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Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

sloanreview.mit.edu

181–190 of 385 posts

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so, my pay should increase within 10 years of being employed more than six-fold (1.2^10). makes sense!

Seems reasonable enough for a fresh grad. For example 50k->300k. I doubt every engineer could prove to be so valuable in the end spectrum but might work for some companies. Of course if the company fired people the model would lose it's appeal, since you are leaving money on the table on the early spectrum but have no security to reach the end. Would you leave a company where you got a guaranteed 30% raise every year…

it's amazing to see the silicon valley effect on people's' thoughts of programmers salaries... $300,000 at age 30?

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#182
I agree a toxic culture is probably driving the great resignation. I don't believe it is lack of money. I do believe and have experienced toxic work relationships and environments. I've had a career as a software engineer -15+ years-, and then shifted to security. Developers reflect their environment and are largely toxic individuals or the object of toxic teams. There is a love/hate relationship with Execs and Tech pros, and the salaries they demand. Execs are looking to cut costs, Tech is looking for career advancement and longevity. Developers are caught between these two rocks. Then the fear of outsourcing for a lower cost workforce. It sucks. The best advice I can give is to enjoy your work and don't get hung up on a $$ track as your measure of success. The $$ will work out in the end, you need to find relationships of like minded folks and support each others careers, boost each others ratings. Provide excellent customer service - the customers being those business owners of your development projects. Look for at least a cost of living increase, ask what needs to happen to get a raise. It's harder than you think. You have to not just produce cheerfully, but provide breakthrough solutions. It's always been a fact in the US that you have to perform the advanced role for at least a year before your title and compensation reflects it.

Cheers and good fortune~

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#183
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of living is just so crazy high here though, $2.5m for a starter home in SV. More in some parts. You’d need a household income of 500k/yr to even qualify for that mortgage.

A quick browse of real estate websites seems to show lots of nice places in SV for well under that amount.

[deleted]

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#184
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was able to negotiate a 45k pay raise at my current company. After clearly proving my value for about 2 years. I made it obvious that I would accept a role at my friends company if they couldn’t come up. I explained to them nicely that I would rather stay, but I can’t without a large raise. It can be done, but it would have never happened without me pushing them. No company is going to willingly throw out raises th…

In effect, you threatened them into giving you a raise. And I'll say congrats on getting it, but are you at all concerned about your ongoing relationship with management? Do they think "he's good for a few years at least now" in terms of comp adjustment, and/or do you expect a raise again next year? At my company, I understand (but have not seen first hand) that anyone who tries this (either comes to the table with a…

Companies will never, ever be loyal to their employees.

Don't fall for that "being loyal to your company" mindset. You won't get rewarded.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#185
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've said this before on HN: for a while I thought that execs were overpaid (generally, it is true!) until I worked with some founders and owners of companies who really did bring 10x or 100x the value I did to the company. It doesn't mean they did 10x the work, but they definitely brought the value.

Exceptions don’t prove a rule. There are engineers who are also similarly valuable - and they get paid well. But exec/manager/admin pay is always inflated, regardless of that value. I say this from personal experience and insight into salaries at various kinds of companies, FAANG included.

I'm not saying you're wrong.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#186
post #87

This article does accidentally capture one of the major corporate problems pretty well. The conclude from their data that Toxic Workplace Culture is the biggest cause of resignation, and then they immediately suggest 4 short term things to try that don't relate to culture at all . If you have a toxic workplace culture, the very first thing you should do is to start fixing your culture. This is very hard and not fast…

Companies should pay more attention to which leaders are roundly hated since they can be the biggest contributor to toxic culture. At my company, we had a CIO who was hated by every member of the IT team. Attrition rates as well as glass door reviews reflected it. Yet they kept him there for years.

Yeah poor leaders are probably the most expensive cost for the company. The way leaders are recruited is just not effective at all.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#187

> Our analysis found that the leading elements contributing to toxic cultures include failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; workers feeling disrespected; and unethical behavior I don’t really believe these reasons or at least they don’t match what i’ve seen. I can only speak for FAANG: I think this is more compensation based than anything else. In an effort to level the playing field FAANGS establish l…

Those diversity trainings and targeted raises and promotions for Diversity candidates are part of the toxic culture.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#188
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A year to learn, a year to earn, a year to yearn.

*A year to learn, a yearn to earn, next year churn.

I remember reading somewhere (but I can't remember where): "My job is not my job, my job is to find a better job"

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#189
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that a very reasonable salary to be buying a home on? Especially at the upper end of that range.

Homes in that area are about 10x that salary - so no. Reasonable ends at 3-4x your salary. I would be surprised if you could get a loan if you're taking a mortgage out that is 8x+ your salary... but maybe you can in France? Not in the US!

That is not true… only sea view apartments and houses do have incredibly high prices… otherwise you can find an apartment of 100m2 for prices ranging from 200k euros to 500k. Many homes with garden in the area range from 450k to a million (depending on the location). If as a couple the household income is 100k or more a year it is not difficult at all to get a mortgage. In France is very hard to get fired… there is a much higher job security… and since we have universal healthcare we don’t even risk to not be able to pay due to a medical emergency! For a bank is less risky to lend you money! Life here is good!

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#190
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't large portions of stock compensation at most large companies paid out in years 3 and 4? Assuming you survive past the 2 year mark, you may as well stay for another two years

I thought that was Amazon specific?

Yes, but 4 years vest is standard, and new hire grants are significantly larger than refresher grants, so with stock appreciation the way it's been over the last decade years 3 and 4 have tended to be very lucrative for RSU-holding tech employees.
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