Keep them too stressed out and busy with work that they don't have the time and energy to really look for something new and grind dozens of LeetCode problems to get them through the grueling technical interview gauntlet? Seems to be working with my company to keep me there, at least.
How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
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Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#12It's only about 50% about pay for STEM fields. They have to be engaged, feel like they have a voice or influence in the culture/business decisions, have great equipment to use, and flexible time off.
All of it can be dispensed with if you pay even more
Indeed, pay me $1m a day and I'll stare at a wall for you.
Probably wouldn't do it for long, the first day would be amazing - that buys a great house. The rest of the week and I'm set for a very comfortable retirement.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#13I changed jobs in the past year and only received a slight pay increase. For the first time in my engineering career, I really enjoy my job. There are a lot of factors but the thing that stands out the most is the senior leadership here. They actively seek to engage the entire organization in strategy and planning and are really working towards a more transparent and realistic process of growth and advancement. My experience previous to this had been leadership only paying lip service to these ideas at best. I am not sure what increase in compensation would be required for me to leave and I honestly hope I don't find out.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#14It's only about 50% about pay for STEM fields. They have to be engaged, feel like they have a voice or influence in the culture/business decisions, have great equipment to use, and flexible time off.
Yep. I'm a MechE and my pay is decent (not amazing) for the area but I was fine with it due to a lot of other factors.
In the last year or so, my company has had a culture shift leading to down-to-the minute micromanagement and I've lost all autonomy - every decision requires approval of multiple managers. There's no realistic engineering salary they could pay me to continue putting up with this and I can't get out quick enough. Covid has made that a bit tough though.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#15100% agree with this article, but would also caution against any kind of generalization. Different people want different things.
For the first ~7-10 years of my career I strongly believed that everything was about salary. I picked jobs solely based on the comp package, and the work I did was motivated by bonuses and promotions. I'm sure that's still the case for a large chunk of engineers, but for me, with more experience under my belt, I now think more and more about stuff like fulfillment, ownership, real world impact of my work etc.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#16When I worked somewhere 100% for the money, my motivation declined and I ended up in such a rut I was one of the worst performers on the team.
Compensation is important but if they are golden handcuffs, your organization (and employee) will suffer.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#17The trick to retaining engineers, besides paying them fairly, is to hire good managers that understand engineering. A huge component of workplace satisfaction can be traced back to how much an employee likes their boss.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#18Pay is not everything. But it also depends on the engineer as well. I've taken pay cuts to work on interesting and engaging work in the past. But then again my lifestyle is pretty simple and minimalistic and for me the trade-off was worth it.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#19It's only about 50% about pay for STEM fields. They have to be engaged, feel like they have a voice or influence in the culture/business decisions, have great equipment to use, and flexible time off.
It's probably only "50% about pay" where pay is fairly competitive. For many (of course not all), 25-50% lower comp is going to be a tough sell even if the company is at the top of "great places to work" lists.
Re: How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?
#20It's only about 50% about pay for STEM fields. They have to be engaged, feel like they have a voice or influence in the culture/business decisions, have great equipment to use, and flexible time off.
All of it can be dispensed with if you pay even more
Only for a limited amount of time.