Reid Hoffman on the relationship between employers and employees
Loyalty is such a ridiculous thing for most companies to expect. It needs to be earned, and it's not even that complicated. Here's how you get loyal employees:<p>1. After some probation period, fire only as a last resort or for really terrible behaviour. Have a plan to correct behavior in all other cases.<p>2. No layoffs unless the firm's very existence is threatened. It's a tough year? Too bad, that's part of the risk involved in being the owner.<p>3. Keep pay up to market/replacement rates. If someone is 20% more valuable with his new knowledge, pay him 20% more.
4. Have good benefits/vacation policies.<p>5. Make sure there's lots of interesting and challenging work to do. Allow people to switch roles/teams on a regular basis if they're interested.<p>6. Hire good people.<p>That's a company I'd be loyal to, and I think a lot of others would be too. Sure, you'd get people who would leave for their own thing, or a dream job, or because their husband/wife got a job 2000 miles away, but I don't think you'd see people jump ship nearly as often.<p>The other stupid thing is companies trot out how much it costs to hire a new person, but never want to invest in just retaining their employees.