You Get What You Pay For
by Miki Saxon
The following email came in over the weekend (edited and shortened for clarity).
Hi Miki, About seven months ago my company (name deleted) started providing most of the perks you see written about, including teaching how to be an entrepreneur. We thought that our efforts paid off when we were about to hire some amazing people. Fast forward to the beginning of July when two of my top developers quit because the entrepreneur class was canceled due to the launch schedule of a new product. To top that off, Friday my architect gave notice, explaining that he had found an angel investor and it was a guy he had met at one of our classes! What the hell is going on?
I’ve received seven similar emails and four phone calls over the last few months; they’ve come from executives and managers in development, sales and marketing at all levels in new startups, growth companies and larger, public corporations.
They all say they have gone to extraordinary lengths to attract people, but many of those hired left in 15 months or less.
They all complain that talent is scarce and that many of the people they do manage to attract have no loyalty or interest in anything except their own career.
The managers say they hear variations of the same stories over and over at events they attend, over lunch or when grabbing a beer after work.
My response to each is tailored to their personal situation and much gentler than what I’m going to write now.
You know the old saying that you get what you pay for? That is just as true when it comes to hiring as it is when shopping.
People who join for money or stock or perks will leave for more money or stock or perks.
They have no loyalty because they are not invested emotionally—there is no reason to be. Many candidates get the feeling they are doing the company a favor by joining, based on the lengths to which companies are going to recruit and hire them, and if they leave, they leave. No big deal.
The next part of our discussions focused on where to find and how to hire people who would be invested in the company. Obviously, no silver bullets, but the basics of solutions that each could tailor to their own needs.
Please join me tomorrow when I share that information with you.
Flickr image credit: stevendepolo
