Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Employee Retention

blog.samaltman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 95 posts

Re: Employee Retention

#21

Post by lumens »

Another very important factor in retention not mentioned here is better understanding the aspirations of those people you're considering bringing on to your team.

A person's response to questions like, "What are you most interested in professionally?" and, "How do you see yourself developing career wise?" becomes a blueprint for what to do organizationally to retain them.

Sometimes the simplest approach is the best: Ask, "What do we need to do to retain you?" and then do that thing!

Re: Employee Retention

#22

Post by indigent »

Another important aspect about retaining good employees is to help them through their failures. The longer an employee stays at a company, the more likely it is that they will screw up. No one has a 100% track record. Good management teams recognize this, and should have plans to guide faltering employees back on the right track.

Re: Employee Retention

#24

Post by [deleted] »

Apocryphon wrote: post #8
zinssmeister wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. It wouldn't hurt for SV to allow some focus on fixing local issues. Housing being the most important problem in my opinion.

Why oh why aren't more companies returning to the South Bay, specifically San Jose? Downtown SJ is tiny compared to San Francisco's. And there are plenty of tracts for office parks in the suburbs. Sure, all of the hip young hackers want someplace cool to go to, but it's only an hour away to the north.

[deleted]

Re: Employee Retention

#26

Post by DanielRibeiro »

silverlake wrote: post #19

If you don't think your equity stake is going to be worth enough (company isn't growing fast) then it makes sense to jump to another company after your first vesting. You are collecting lottery tickets from a bunch of startups. And I find it ironic that everyone on the board is obsessed with money, but somehow it's bad form for employees! Honestly, which company has a mission that motivates employees to stay despite…

I'm pretty sure Tom Preston Warner (in particular) would disagree with you. He gave a great presentation to YC's Startup School a few years ago on the subject[1, 2].

GitHub has had one of the best jobs retaining people. Zach Holman disclosed some numbers recently[3] on his How GitHub (no longer) Works talk.

[1] video: http://www.justin.tv/startupschool/b/272031754

[2] Writeup http://tom.preston-werner.com/2010/10/18/optimize-for-happin...

[3] http://www.infoq.com/presentations/github-evolution

Re: Employee Retention

#27

Post by joezydeco »

normloman wrote: post #15

The author recommends having a mission so employees feel like they're working for a greater good. So is this why every job on Hacker News goes something like "Help us change the world of [industry]," where [industry] can be something as banal as t-shirt printing or pizza delivery? If you don't believe me, here are some examples from the jobs board: Mobile Hacker? Come work with the team that's reinventing farming Sim…

I don't think people really want to change the world.

I believe the phrase is a coded message along the lines of "we're the next Facebook!", an application or service that will radically change the landscape of {insert something here} and turn into a massive public company and insanely huge IPO.

That's what the mission is about. Since you can't guarantee success, you put the carrot at the end of the stick and it starts right here.

Re: Employee Retention

#28

Post by nostrademons »

physcab wrote: post #18

I think the author misses one important factor in employee retention - work / life balance. If a start-up hires a bunch of employees, everyone will be tempted to trade work for life in favor of "rocketship growth". In essence, they believe in the mission of the company so much that they are willing to sacrifice their mission for themselves. Companies who are empathetic to employee needs stand a much better chance of…

All 3 of your points are achieved if the startup is growing fast and its product is succeeding. It seems like you'll optimize employee retention by making sure the work is worthwhile, even if it's hard, rather than by making sure people don't do too much of it.

(I don't disagree with work/life balance in general, but I'm pointing out that your data supports Sam's point that you should give people generous equity for working on a product that's worthwhile, rather than your point that they shouldn't devote themselves 100% to the work.)

Re: Employee Retention

#29

Post by fecak »

In my experience the biggest retention issue is for an employer to deliver what was promised during the hiring process. Employers that are competing for talent are known to paint the picture of how they see their ideal instead of how things really are. This sets the new hire's expectations to an unreasonably high standard, and when those expectations aren't met they walk.

Being honest with potential hires and showing them both the good and the bad about what you have to offer may lose you a few good hires but will surely save you many more bad (short tenure) hires over time. As a recruiter, I hear the bait-and-switch cited by roughly 25-50% of job seekers that are leaving a company after a relatively short 0-3 year stint.

Re: Employee Retention

#30

Post by normloman »

joezydeco wrote: post #27
normloman wrote: post #15

The author recommends having a mission so employees feel like they're working for a greater good. So is this why every job on Hacker News goes something like "Help us change the world of [industry]," where [industry] can be something as banal as t-shirt printing or pizza delivery? If you don't believe me, here are some examples from the jobs board: Mobile Hacker? Come work with the team that's reinventing farming Sim…

I don't think people really want to change the world. I believe the phrase is a coded message along the lines of "we're the next Facebook!", an application or service that will radically change the landscape of {insert something here} and turn into a massive public company and insanely huge IPO. That's what the mission is about. Since you can't guarantee success, you put the carrot at the end of the stick and it star…

Yeah, that's another possibility. Or it could be coded for "we're the next Apple," after all the mythologizing that took place in the wake of Steve Job's death.
Post reply on HN