Why Dont Employees Stay With Companies Longer?

[Lee]

There has been a spate of high profile people swapping jobs just lately, some have actually changed jobs two or three times in the last 12 months too.

Why do employees not seem to have any kind of commitment to one company these days but instead, will go to whomever offers them the most money.

It might be me but that just makes them seem flaky and not worth hiring/training.

Your thoughts?

Regards,

Lee

[gaystoryman]

Because it is about the money, not about showing appreciation... too many companies only look at productivety vs cost, they don't take into account being on time always, or not taking sick days, or going a bit extra to satisfy a customer.. so the employee feels unwanted, and takes the higher wage...

in some cases

[alexbucks]

In my case I am loyal to my chef and our company.
How is it with others?

[gaybucks_chip]

I think it goes both ways.

Fabulous companies treat good employees like gold. They empower them, do everything possible to make sure they have a great work environment, support them, offer flexibility in work schedules, time off, etc.

In turn, the employer (hopefully) gets a fabulous employee who works hard, is loyal and committed to the success of the company, looks beyond their own job to figure out ways the company can be more successful.

I suspect in this business, there are few fabulous employers and perhaps even fewer fabulous employees. One of the things that I find really disheartening is how many times we call a company for something at 4pm only to find that everyone has gone home. Or we call at 10:30 AM and nobody's in yet. It seems like there is a lot of laziness and "it'll do" attitude among many (if not the majority) of employees in this industry. Of course there are also the webmasters that work their asses off 80 hours a week, but they are generally owners, not workers.

That's one of the reasons we haven't really advertised or hired from within the industry. Not to say there aren't some amazing people we have met that we would hire in a heartbeat, but if we were to hire from the industry, we would most likely contact the individuals we are interested in rather than place a posting on one of the industry boards.

[deanb]

Chip, you always seem to have something to say that I agree with! Great post on you part, and a very 'real' analisis of the industry.

I think it goes both ways.

Fabulous companies treat good employees like gold. They empower them, do everything possible to make sure they have a great work environment, support them, offer flexibility in work schedules, time off, etc.

In turn, the employer (hopefully) gets a fabulous employee who works hard, is loyal and committed to the success of the company, looks beyond their own job to figure out ways the company can be more successful.

I suspect in this business, there are few fabulous employers and perhaps even fewer fabulous employees. One of the things that I find really disheartening is how many times we call a company for something at 4pm only to find that everyone has gone home. Or we call at 10:30 AM and nobody's in yet. It seems like there is a lot of laziness and "it'll do" attitude among many (if not the majority) of employees in this industry. Of course there are also the webmasters that work their asses off 80 hours a week, but they are generally owners, not workers.

That's one of the reasons we haven't really advertised or hired from within the industry. Not to say there aren't some amazing people we have met that we would hire in a heartbeat, but if we were to hire from the industry, we would most likely contact the individuals we are interested in rather than place a posting on one of the industry boards.

[Dzinerbear]

I think this industry suffers from a lot of spin: the biggest cocks, the best sex, the highest conversion rate, the biggest payouts. So I think a lot of people, both employees and employers, put a big spin on things. It's not until you actually get into a company (or hire the employee) that you find out the truth.

I'm sure a lot of people leave their first week with a company thinking, "What the hell did I get myself into?

Likewise, a lot people in this business have no formal training in sales, marketing, site design, writing copy. Many of us just fired up Dreamweaver one day and started building a site and learned along the way. Just because you are successful at building TGP galleries or freesites doesn't mean that you can easily make the jump to doing marketing for a multi million dollar company.

So I think both employees and employers learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately when you're moving from company to company, you're learning in a very public way.

Michael

[tombarr]

I think some of the high profile changes often come from being courted by competitors or companies that want to try and tap into resources for industry connections. I think the courting sounds exciting if there is any boredom setting into the current position but when the work actually begins at the new firm and the romance of the newness has worn off, some wonder what ever prompted their decisions to join the company, realizing that their passion is not in that area at all and they then go back to what they were doing before, or back into their area of interest with another firm.

[Jasun]

They're going to have to carry my dead body out of the Frathouse.

[cbl_chaz]

ok this is going to sound weird to some of you. I actually left a 52k a year job to come work as Marketing Director for CBL. I am paid based on performance of the site and new feed site contracts. This means that sometimes the money is good and sometimes it's less than flowing in. It's great incentive to keep on top of the site, but at the same time, can be a bit discouraging during those "quiet" times. For me it's all about loyalty. Like Jason from Frathouse said, they will have to drag my cold dead body from here. I know that this business is like any other, sometimes it's feast and sometimes it's Mac&cheese. You have to just roll with the punches and strive to make improvements both in the site and in your presentation of the product. WE live in an era of instant gratification. Our friend, the Internet, is also our foe. You can do so many things on line instantly these days that everyone has grown accustomed to getting what they want at lightning speed. There is no "quick fix" or easy way to produce, run, sell or market a site. You put the information out there and sometimes it's an instant success and other times, it takes more time to see positive results. It takes a patient and tenacious person to do the things that we do and it's not for everyone. I am a great example of that. I left an office with an outside view, 401K, health insurance, paid vacations and a 52K salary simply because I hated my job and hated where I saw it leading in the future. I was offered this position and simply called and said that I wouldn't be coming into work.....EVER. What's to stop me from doing that again here? I love what I do and I am loyal to this company. I'll be here until we close the site or I die.