oct 03, 2003 at 14:50 UTC

        What personally makes you stay where you are employed, and what makes you go? What should a potential employer do better to encourage you to stay?

    In the 22 years that I have been employed in one fashion or another in the IT field I have seen a lot of changes. The most disturbing change that I have seen over the last 20 years is the gradual erosion of any sense of loyalty between employers and employees. In my not-so-humble opinion this is a two way street.

    I realize that it can very well be argued that the erosion I talk about actually started much earlier than I am citing but my exeriences are limited to the time window that I can see through and that being from the time I left the US Military and entered the civilian job market in 1981 until today in 2003.

    With what I just said in mind my favorite job ever was with a company in the telecom industry where ownership of your "product", the company itself and both our internal and external customers was part of the corporate culture and there was a sense of loyalty to the company by the employees as well as a sense of loyalty to the employees from management.

    However: that all came to a crashing stop when the company was sold to (a major telecom company that will go unamed for obvious reasons) and the corporate culture of mediocrity pervasive in that company started to set in.

    So: to answer the questions. The things that will keep me around are in no real order:

    1. A corporate culture that fosters inovation and ownership in your work.
    2. A corporate culture that knows the value both positive (in the case of good performers) and negative (in the case of the co-worker that drags the rest of the organization down) and is not afraid to reward appropriately.
    3. Interesting work that isn't the same-old-same-old
    4. A company that has the right idea about balance between worklife and homelife. (my current employer gives you 2 weeks of vacation time and expects you to use them)
    5. A company that is interested in developing my skills and sees the benefit we both get for doing so.
    6. A company that can deal with my eccentric nature without getting their panties in a bunch
    7. An employer that actually listens to its employees when they make suggestions and actually on occasion acts on those suggestions.
    Notice that I never once mentioned pay or bonuses. I've worked places that threw bonuses at you every time you turned around (and usually that meant you were working 60 hours a week) and other compnaies that thought the word "bonus" had an "e" in the middle if you get my drift.

    Under the heading of you won't see this anymore, one company I worked for right out of the military had an annual picnic that was held at a campground that the company owned. There were cottages to rent at the campground so you could make a weekend (and it was encouraged) out of the company picnic. If you went to the picnic you realized that the picnic was actually geared towards the enjoyment of the employee's children as much as the employee themselves. (clowns, pony rides, games, that sort of thing) I thought that was a wonderful strategy to make the spouses (or is the plural of spouse "spice?") feel some form of "reward" for not seeing the employee while they worked long hours.

    Anyway... I say all that to say this. Keeping me happy on the job is more about the intangibles that it is about the tangible. Pay, bonuses and benefits are icing on the cake, but the real cake is more about being happy in what you are doing and feeling that what you are doing matters and makes a difference in my not so humble opinion.


    Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
    Peter at Berghold dot Net
       Dog trainer, dog agility exhibitor, brewer of fine Belgian style ales. Happiness is a warm, tired, contented dog curled up at your side and a good Belgian ale in your chalice.
Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by johndageek (Hermit) on Oct 03, 2003 at 20:02 UTC
    staygo
    adequate payinadequate pay
    work/home balancework/home imbalance
    ChallangingBoring
    Valuable workUseless work
    Management truthfulManagement lies
    CommunicationMeetings meetings meetings
    Recognition for good and badRecognition bad only
    Authority >= Responsibilityauthority < responsibility
    Spend money to make moneysave money to make money
    Listen to employeesListen to consultants

    Let's tackle these one by one. Obviously one fault with the rest glowing I may not leave, but a couple on the leave side will make me keep my options open. And,remember, each individual will be looking for different answers to each question.

    Pay must meet my needs, and be competitive. Why should I have to fight you to be paid what is fair - if my market value has skyrocketed - keep me in the right range (no, top dollar is not required, but screwing an employee to the wall does not help your credibility). I will not fight to keep my salary in range, I will move.

    Some long hours are acceptable, but there must be time to have a life outside of work.

    Challanging work will allow me to be creative and technical, as well as stretch my abilities, without so much change that I am lost.

    Valuable work is something that will be used to benefit those who will use it. (working on someone's pet project that has no or very limited value is non valuable work)

    Management truthful: e.g. Do not ask a question if you have already made up your mind ( and do not be stupid enough to provide hard evidence of such an action).

    Information can be shared without tying up an entire roomful of individuals. A meeting should be called to validate consensus, not to attempt to reach it.

    Recognition: give both credit and blame, if you claim the credit and pass on the blame - expect turn over.

    Holding someone accountable to accomplishing a task without providing the authority to do it results in stress and turn over. If you assign a project that requires help from other groups in the company - YOU not the assignee, are responsible for getting the clearances from other managers to use those employees.

    Once again, Obviously you need to keep an eye on expenses and waste, but if your plan to increase profit by 10 percent is solely based upon cutting costs you are in trouble, the other side of the coin is true as well, spending money foolishly will not save your company either.

    Does your company have problems? Sure it does, all companies have problems. The challange here is to get people to tell the truth rather than telling you what you want to hear. This can be accomplished by listening to something negative about your company, without being defensive or putting on "the angry face", then after the meeting, try to seperate the fact or facts that were really getting to the person from the anger and upset that drove the person to risk speaking honestly with you. If you can come back and ask for clarification of the problem points (do not ask for justification for the comments or digs made in anger), gain more understanding and ask for suggestions for improvement. You may even try to make a decision without consulting your "pet employees" (bad name but you get the drift). Guess what, the door has been opened - it doesn't take much to slam the door shut since people fear their bosses (no not quaking in their boots, but don't try to kid anyone about how "We are all equal here" - if you believe that, show me the job review that employee gave you and tell me how the discussion concerning your salary went with that person).

    dageek

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by Jaap (Curate) on Oct 03, 2003 at 09:56 UTC
    I assume all of you live in the USA because in Europe, or the Netherlands specifically, if you have a normal contract, you average years of employment for the same boss.

    Here employers have the problem of how to get rid of the people they don't wan anymore. If you have a normal contract, the company cannot fire you unless:
    • It's almost going bankrupt
    • You did something terrible like stealing laptops
      On the other hand, companies in the Netherlands can do things to their employees that are totally unheard of in the USA. I'm currently working for my fifth employer since 1996; I was twice employed by a US company, and now I have my third Dutch employer. Only once I left because I wanted, the other three times all had to do with lay offs due to economic reasons.

      Twice I worked for a company that ran out of money, and wasn't able to pay its employees anymore. First it happened while I did a programming job in NYC. I had only worked there for 10 weeks (after waiting 7 months without work or pay before the INS was ready to process my papers and give me a working visa). They ran out of money, and had to let most of the programmers go. They give me the option to work with virtually no pay, and if they would get investors within two months, they would backpay me. I declined and left, but I got paid for all days I worked - we parted without hard feelings.

      But not so in the Netherlands! After returning from the USA, I got a job as a sysadmin. After working there for almost six months, there was suddenly an all-employee meeting on the last day of the month (a Friday), where they announced that on the next Monday we would either be bought by another company, or declare bankruptcy. And BTW, the salaries of the previous month weren't paid, and there was no money to pay us. However, we were supposed to come in on Monday and work. [1] On Monday the announcement was delayed till Tuesday, and on Tuesday it was announced we were being bought by another company. If, when and how the salaries of the previous month were going to be paid wasn't made clear - every few hours there was a different story. Two co-workers and I got ourselves some legal advice; we thought that in the Netherlands, employees are protected. Not so. Apparently, the law in the Netherlands is that if a company claims not to have money to pay salaries, then they don't have to pay. And if you as an employee decide to not work, than that's a refusal to work, and they can even sue you for damages. Your only legal option is to file for bankruptcy - if the company goes bankrupt, you are garanteed to get your money, eventually.

      The story ended the next day. After a meeting with the vice-president, who managed to convince most of the people with yet another story on how the salaries were going to be paid and acting very emotionally (she left at one moment, supposedly because she was crying), I called the head of the HR department, and told him I wanted to speak to him right away. I told him I had enough of it, that I no longer wanted to work there, and that I wanted to part with good terms, including a writing I would get my salary of the previous month, or otherwise I would go find myself a lawyer that afternoon and file for bankruptcy (despite the vice-president saying that if we'd go bankrupt, we'd all be out of a job - that impressed most of the people without much experience or education, but for me it was "been there, done that, didn't get the T-shirt, but have resume"). 45 minutes later, I left the building, only coming back once, to return the laptop, phone and car.

      What I'm trying to say is that there's a lot more to be said about employee's rights than "US bad, Europe good". I rather lose my job US-style than Europe-style.

      [1]Not that I worked that Monday. I was present in the office, but I was on IRC, reading Usenet, playing my MUD, etc. It highly annoyed some of my co-workers who asked me to do things. Not untill I get my salary I replied. "But I promised the customer". Did you already explain them our situation? Which of course they didn't want to do, and that was usually the end of the discussion.

      Abigail

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by Anonymous Monk on Oct 03, 2003 at 12:29 UTC

    I changed jobs not so long ago. I decided to do so for three reasons:

    1. the work would result in job loss for others,
    2. the job was about to get less challenging,
    3. the opportunity to return to a true research environment.
    A few comments on this are perhaps useful.

    The productt of the company I used to work for is a very specialized decision support system. Deploying it at a client in the US would have resulted in a substantial efficiency improvement that translates into a loss of jobs. The people affected by this are not too likely to find other employment easily in the current economic climate.

    The project that the company was about to embark on, as well as the existing project tended to rely more and more on existing technology. A challenge I appreciate is developing new approaches, so I was likely to get less job satisfaction.

    I got a job offer at a university to do researrch, well, need I say more ;-)

    Note that I've had a nice time working for my former employer.

    I'm posting this anonymously to protect the identity of my former employer who is aware of my motives, but still ;-)

    Just my 2 anonymous cents...

      the work would result in job loss for others

      Sad but true much of the time. Ineternet Banking, B2B, Amazon, ebay et al. Sure it is more efficient but where is the personal contact.....

      One of the sad things I see is the loss of community. Years ago you would meet your banker, butcher, baker face to face, at least once a week....Now you can do it all in the supermarket and get to meet a pimply 16 year old on the minimum wage. The older I get the less appealing that is ;-)

      A connected society is fine but what happens to the ordinary Joe? I wrote a poem about it once upon a when. Not in Perl but you get that....

      A Big Load of Paradigm Shift Am I a Luddite, well Yes and No In modern times, it seems as though The progress made, across the years Evaporates and disappears Rationalists see, people like me Of little use, and that may be But let me ask, if you don’t mind What use the world, if it’s not kind By kind I don’t mean charity Just chance to work, and chance to be A place for all, but no free ride Too much to ask? Well you decide When dollars count, for more than men It’s time I think, to think again We’re starting down a slippery slope Towards a world devoid of hope Where those that can, just take it all Whilst by the wayside, others fall Society, split into two Been there before, it’s nothing new Information and technology Are not all they’re, cracked up to be Paradigm shift, well yes indeed But shifting where, and at what speed It seems that now, computers can Well do the work, once done by man Yet man is lost, without a job Does this enrich, or does it rob? So now I think, that we should ask Need computers, do this task? For without job, what is my role? It’s useful work, that makes me whole Doc

      cheers

      tachyon

      s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print

        A connected society is fine but what happens to the ordinary Joe?

        He's learned new skills and moved on to a more challenging job. You don't need someone with 20 years work experience to run items across a scanner. The fact you find this economical inefficiency "appealing" worries me. Perhaps it's time to look at the reasons these changes occur?

        Oh, and read this.

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by nimdokk (Vicar) on Oct 03, 2003 at 10:15 UTC
    For me it would definitly be benefits and other opportunities to better myself. Although good pay helps, it isn't always everything. Working in a healthy atmosphere is a big plus as well. One where people respect each other, especially when its your boss. Being respected by your boss for what you do and likewise respecting him/her is a big help too. It goes a long way to improving employee moral and job satisfaction.


    "Ex libris un peut de tout"
Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by perlsage (Scribe) on Oct 03, 2003 at 10:41 UTC

    The reason I stay is because of the fact I can change to different jobs within the same company, for example I changed from IT job to R&D work just earlier this year I would say that for me it is important that there is always something new to do and learn. :)


    perlsage
Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by neilwatson (Priest) on Oct 03, 2003 at 20:04 UTC
    I think for most of us it boils down to being happy. If you don't look forward to your job at least some of the time, then it's time for a change.

    Neil Watson
    watson-wilson.ca

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by punchcard_don (Beadle) on Oct 06, 2003 at 12:26 UTC
    My father's generation worked 55 hour weeks at the office all their lives. I'm thankful for the life that bought our family, but wonder if there's not a better way to be productive.

    A few years ago I left corporate office life behind. Now I only work by telecommuting.

    In the peace, comfort, and personalized environment of my home office, I'm finding that I can be twice as productive as at an office. I can immerse myself in a project for hours and hours at a time without interruption.

    Work can also follow the ebb and flow of my productivity. When the brain's not in gear, I pick up my tool box and work on house renovations. An hour later the pleasure of seeing a physical accomplishment provides the motivational seed to go back to the programming.

    So, not only do I have a sense of productivity, being hassle-free, and working in my own environment, I see my work arrangement giving me the means to achieve my other life goals through flexibility, proximity, availability, and income. And that's very motiviating. I love my job for this, and now want to reward my employer.

    This works for the employer also. I need no expensive office space, no caffé-latté machine or even coffee room. I provide all my own equipment. So I cost less. And, because this arrangement gives me so many other personal benefits, I'm willing to accept lesser pay than an in-office stiff, in order to enjoy it. Today companies that will work with a 100% telecommuter are not plentiful, so I'm going to take good care of my employers. If they show me some loyalty, I will return it. And finally, as an independent with business experience, I have the freedom to offer employers myriad financial arrangements from hourly rates, to results-based revenue, to firm job quotes.

    The telecommuter can also work for several employers at a time if no one employer has enough work for full-time. This lets employers that don't really need a full-time guy on a particular project have their cake and eat it too. For a loyal employer, I will work 60-hour weeks for a while if necessary to juggle their workload schedule.

Re: Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Oct 06, 2003 at 11:32 UTC
    The number one reason I will leave a company (I once left a company because of that, see elsewhere in this thread) is when I no longer trust management.

    It has also be the main reason I've declined job offers. I've declined offers because I had to take a too big cut in pay, but most of the time it was because I didn't feel confident about what or how the company was presented to me. I remember that once I had an interview with a big telco, and all the manager was talking about was all the money we were going to make with the new products and services. After the interview, while still on the parking lot, I called my recruiter, and she already had gotten an offer. It was about 25% more than the job I took later that week, but I wasn't interested at all, as I didn't get the impression the manager was there to help me in my job, or that he was interested in my job satisfaction. Now, I wouldn't say there wasn't a chance at all I was going to work there (if they offered me say, 5 or 10 times as much, I'd be willing to give it a try), but trust in management goes a long, long way with me.

    Abigail

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by cLive ;-) (Prior) on Oct 06, 2003 at 23:34 UTC
    flexibility:

    You want to telecommute?

    Want to start at 3pm? 7am? Work through the night?

    Baby sick? Need to stay home for the day?

    And with this flexibility, you make damn sure you do the work and don't abuse the trust :)

    To sum up. 1.6 miles from home with flexible hours and telecommute if you want it.

    cLive ;-)

Re: (OT) Employee Retention - Why do you stay, why do you go?
by zakzebrowski (Curate) on Oct 06, 2003 at 11:49 UTC
    A couple of reasons...
    • Like what I do for a living
    • Aggreeing with the corporate mission / vision...
    • Working with others that realize there is more to a job than just money.
    • Company stability (since 1950's).


    ----
    Zak
    undef$/;$mmm="J\nutsu\nutss\nuts\nutst\nuts A\nutsn\nutso\nutst\nutsh\ +nutse\nutsr\nuts P\nutse\nutsr\nutsl\nuts H\nutsa\nutsc\nutsk\nutse\n +utsr\nuts";open($DOH,"<",\$mmm);$_=$forbbiden=<$DOH>;s/\nuts//g;print +;

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